UK Local Elections & Voter Turnout

Voters outside a polling place, Brisbane, Queensland, 1907 Men and women form a line outside a polling place in Brisbane, watched by officials. 1907 was the first year women voted at an election in Queensland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, the UK holds its elections on weekdays not Saturdays. Voting is voluntary so the turnout varies. Thursday 3^rd May 2012 was the day that elections were held in 181 local government authorities throughout England, Wales and Scotland. There was a 32% turnout in England and Wales. Scotland doesn’t start counting ‘til after I publish this post. Well, now at 10:50 Ayrshire looks like about 45% voter turnout. Better. Further update puts the all up Scottish voting contingent at about 38%. Not that much better after all.

Photo of a polling station in a portable cabin in the South of Coventry. The structure was temporary and in position on the 3 May 2007 for the local election. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have to say that all three times I have had occasion to attend a polling place in Scotland I have seen only one party leafleted by only one person. Additionally I have met a maximum of half a dozen voters while I was there. I recall local elections in Mullumbimby. Every candidate represented by up to 4 supporters handing out voting preference slips; queues of voters waiting in line at the polling station. Amicable banter all around; mind you, the weather was more conducive to casual socialising than it is here in Scotland.

And in both State and Federal elections in Australia, the candidates’ supporters are out in numbers regaling voters with preferential voting slips for their candidate as the voters walk the gauntlet to the polls. I have not seen anything like that in Scotland.

It is the engagement with the political process that is most marked. I see little, if any, evidence of it here versus the obvious and voiced engagement in Mullumbimby, which maybe has, in part, to do with the type of community in Mullumbimby. I also think that compulsory voting plays a part in the whole community engaging with itself in the election process, which is quite lively in Mullumbimby and in Australia generally. I have lived in many areas in Australia and have voted in different elections in different places – the larger the electorate the more muted the obvious engagement.

Although, the local elections in the UK employ a preferential system of voting which is a marked improvement on the antiquated first-past-the-post system that the UK uses in its Westminster elections, I can’t help but wonder if the voters actually understand the system.

 While FPTP is commonly found in countries based on the British parliamentary system, and in Westminster elections in the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh National Assembly use a form of PR known as the mixed member system, after New Zealand adopted it in 1993. Five Canadian provinces—British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick— are debating whether to abolish FPTP.^{[citation needed]}

 Australia has used a preferential system of voting for some time, in the Federal elections since 1918. The good thing about preferential voting is that smaller parties and independents, first preference votes are recorded as having achieved that amount of primary votes. This is a good statistic and can be used by the candidate and/or party to build its platform for coming elections. Even though the first vote will probably not get over the line in terms of the set quota, what does happen is that the canny voter is able to register his vote so that none of his/her preferences is wasted. He/she can craft the vote in order that the preferences go down the line and extinguish where the voter wants his vote to extinguish.

There was one comment to my previous post on compulsory vs voluntary voting that again mashed the percentages in an attempt to prove an advantage which just isn’t apparent. I have noted that comparing apples with oranges just doesn’t wash unless you are colour-blind or have your paintbrush dipped in your own paint; otherwise known as having taken a partisan stance.

Of course, cherry picking rarely does work and comments that emanate from a partisan point of view are often able to be shown to have used partisan data that obscures rather than illuminates.

It may well be fair to say that more and more voters in either compulsory or voluntary electoral systems are less and less interested in politics as we all realise that politik speak is a form of bullshit fed to us by newspapers that are owned by media moguls and others who wish to direct the political debate and pepper it with salacious gossip.

At the moment, in the UK the Murdochs are receiving a drubbing that will leave them diminished. In my partisan way, I have to say that is a good job being well done by the Leveson Inquiry. I am finding the Inquiry fascinating and it informs me inter alia in psephology. A laudable pursuit in my older age.

Related articles

• Council results due in Scots poll (bbc.co.uk)
• Vote 2012: Voting is a duty, not a right (leftfootforward.org)
• Another low turnout – but better (hamptonroads.com)
• lincolnshirecommentator.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/…

More on Religion in Politics and Education

Freedom!

Well, the pious and most precious Pickles has signed into law that part of his Localism Bill, creating a ‘general power of competence’ that overrides the High Court ruling on the illegality of prayers in the formal business papers of Councils in England.

He said he would do this in his massive hissy fit after the ruling was handed down and 7 days later, he did. He knows best after all. He must do, he is an evangelical christian and, ipso facto, seriously believes in the literal word of the christian bible. The only problem is that no one knows which version or edition of the bible he uses. There are hundreds after all.

However, the Communities Secretary does seem to have decided that he is the arbiter of what is right and proper in all local authorities in England. It’s enough to make me mutter sotto voce “bring on separation Scotland”.

