“Psephologists” I hear you say? Well even Microsoft Word doesn’t recognise it, so I don’t blame you for that look on your face. Then again, the spell-checker on Word is set to American, what do they know!?  Here is where my Classical Studies comes in. I rarely get to do this so please bear with me for a few lines, and then we will get back to the topic at large… (clears throat) Psephos (ψῆφος) is the ancient Greek word for ‘a pebble’.  Pebbles were used when casting a vote in the ballots in ancient times. Hence psephology is the scientific study of elections (If only you could see the grin on my face right now).

These psephologists look at any piece of statistical data, process it, and draw a hard-hitting conclusion which, to be honest, anyone could have told you. The most recent and amusing example is the one of young people registering to vote. After the second Prime Ministerial debate on Sky News (and BBC, but still called the Sky News debate… I digress) it seemed that many more young people were registering to vote. The psephologists rushed in and diagnosed:

“It is clear to see that the influx in young people registering has a direct correlation with the live debates. The debates have roused the political spirits within young people in the UK and the results are clear to see in the fact that they have flocked to register.” – Anonymous psephologist.

Let me present you with a scenario. You are a college student given a task on a Friday. It’s not particularly taxing and will require minimal effort, maybe five or ten minutes work. The teacher has requested it back anytime before next Friday morning, or anytime before then, however no later.

After consulting several polls based on the above question, a poll of polls has been constructed and the results show that the majority of people interviewed, conceded that they would leave the assignment till the last minute and do it hurriedly then. If we transfer this mentality to the registration arena, it is obvious that young people leave things, like registering, to the last minute, as they do with everything in life.

It is in our nature to be nonchalant about everything until the deadline is within touching distance. It has nothing to do with the fact that ‘the youth’ watched the debate on Thursday and were passionately inspired to register. The deadline for registering merely coincidentally fell 4 days after the debate. As youngsters rushed to their local polling stations to register, the psephologists pulled out their calculators and deduced that politics had become cool again. Apparently Adam Boulton was the new David Dimbleby… I think not.

It is my humble opinion that the media get far too excited about any plausible correlation between anything related to the elections. Gone are the days of the ‘Breaking News’ ticker on the bottom of news channels talking about terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Now we must endure annoying Twitter-like updates of Gillian Duffy’s whereabouts and feelings.

The media make a meal of anything and it seems that the simplest explanation can never be the correct one. There appears to be an obsession with graphs and polls, which if manipulated properly can serve any purpose required, as the tabloids have proved.

The media have lost themselves further credibility with their insistence on turning to Facebook, in particular, to get the opinion of the masses. The Sky News website integrated a Facebook status thread during the debate last Thursday, where anyone who changed their Facebook status whilst watching the debate would see it appear on the thread. Although some users offered some intelligent insight, most comments chose to abuse the respective leaders. This was entertaining, however hardly served to enhance the political process.

I would love to end with wise words about voting or politics or even the media, but I think it would be insensitive to not have a moment of silence for the political career of Gordon Brown…

Thank you.

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