The Talking Clock: Our poll: MPs are pointless

The Talking Clock is an opinion based, independently authored, small 'c' conservative, libertarian blog.

"The laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the kings and queens, who shall ascend the throne of this realm, ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively, according to the same."
Act of Settlement, 1700/01

"And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any
jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm."
Bill of Rights, 1689
- an important and still exisiting part of OUR both written and unwritten English constitution

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Our poll: MPs are pointless

In our August poll, we asked our blog visitors:

"Does a member of the public writing to an MP have any influence on how that MP votes in Parliament?"

Although only a small number of people voted, the results are quite alarming.

A majority - more than half of those who voted at 53% - said that NO, they did not believe that writing to an MP had any effect on the way their MP voted in Parliament.

Even worse, NOT ONE single person said 'yes', they thought it did make a difference.

There was not total pessimism. In the month where the most searched term to bring visitors to this blog was "George Galloway", a significant proportion of people - 26% - said they thought it depended on the MP. Does this figure have any correlation with visitors interested in the free-spirited Mr. Galloway?

A smaller number of people - 13% - said that they thought writing to an MP would influence that politician's Parliamentary voting "sometimes".

A further 6% of our visitors opted for the "don't know" option.

So, here's the state of democracy in Britain, in the opinion of our blog visitors. NOBODY AT ALL believes that democracy works as it should - that when a constituent writes to their MP, then their opinions influence a politician when he or she votes at Westminster.

A total of 39% of people thought that sometimes it might have an effect, depending on the MP.

And the majority - 53% - do not believe that we, the people who are meant to be represented - have any effect on how a MP votes at all.

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics - obviously.

However, there is surely food for thought for democracy in the statistics generated by visitors to this blog during August.

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Forever... Diana

...genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.

"And when I look at people in public life... I'm not a political animal but I think the biggest disease this world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved, and I know that I can give love - for a minute, for an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give. I'm very happy to do that and I want to do that."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"I think the British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels. I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I've had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let's now use the knowledge I've gathered to help other people in distress."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a truly British girl who transcended nationality."
- Earl Spencer

"..she was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public works. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world."
- Prince Harry

The People's Sovereignty

"...our membership of the European Union has removed our democracy; it has taken away the right of the British people to elect and dismiss those who make their laws. Our system of representative parliamentary democracy, for which millions have died over hundreds of years, has been frittered away. It no longer serves the people. That is why the time has come to give power back to the people. They deserve it anyway; it is their power and it belongs to them. Before long their anger will overflow if they do not get it back."

- Former UKIP leader Lord Pearson in the House of Lords, 5th February 2009

British resistance and liberty

"We British have in a very special way contributed to Europe. Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power. We have fought and we have died for her freedom. Only miles from here, in Belgium, lie the bodies of 120,000 British soldiers who died in the First World War.

Had it not been for that willingness to fight and to die, Europe would have been united long before now - but not in liberty, not in justice. It was British support to resistance movements throughout the last War that helped to keep alive the flame of liberty in so many countries until the day of liberation."

- Margaret Thatcher, Bruges, 1992

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

Our poll: MPs are pointless

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