Not that Scotland has much to crow about really. The Scottish Parliament did away with prayers at the time of Devolution but, as a sop to the religions, substituted a weekly 5 minute Time for Reflection (TFR) delivered mainly by Church of Scotland clerics. No Muslims yet. I believe there have been a couple of Humanists.

The Scottish Parliament's debating chamber

The good christians decided to form a group called the Parliamentary Prayer Group and attend each TFR. They call themselves non-denominational, but in Scotland that usually means Church of Scotland.

This photo from their website is taken in the Public Gallery and shows the Group in place. The times I have been, I have only seen the ageing ladies each wearing a bright red blazer and sitting in a block in the front rows to increase their visibility to the Chamber. There are about 20 or so of them and they smile a lot.

Photo-op for the Parliamentary Prayers

Devolution happened in 1999 and a deal was done between the new Scottish Parliament, the Catholics and the Church of Scotland to keep school prayers (suffer the little kiddies) in place and ensure that religious representatives had unelected places on local education committees.

Public funding is still in place for religious schools and I have come across the absurd situation where within the confines of one school property, the Catholics enter from one side and the Protestants from another. Two staff rooms, toilets, school rooms and playing fields. And, of course, two different complements of teaching staff, all in one building – a big building.

Shared separation at Motherwell primary

This is an excerpt from a letter written to the Belfast Telegraph on school integration:

‘In the Scottish shared-campus experiment, the old segregation problem still persists once children walk through the door, or, to be more precise, separate doors. In one attempt at a shared campus in Lanarkshire, the Catholic Church’s demands for separate facilities even stretched to different toilets for Catholic and non-Catholic teachers.

 The director of the Catholic Education Service in Scotland is on record as stating, “We are very concerned that the sharing of facilities, like staff rooms, will erode the Catholic ethos of a school.”’

Don’t you find this to be a bizarre state of affairs in the 21^st century? I have lived in Scotland for four years now and I have to say, I am learning more about the absolute idiocy of religion than I thought I ever would, especially in this country.

I really find it hard to believe that this sort of thing goes on in a mature, western society that is supposed to have emancipated itself from such religious bigotry in the 1800s. By the middle of that century the Scots were amongst the most literate people in Europe. This was the time of the European and Scottish Enlightenment after all. This little country boasts such people as David Hume, Adam Smith, Francis Hutcheson, Dugald Stewart and Adam Ferguson. And then there were all the scientific, engineering and medical advances that emanated from Scotland. There is so much innovation to have come from Scotland that other countries looked to Scotland for inspiration and erudition.

David Hume and Adam Smith in Edinburgh

What happened? Or, probably a better way to ask that question is why weren’t those wonderful achievements built on to the eventual eradication of superstition and religious dogma and bigotry?

Maybe the dénouement is still to be read. Reason and science certainly seem to be suffering a new endarkenment in the world in terms of acceptance, funding and government backing. Schools and teachers seem to be less prepared to undergo rigor in curricula or instruction. The mass media pump out poorly researched articles while TV has Buffy the Vampire with vacuously high ratings. Or Big Brother or other silly reality shows of which there is a growing and mindless plethora.

Even the BBC which the above letter writer refers to as Believers’ Broadcasting Christianity is the media apologia for religion in this island.

It’s enough to make you despair. Really.

Free from Religious Indoctrination

Enchanted Forest – Explorers’ Garden, Perthshire

Pitlochry from the air

The Enchanted Forest is a 3 week light and sound event showing off the Explorers Woodland Garden in Pitlochry, Perthshire. The show moved this year from Faskally Wood where it had been held since 2004, having inaugurated at The Hermitage in Dunkeld in 2002.

This year the event is called, fittingly, Transitions. It had its genesis in the roots of the Perthshire Big Tree Country and has attracted a number of sponsors while garnering prestigious awards:

Beating off stiff competition from some of Scotland’s finest events, The Enchanted Forest has scooped the Event Management Grand Prix, alongside the awards for Best Cultural Event and a commendation for Best Large Event.

We went to see this light and sound show – neither of us had ever been before. The web site hype is what drove us up to Pitlochry through some of the loveliest country on offer. The River Tay runs alongside the road until Dunkeld and Inver where the River Tummel joins it. Driving north from Inver which houses the River Braan also flowing into the Tay, the Tummel is a visual treat of a river seen winding its way below the hills all the way to Pitlochry.

I really like the forested hills and the smattering of deciduous woodlands that are on the valley floor. Of course sheep and cattle are always in view. I love it. Picturesque treat in the autumn when the trees are turning.

