British mathematics

So the UK elections came and shocked the Brits. They are so used to very simple situations and thus when one party doesn’t get the overall majority it’s all shock and horror and stress and nervousness.

The Mother of all Parliaments is shaken. And stirred too.

The main parties need to talk about forming a coalition government now, and that is so uncommon for the simplistic UK politics. Shock and horror once again. Traditions on the rocks.

But take an honest look at the basic numbers and the unfairness of the UK election system will slap you in the face. On both cheeks. It is so undemocratic that it looks close to a dictatorship of the two traditional parties – Conservatives and Labour – than real and honest and representative democracy.

The 1-person-1-vote issue; the basis of any democracy anywhere; is being raped here in a brutal way. It’s tainted democracy. Fabricated. Manipulated.

Stick with the following numbers and you’ll be shocked. Guaranteed. Just looking at the numbers for the three biggest parties (Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats) and you will see how the system is being screwed in favour of Labour and the Conservatives. Massively screwed.

Here we go.

The Conservatives got 307 seats in the House of Commons, out of a total of 650 seats. They got 36% of the total vote which in numbers mean 10,706647 Brits voted for the blue party.

Just do some simple arithmetic and you get that the Conservatives got 1 seat (equalling 1 Member of Parliament) for every 34875 votes they got.

And their 307 seats out of a total of 650 equals 47% of seats. Meaning that with 36% of the total vote, they got 47% of the total seats. Mmh! Kick that. But hold your breath.

The Labour party of outgoing Prime Minister Gordon Brown got 29% of the total vote. Meaning 8,604358 Brits marked the X for the red party on the ballot paper. Labour gets 258 seats in the newly elected parliament.

Take out the calculator once again. So 1 Labour seat for every 33350 votes. And their total of 258 seats (out of the 650 available to fill) represents 39% of the number of seats in the House of Commons. Meaning with 29% of the votes across the UK, Labour gets 39% of the seats. Mmh. Hold on some more because the real dirt is coming.

Then the 3rd biggest party. The Liberal Democrats, coming after the old traditional suits of Labour and the Conservatives. The yellow LibDems, as they are called, got 23% of the total votes across the UK, representing 6.827938 people that voted for them.

They got 57 seats in the House of Commons. Only 57 seats. So take the calculator and get shocked. So that’s 1 LibDem seat for every 119788 votes. That is nearly 4 times more votes for 1 seat than the 2 oldies!! Kick that for fairness.

Take a closer look and it really smells bad. Stinking stuff. So the Liberal Democrats’ 23% of the total votes casted only gives them 57 seats. 57 Out of a total of 650 seats equals 8%. So the LibDems get 23% of the votes but only 8% of the seats. How in your face unfair is that?!?

This is not democracy. This is fabricated, controlled, manipulated so-called democracy.

It sucks!

It has that same taste of disgust as when Al Gore got more votes than George Bush Jr but still George got the keys to the White House. It’s when democracy goes wrong.
It institutionalised theft. It’s holding big speeches about democracy and the right of voters and free and fair political system, but at the same time openly hijacking and screwing the system so the two old parties keep the cake for themselves. A stiff middle finger to that.

And then the Brits, especially the conservative traditionalists on the (extreme) right side of life, say that they favour a two party system because it brings stability. Well no it doesn’t because now the UK is in political turmoil (and this instability) as neither the Conservatives nor labour got a majority. And now Brown is bunkering himself in his office in famous Downing Street awaiting to see if rivals LibDems and Conservatives can make an agreement to govern. And the Brits are just not used to collation talks. And thus fear for the unknown. And fear is the ultimate conservative emotion. Basic instincts.

Those traditionalists point out they don’t like the continental European way of coalition politics. They never like anything from the continent anyway. It’s their arrogance drenched in emotions from the former Empire. Former! Continental Euro-politics are without a doubt sometimes a bit messy and coalition talks can take some weeks here and there. But Germany, France, the Scandinavian nations, the Benelux trio,... all have very high standards of socio-economic development. And that is what it should be all about. Politics (and the political system in place) at the service to built a better world to live in for all the citizens. And continental Europe certainly has high living standards; be it roads, schools, hospitals, public transport,... So what’s wrong then with coalition politics? It clearly hasn’t brought continental Europeans a bad life.

So the Brits need to re-focus and get real. There are plenty of mechanisms in place to avoid that full blown and honest democracy turns into a quagmire of too many small parties. Continental Europe proofs it.

If the United Kingdom wants to keep spinning of being the Mother of all Democracies, it better gets honest with itself and adjusts its corrupt political system and start walking the talk on the path of real, representative democracy.

Human behaviour needs to walk up sometimes.

From a screwed election system to screwed minds. Just a stone throw away.
Morocco’s islamists want to ban Elton John from doing a gig in their kingdom. It’s pretty simple. The extremists just don’t want a gay performer on their soil. So an islamist party is pushing authorities in the capital Rabat to ban Elton.
Cultural fascism from the Muslim kind. Narrow mindedness is never a friend of the arts. Never has and never will.

Recently the South African Culture Minister stormed out of the opening of an exhibition because there were some photos of naked ladies holding each other. Nothing sexual. Just sensual. She ordered an investigation on who within her department authorised the funding for such an evil event.

Back to the bunker! Sandbags and barbed wire. The outside world and its creative thinking is evil. Pure evil. Needs to be killed. Exterminated. Exorcism required urgently.

Human behaviour is often limited to basic instincts within a narrow dark tunnel of limited brainpower.

Throw out. NY’s Eddie Sutton from Leeway-fame has joined forces with some ex Agents of Man members to form a new punkrock-with-a-metallic-edge band called Truth N Rights. The tunes are hard-hitting with Eddie and his AoM mates come with plenty of experience and underground-music credentials.

C -Ya

collateral – May 2010