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Monday 11 May 2015

Referendums

How often should we have referendums? There seems to be two schools of thought on this.

1) Very occasionally, when something is so important, it's worth consulting the whole population.
2) Every couple of years, until the people give the right answer.

So, we had a referendum on proportional representation (PR), in 2011. But now I'm seeing calls for another referendum, because some parties would do a lot better under that system. Well, that was always true, and always will be true.

So, the Scots were asked, in a "once-in-a-generation poll", if they wanted to be independent, and they said "No". But the SNP are starting to push for another referendum.

The problem is, referendums are quite expensive, in the obvious costs, in time wasted and in the uncertainty engendered until the result is in. If you think that some drastic change is about to shift the business environment, you'd be sensible to hold off on investment until the question is settled.

I'm in favour of PR. But I don't think it's a good idea to have a referendum on it every few years "until the people give the right answer". Because then the people who think it's the wrong answer, will be calling for a referendum to change it back, every few years.

4 comments:

  1. or.. we could just resort to Civil War instead :)

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  2. This is not associated with the post but i do like your new spam-bot. Is there a particlular reason for it showing pictures of food! or was that just the options i got?

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  3. It taps into your brain and shows you appropriate stuff.

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    Replies
    1. You are on form today Doc. :)

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