Of course Inver is of interest to me because it is so close to Birnam where Macbeth had to understand why the wood was coming to him.

Birnam Wood in Sepia 1800

And it also has a woodworking group called Burhouse  2.0 Ltd with all manner of tools, woods and machinery. The day we went, Burhouse was hosting a wood turning clinic. Combining a trip through the Enchanted Forest with the hunter gatherer’s penchant for wood and tools was a bonus.

This is the gorgeous view down Pitlochry's main street

Pitlochry itself is a pretty town and is one of those obvious reasonably well off arts and crafts towns. It sports a charming view down its main street.   It also has the Salmon Leap seen from the Pitlochry Fish Ladder

This is the Fish Leap - it looks amazing - I have to see it.

which is built into the Pitlochry Dam and power station. It is definitely a tourist attraction. We travelled through there when I first came to Scotland and my memories of Pitlochry stood the test. It is still a beautiful little town.

The photos we took at the Explorers Woodland Garden that night didn’t come out very well but here are a couple.

This is me touching the seed pod!!

There is a gallery of professional photos on the web site that are a treat and taken by proper photographers. Andy from Stravaiging would have taken excellent photographs. I will aspire to be a better photographer:-)

Of interest in the Garden are the Scots plant explorers who travelled far and wide finding plants. It could be a risky business in countries that hadn’t seen white men. My all time favourite is Robert Fortune.

I am a fervent tea drinker and when I came across a book called For all the Tea in China by Sarah Rose, I just had to have it. I couldn’t put the book down!

Fortune collected a lot more than tea from China; he brought back the Buddleja among other species. He had to disguise himself on occasion because of the hostility westerners could experience in China and elsewhere. His achievement though, was being able to finally (after years of disappointment and plant deaths) bring living tea plants back to India thus laying the foundations for the Indian tea trade. He also risked life and limb to extract the secret of preparing and making tea from the Chinese. He was intrepid. I owe him because I always need tea!!

He wasn’t the only plant hunter from Scotland of course. There was David Douglas who brought back the Douglas-fir from Canada. Then there was George Forrest who also travelled to China and Yunnan. He brought back the Rhododendrons and Primulas among hundreds of other species.

Francis Masson introduced Strelitzia and the Trilliums. One of my neighbours is fascinated by the trillium family. Thomas Drummond came back with the Acers and Phlox. William Forsyth had the Forsythias named after him.

These are a few of the names to be found on the Explorers Woodland Garden website. It is worth a visit. We plant and tea aficionados owe these explorers more than we can really appreciate.

Lights at Faskally

The Hermitage is a place I will visit soon. It sits on the River Braan and has a heritage Douglas fir, supposedly 200 feet high. The photos of the attractions look stunning. And it just over the road from Inver. Dunkeld here we come!!

Stone Steps at the Hermitage

What a walk!

Scotland’s National Woodworking Show

How beautiful - Wikipedia image

Last weekend we went to a woodworking exhibition at the Royal Highland Centre. It was hosted by publishers Nelton Group and showcased Scotland’s National Woodworkers Show.

It is an annual show and it was the first time I had been to an event where some fine craftsmen exhibited their work and gave practical tips, where there was some marvellous machinery, exotic types of wood and yummy tools for woodworking. And I love the smell of wood so I was glad to be there.

I realised I was a bit of a tool freak decades ago when I built a house out of timber and first used a handsaw and hammer. I had used axes and adzes before in the forest up the road from my property. As the house grew I found I needed to master a mitre box and chisels. This particular exercise woke me up to the amazing number of tools available for specific jobs using wood. Nailing the yellow box tongue and groove floor made me a whiz with a hammer, I can tell you! Sorting through the photos I have of that time I realise how few show the floor without rugs and carpets.

Here are two little photographs of the kitchen floor in that house.

I was snapped cooking dinner by my young son.

A very young me on the farm!

Cats always get in the way in my photographs!

I have never fitted anything more delicate than the lining of my house and putting sills on windows and architraves around doors. It was a cute, quaint house though. There was an art gallery of sorts in the township and wood workers from around the hills brought their fine and delicate work in there. I loved looking at and handling the smooth finishes of curved jewellery boxes, bowls and ornaments.

So, looking at the woodworkers displaying their talents and using lathes for turning bowls and any other number of items was an absolute treat. There was Mark Raby who makes a gorgeous job of finishing his turned items. His wife Lisa burns intricate designs onto wooden pieces.

Now, of course, we need a lathe. As if you couldn’t guess. My husband knows one hell of a lot about wood types and their qualities for woodworking. He has a CNC machine plus other necessities but no lathe as yet. That’s next.

We photographed finished items, some of which were wonderful.

