Voting system is in need of an overhaul

The AV referendum gives us an opportunity to overhaul our outdated system for electing MPs. Under AV, the candidate preferred by the majority will be elected and a candidate disliked by the majority, for example an unpopular sitting MP, will not be elected. This is not the case with First Past The Post (FPTP).

This is well illustrated by the 2005 Conservative Party leadership election. After a series of run-offs David Cameron emerged as the clear winner with more support than any of the other candidates. Mr Cameron would also have won if AV had been used. Yet David Davis polled more votes than any other candidate in the first round and would probably have “won” if the party had been using FPTP.

So why do Mr Cameron and other opponents of AV claim that FPTP always results in the best candidate being elected when they know it isn’t true?

From: Peter J Brown, Connaught Road, Middlesbrough.

THE need for radical reform of public services such as the Health Service, education and the welfare state is something that is often emphasised by politicians of all parties.

The radical reform of services that many of the public feel comfortable with is considered to be brave and bold by policies of all parties, and yet many politicians who have such passionate enthusiasm for reform of the public services are passionate opponents of any change in the voting system.

This argument should not wash with the electorate, it is hypocrisy of the most nauseous kind.

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

IF the country votes for AV to elect a Westminster MP, will the TV pundits be out of a job? Straw polls will be useless. And the swingometers will be going all awry as the vote leaders change throughout the night.

So, a Yes vote will be of some use.

I know my aardvark

From: Mrs Maureen Hunt, Woolley, near Wakefield.

When I saw Jayne Dowle’s article “Let them discover the world the natural way” with the photo of David Attenborough in Madagascar (Yorkshire Post, April 25), I was delighted. This I would enjoy. I was wrong. Jayne managed to bring the love of nature, as birds and animals, down to the level of class. That takes some doing but it didn’t work because her premise is palpably untrue.

She writes: “This nature issue has inevitably turned into a bit of a class thing... it seems to me that over the last 40 years or so, knowing your ant-eater from your aardvark has become as much a badge of middle-class respectability as knowing how to hold a knife and fork.” Well, Jayne, if I must be categorised, labelled and put into a box, I must be middle class as I went to a Methodist boarding school, and, I must have a permanent silver spoon stuck in my mouth.

So, this middle class person who may, or may not, be typical of her classification, has to say that actually I thought an aardvark “was an ant-eater” and I have no idea what the Latin name of a tree frog is, nor what the little red frog which I saw in a tree in Australia, not much larger than my thumb nail, was called. I do have a good friend who knows the Latin name of every plant in her garden, of which there are many.

To me, this is impressive and admirable as this is her forte. The fact that I know none worries me not a jot as I prefer fauna to flora.

Jayne believes that her children will be judged because of their lack of knowledge about nature which is surely ludicrous. A lot depends on the parents’ interests.

Brown’s list of mistakes

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, Bingley.

I CONFESS unashamedly that I am a Bernard Ingham fan, and particularly enjoyed his regular Wednesday column on Gordon Brown’s unsuitability to be appointed as the next managing director of the International Monetary Fund (Yorkshire Post, April 20).

Now that sufficient time has elapsed for our nation to review the 10-year period he spent as Chancellor of the Exchequer, we realise the falsity that he was outstanding to be a complete myth. His policy is exposed as borrow and spend, especially on socialist dream projects, the boom will continue indefinitely and property values will rise unabated, going bust eliminated.

By being appointed as PM with no election by his peers or the country gave him the opportunity to make even greater mistakes as the UK plunged in the record peacetime debt.

The telling paragraph in Bernard Ingham’s article: “One of the more depressing aspects of political life is seeing people elevated to the level of their own incompetence as a matter of routine.”

In terms of finance and international banking, this could not be any truer as the ex-PM qualified from university with an arts degree in history, so they put him in charge of the UK Treasury.

A qualification in economics, accounting or mathematics would be significantly more appropriate.