Well firstly, what exactly is a hung parliament?  Well for a party to form a government, they need an absolute majority.  What this means is that they have won more seats in parliament than all the other parties combined.  However, if this doesn’t happen than quite simply, all the other smaller parties can band together and outvote the minority government and this can make things like passing laws very tough.  This scenario is known as a “hung parliament”.  If this were to happen, the current prime minister (Gordon Brown) can go ahead and form a coalition government with a smaller party so that laws can be passed smoothly and easily.

In the past couple of weeks, we have heard a lot of political scare-mongering from plenty of UK papers about how a hung parliament would be detrimental to the UK as a whole.  Personally, I couldn’t disagree more.  Papers like The Sun have been saying that a hung parliament is an ineffective and weak government.  However, this couldn’t be more further from the truth.  There are other countries that have done perfectly well with a coalition government such as Germany and New Zealand, not to mention the Scottish Parliament and Welsh National assembly.  Let’s not forget that during the Second World War, we had a coalition government as well.  Some papers have grumbled that parties such as the Liberal Democrats are not a credible party that should never be in power.  Quite frankly, this is nonsense.  According to a recent YouGov poll, if the Lib Dems had a fair slice of the democratic cake, nearly half of voters would have voted for them.  It is quite clear based on this that people are crying out for electoral reform and lets hope that results tonight will show this.  A lot of people are concerned that a hung parliament might affect our economic recovery and again, this is simply fear-mongering.   According to a recent study by the House of Commons, 7 out of 10 of the largest fiscal consolidations ever carried out were done under coalition governments since 1970.  It is fairly obvious that a coalition government can certainly do it.

For me, I believe that a positive attitude towards our politics is vital.  Far too many people have lost faith in politicians and are no longer interested in UK politics.  With the highly likely event of a Hung Parliament, it would get more people interested in politics, it would bring a more representative government, and certainly bring electoral reform to UK politics.

Share on Facebook

“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.

Share on Facebook

I can say without a moment’s hesitation, that the last year of my life has been, by far, the best. On my profile I responded to the question ‘Who are you?’ by saying that ‘I am the summation of all the events in my life’. I can honestly say that although this may seem rather general and broad, the last 12 or so months have defined me as a person and have changed who I am…

During my final year of college, I was approached by my teacher about a scheme called the Prime Minister’s Global Fellowship. It appeared to be a pretty cool program which sent 100 6th Form leavers to either Brazil, China or India, to spend 6 weeks in one of these rapidly developing economies. It was a free trip and despite what seemed on paper like a fantastic opportunity; which would see me spent 2 weeks learning the native language and getting a cultural experience, 2 weeks staying with a family and teaching English, and the final 2 weeks as the host of a global company, my demeanour was lethargic and such opportunities did not ignite the same spark that they do now one year later.

I reluctantly filled out an application form and got through to the interview stages. From there I was somehow successful in making it onto the scheme and not a day goes by that I don’t thank God that I did. It was a life changing experience, and one thing I can distinctly remember from the trip is the day in Sao Paulo that were given the chance to hear 5 youths talk about their lives. They were all of similar age to us, yet instead of simply being at university, they all used to work in the daytime to support their families and attended university at night. The sad reality is that despite working 10 times harder than we do, they will spend their lives struggling to escape poverty. At that point, I realised how blessed we are in the UK. We are presented with an abundance of opportunities, yet we so readily pass them up. From that day, I made a promise to myself to never again pass up an opportunity and to make the most of my time….

Now, looking back on the promise I made to myself, I can honestly say that I am nowhere near as productive as I should be; but this gap year has been a chance for me to chase my dreams. I am in a position where anything I want is achievable, if I put in the effort.

If you had told me 12 months ago that in one short year I would attend a spiritual retreat in Morocco, where the tea I must say was the best I have ever had, go to the cultural vacuum of the world that you may know as Dubai, attempt to enter Gaza with an aid convoy via Egypt, swim with dolphins in Zanzibar (a must for all of you!), go to the shrine of Imam Hussein at the same time as 13 million other pilgrims, have my dignity handed to me on a plate by a 6ft 2inch Chinese kick-boxer, see the Pyramids of Giza by camel-back, play football in a favela in Rio di Janeiro, meet Ayatollah Sistani in Najaf, see the sun rise from the top of a mountain 2000m above sea level in Switzerland, witness the pre-Iranian election hype first hand, climb the Great Wall of China, try deep-sea fishing for the first time, watch Slumdog Millionaire in a private press screening 2 months before the official release, and meet the Prime Minister…twice, I would have laughed in your face.

In fact I would have laughed every time I talked to you. No, I would have laughed even just thinking about you, but the reality is that somehow I managed to do all of those things. Those of you that know me will know that frankly, I am a bit of a bum, and yet I managed to achieve so much in just one year, in just twelve short months. My gap year has proved to me, as I hope it will for others, that with the right motivation, there is no limit to what you can do, how far you can go and who you can become.

Share on Facebook