Broxburn's colourful & delicate trinkets

Trinkets from the Broxburn Woodcraft Club were so delicate.

Hanbury's fiery dramatic pieces

The fiery and colourful decorations of Mick Hanbury’s plates were stunning.

The Borders' mushrooms & stool not toad!

The display from the Scottish Borders Wood Turners was charming! How’s that!! They were all very eye catching

Also took photos of the hand tools. Check out the massive ‘long and strong’ turning gouge.

Long & strong turning gouge

Nearly as tall as I am! Well, not really.

According to my husband, Robert Sorby is possibly the best maker of fine turning chisels.

Tony Wilson's travelling lathe

Tony Wilson is confined to a wheelchair and had a lathe built for him. So I took a photo of it. He had made some great candle stands.

Then there was the wall of woods. This entranced me; there were so many varieties and so many exotic timbers. It was a display by Aberdeenshire Hardwoods but, of course, everything was a saleable item. I was surprised at both the low and high costs of different wood samples. The shiny wax that protects the samples from splitting actually highlighted the amazing colours in the pieces.

All sorts of wood samples

This photo doesn’t do the display justice of course.

So next year we will visit the hall again and see what is on offer. By then I will know more about wood!

Public Transport Should Rule! Private Cars need to be garaged

 

Central flower area at Glenrothes Bus Station

Glenrothes is Fife’s regional centre and I live close by. It is a new town, meaning that it came into being after WWII. It was originally designed to take about 32,000 people and house the miners expected to take jobs at the Rothes new coal mine that was closed four years after being opened due to flooding and geological problems. There are now nearly 40,000 people in the area.

It is Fife’s civic and administrative centre and the seat of Fife local government operations including the Fife Constabulary and Fife’s Fire and Health Services.

Anyway, I want to look at public transport because I would like to think that eventually we will wake up and be less dependent on our own private four wheels and learn to love the bus and train.

The train system (sob, like Australia) is in the process of being ‘rationalised’. That means the smaller villages are being marginalised and train services curtailed. Now Thornton – originally a possible for the seat of Glenrothes – is a railway stop called Thornton with Glenrothes.

Back to the buses.  I love buses and trains. Always have. Buses are easily manageable as distinct from trains. It is a big subject, this bulk transportation, but it needs to be addressed. Our roads are very expensive to maintain, especially when water freezes to ice (10% more volume) and makes cracks and holes in existing roads when the thaw happens. Big and expensive problems. It is suggested that the next ten years may repair the UK road system – what cost?? Don’t know. And that is only what needs to be done now let alone what else can happen in those ten years.

It takes me about 7 minutes to drive my little car from my home to the bus station and park for a full day at minimal cost. I usually go to Edinburgh on Saturdays (for the WIBS vigil). The bus leaves for Edinburgh on its way to St Andrews on the half hour every hour and takes an hour to get to Edinburgh.

Coming, as I do, from Australia, I am delighted with the frequency and timeliness of the buses here. I know when to expect my bus, can organise myself to get to the station on time, stand in a queue (sigh, horrific during August because of the Edinburgh International Festivals) and sit in the most comfortable seat, open my book or kindle and settle down to read while being transported to Edinburgh.

Halfway along the journey, the bus calls into Ferry Toll. This is a park-and-ride stop where some 300 buses daily deliver passengers to and from their parked cars. There is a facility for parking–free of charge-for 1050 cars, in the open and within a 4 storey car park. It is often full (again especially during August). It has run out of room – and is only 10 years old. Crikey there ARE a lot of us!!

Ferry Toll needs more (hey, there will always be more of us!) space and other locations are in the pipeline for consideration, but, in any case, the idea is great and worthwhile being adopted as park-and-rides all around every currently congested city in the world. Keep private transport out of the cities is my motto.

Back to the Glenrothes Bus Station. At the moment, all the surrounding public gardens and planting are just plain eye candy. It is summer and the colours are magnificent with brilliant begonias everywhere. It is something Australia hasn’t the resources to emulate. Mind you, as the water wars get closer, maybe the maintenance of these public gardens will become more difficult. Hard to believe in Scotland though; there is a lot of water. Glenrothes has an impressive national record in public space and garden development and maintenance. It shows.

 

Good public image!!

Each year the vibrant colour of the annual flowers and perennial bushes on the traffic roundabouts and surrounding approaches during the seasons is a delight. I hope I never take any of this for granted. So here are my photographs of the colourful, visual beauty of Glenrothes and its bus station.

I took some photographs that I feel aren’t as terrific as the professionals, but hey! They are mine!!

 

 

 

 

 

How to make a population feel good about going from somewhere to somewhere else – give them a visual treat.

Very bright & beautiful