There is an interesting piece in the LA Times (reg required) on the British general election from an American point of view. Is there a quantum of nastiness in an election campaign – and do we Brits outsource it to Paxman and Humphrys? Perhaps that’s why (with some exceptions, Mr Michael Howard) the political debate is on a slightly more polite level. Or it could just be that we’re in-bred Europeans, after all.
And so to vote.
There is a good article in this week’s New York Review of Books, by Alan Ryan. He’s reviewing Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Ethics of Identity, and in the review, he writes:
No doubt there are some beliefs we ought not to subscribe to without the fiercest testing, but they are few in number. What is true of beliefs is true of our other commitments; most of what we want, hope for and think right or wrong we have to take on trust. […] We move from babyhood to adulthood by acquiring habitual allegiances to people., places and values, and that only when that process is accomplished do we have the ability to pause and reflect on which of these allegiances to retain or reject. If moral autonomy meant that all of our allegiances were adopted in the first place only after rational scrutiny, none of us would be morally autonomous.
Well, absolutely. At the moment, when every day is opinion polling day, it’s worth remembering that one of the greatest virtues of democracy is not the voting at the end of the process, but the discussion in the middle.
The BBC and other TV broadcasters come into their own in an election period. Detailed discussions of the issues, proper coverage of the different political parties, debates and public meetings. A lot of the best stuff flows from statutory requirements of impartiality, but let’s not be churlish.
All of this enables people to take part in the political process, and find out about the issues if they want to. It makes choices more rational at the end of the process, and makes the results of those choices better even for the losing side. Now can we have it more than once every four years?
Is it just me, or do the hordes of supporters following Charles Kennedy with orange banners look rather like earnest Hare Krishnas?
Chris Lightfoot has been at it again. His new slide set (link to the slides near the end of this post) tries to explain why ‘right’ and ‘left’ just don’t work any more. His split along an islander/integrationist and a free market/socialist axis feels very right, and the results he draws from survey data are very convincing.
It surprises me to say it, but the UKIP’s party political broadcast was rather good. It opened with a fun riff on War of the Worlds, before moving on to the usual extravagant promises about what could be done if only we left the EU. Much of it was bunk, of course, but at least it was optimistic bunk – a stark contrast to the Tory election strategy of the last week or so. And Nigel Farage reminded us all that he’s the only prominent UKIPper with whom you might want to have a pint.
Flicking through TV in the hotel room, I found what looked like a Dutch detective series called (great Dutch name) Grijpstra & de Gier.
I have an Audioscrobbler account, so now people can see what I’m listening to. In real time! Emergently!
It’s possibly even more self-absorbed than blogging.
At last, a place for Gwyneth Paltrow and Arianna Huffington to tell us what they think. Link: Uber-blog raises a celebrity voice.
This old link deserved a re-post: The minimal compact: An open-source constitution for post-national states .
The Hiker Biker Bus has returned. The bus, which provides transport along the coast road for bicycles and walkers, is starting its summer Sunday runs again. It runs from Seaford to Eastbourne via Exceat and passes near Alfriston and Birling Gap. Link: County Council press release.
