Am actually quite please how this election went

[luckykaa]

See, everyone was screaming "oh no! anything but the Tories".  I was more worried about Labour possibly getting in again - even as part of a coalition. 

Labour are better on welfare and equal rights.  However, their civil rights record is pretty rotten.  Constant pushing for longer detention of suspected terrorists, Police stop and search powers, ID cards, anti-terrorism legislation that's used for trivial problems, reduced right to protest, DNA database full of innocent people, probably a few others.

Will the Conservatives be any better?  Maybe.  They have promised to scrap the ID card bill, and roll back some of Labour's excesses.  Even if not, they'll have the Lib Dems to keep them in check. 

Minority rights are important, and yes, progress here will stall.  This is sad.  But minority rights aren't the only rights and you don't have to be straight, white, able bodied and male to want to take a photo of the London skyline without being harassed by the police. 

Comments

[callylevy.livejournal.com]

I take your point about the monitoring... but not a great example ;-)

I'm not convinced that the right to take a photo of the London skyline free from harrassment is comparable to the right to receive equal treatment at work, in public services, and support at school etc etc. I'd be prepared to forego my photography rights in favour of some of these! And I'm not convinced that only minorities benefit when minorities are treated equally. However, I can buy into the idea that the most serious consequences of crap terrorism legislation are just as serious or more serious than some of things which can affect minorities at the moment.

Leaving aside politics, how are you? :-D

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Maybe not the best example, but still - it's a non-trivial rights violation, and the only way to roll this sort of thing back is to have not-Labour in for a while. It would be nice if there was a cleaner way of doing this. The system lends itself to overshooting and then correcting when a new government gets in. Not a great way of running things.

Anyway - I'm fine. Suffering from a contract of tedium and hoping to be given some work at some point.

[ingaborg.livejournal.com]

My biggest fear was another government of any flavour with a strong majority that could push through anything it liked. For my money, more voices in government stands at least a chance of preventing some of the worst "going off on one" governmental excesses that come from being too much in power, for too long, and losing the plot.

And there is *some* chance of electoral reform which would mean that my vote counted for a bit more...so yeah, shrug, it feels like it could have been worse.

[ghostpaw.livejournal.com]

I'll grant you that the possible rolling back of some of the ugly civil liberties abuses Labour were so fond of is one of the few silver linings on the Tory cloud. Although I wonder a bit how much they'll be rolled back for, say, young men of colour, or poor teenagers.

But, I'm also inclined to agree with Callylevy that having classes of people whom the government pretty much sanction as less than is dangerous not only for those minorities, but society in general.

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Yes. Sadly we'll probably have to wait for another Labour government to rebalance this. Ultimately we end up with an approximate national representation on something like a timeshare basis. It's a rubbish way of doing things.

Don't think AV is going to do a lot to help either. Perhaps there will be a push towards a House of Lords with actual proportional representation.

[ghostpaw.livejournal.com]

If I'm going to be massively cynical, the whole reason AV has been offered is as a token gesture to derail the electoral reform movement - it looks like they're doing something, but it won't actually change anything. (Plus if/when we have the referendum, you can bet your eye teeth News Corporation will make a concerted effort to scare the British electorate into voting against it).

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, I have issues with STV as well (I like having an MP for my constituency, closed lists don't strike me as all that democratic, not sure about open lists). At least AV would eliminate the need for tactical voting - as long as people actually understand it.