Re: the Referendum, I did some internet research as my mother was quite agitated about it. She will have voted to keep the FPTP system. I am very 'pro' proportional representation and was appalled by a) the lack of decent information on ARM, b) the misrepresentation of facts by the No camp and c) the utterly stupid system being proposed for the 'list' candidates>

a) I couldn't find any really well presented explanation of what the Yes camp wanted. I did find one website with details but so badly designed that you couldn't really spend time on it. My mother, who is partially sited, simply couldn't access any sensible information on the campaign.

b) the No camp's site was inflamatory (which should have been enough to get Mum to vote Yes) and misleading. It reported that the UK did not have a PR system; well, the Westminster gov't is FPTP but the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly have an ARM system (not sure about N. Ireland) and it has resulted in much better government. It ain't perfect - I'd have preferred a Single Transferrable Vote system - but ... baby steps.

c) this idea of having a province-wide 'list' was completely bonkers! The system here (in Wales) is one vote for your constituency and a second for a regional cluster of constituencies. Those who go through on the regional 'list' are still going to be relatively local. Whoever thought of the province-wide list was obviously working for the No camp!

I'm sorry that you didn't go for Proporational Representation (PR). I don't suppose it will come up again for a while now. PR is definitely better ...

sian
(formerly Port Colborne, Ont)