Posts by Hilary Stace
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Less than 2% between Labour/SNP vote and Tories who are only on about 36% of the total vote. So with proportional representation would have been a much different story.
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I think it was the scare tactics of the newspapers at the last minute. There was a lot of money thrown at it too. So the opinion polls may have been correct but it was all soft. There was also a very low turnout so who stayed at home? They didn't seem to have advance voting which seems to increase turnout.
Nobody has mentioned the royal baby effect but I wonder if that made people feel happy about the status quo, and fearful of change.
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Unfortunately it looks like the exit poll has underestimated the Tory vote, and they could now win an outright majority. Crosby Textor and loads of money has out-manoeuvred the left - we are used to that here.
You definitely don't want to be disabled in modern Britain. But there is no United Kingdom any more.
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Sounds like a very low turnout of 56% ish. Democracy not healthy. The probably had the Dirty Politics two track strategy there too.
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to izogi,
Australia doesn't have STV - it has another system which is not actually proportional. All of our DHBs and some local bodies here use STV. We have a Green mayor in Wellington twice largely because of STV. It's a much fairer system than FPP and with sophisticated computer systems can be calculated quite quickly.
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So if Conservatives and Lib Dems win enough seats there will be no immediate electoral crisis - although with large geographical areas and groups of people effectively disenfranchised it probably won't be a happy place. It will show that big money can still win elections. But the campaign for electoral reform might pick up momentum.
(And their disability policies have been terrible there for the last 5 years so I would be worried about the future for that vulnerable group. Our government has followed much of their direction so it could affect us too).
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Looks like the last minute scare tactics from the Murdoch media might have swung it for the Conservatives from the exit poll.
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The Government does not seem to get it about historic abuse. It has to be a restorative process. The State needs to apologise to the person (who was usually a child or young person) who suffered the abuse when they were in the care of the State. The Minister has just been on Morning Report explaining the new fast track process. They will get some undefined amount of money (likely to be a few thousand dollars) and a letter of apology from the head of the Ministry for Social Development. So not from the State.
And she was vague about whether there will be any access to social services or support for those who are usually experiencing PTSD in some form. Meanwhile the careful and caring process under Judge Henwood which has been underway for the last few years (the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service) is about to close.
So no word about the numerous people who were abused in State care but in special schools or other arms of the State not Social Welfare. Will they get a letter of apology from anyone - or put in the too hard basket?
This is a topic I really care about having talked to so many hurting people. Frustrated that the State won't take responsibility. As one person told me 'The State broke me when I was a teenager and the State has a responsibility to fix me, whatever it takes'.
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Government has decided on fast track process to clear historic abuse claims. There is a big risk here. People want to be taken seriously, be heard and receive a sincere apology from the State. This risks a tick box approach, cash payoff, and a third rate apology and there appears to be no process to deal with distress and triggering.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/273056/bid-to-clear-historical-abuse-claim-backlog
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That's a very moving little exhibition. As well as their weary gaze at the camera, the photos show their rough quality clothes and basic technology used to deal with the impairment such as prosthetic limbs. They were really at the forefront of that idea of rehabilitation.
There has been a recent exhibition in the UK of people wounded in the Afghanistan war in which the subjects are willing participants in the photos which has a quite different feel. By musician Bryan Adams