BBC Complaints: The link you need!

Monday 26 April 2010

THE BBC'S LIVE ELECTION BLAG

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There was a lot about consitutional change on the BBC's live election blog yesterday and, with just one exception, all the posts on this theme were in favour of it.
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Here is a selection from last night's blog, including (gratuitously on my part) something you might like to know about Ed Balls and one or two other things besides:
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2354: Michael Kay, Reading writes: Politicians are talking about electoral reform as if it's assumed that 51% of MPs should be able to change the constitution for ever. The real reform we need is to create a written constitution that can't be changed at the whim of the current government. Have Your Say

2224: So much for a relaxing day with the kids. It turns out Nick Clegg spent part of his day off in the casualty department of Kingston Hospital, south-west London. His wife Miriam fell and fractured her left elbow while shopping on Saturday afternoon. The Lib Dem leader had intended to spend the day with his three young sons, who he hadn't seen for three weeks after they became stranded in Spain during the flight ban. It never rains, as they say.

2155: Children's Secretary Ed Balls has been issued with a £60 fine for driving while using a mobile phone, it has emerged. Mr Balls told the Daily Mirror it happened last Sunday when he was driving from Yorkshire to London with his wife, fellow Cabinet minister Yvette Cooper, and their children. He did not want to wake the kids, he explained, so took the phone off its hands-free cradle - and was almost immediately spotted by police. He says he supports the law 100%.

2120: Harry Naylor from Birmingham writes: A number of politicians seem to be talking about a hung parliament as if it is something the country will have decided upon if the election on May 6th produced that result. Surely if we end up with a hung parliament it will be because the country can't reach a consensus on who should be in charge?Have Your Say

2051: His party may be behind in the polls but at least one survey has given Gordon Brown something to smile about. He was voted the politician with the most trustworthy grin by those well-known pollsters at, ahem, Jurys Inn. Some 4,000 people in the UK were shown photos of 20 celebrity smiles - top half of the face covered - and asked to choose which they trusted most. The PM finished sixth behind winner Stephen Fry, David Beckham and Cheryl Cole but was seven spots ahead of David Cameron, with Nick Clegg languishing in 17th. And to think people mocked his YouTube videos.

2010: YvonneConnell from Bexleyheath in Kent writes: Ignored and disenfranchised - that's how I feel, living in a constituency that no political party is targeting. The Tories presumably expect to win the seat so, given that I'm not a Tory, what's my incentive to vote? Where are the candidates? I need more than a bland leaflet to judge their suitability as my representative in parliament, but how do I get to see and hear these invisible candidates?Have Your

1932: Philip Justice from Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire writes: A hung parliament may not look so good in six months when the party not in power is whining on and the other two are breaking all their promises and blaming each other. Put someone in charge and hold them responsible for what they do.Have Your Say

1905: andypic tweets: Whatever else happens in this election, I earnestly hope it's the last ever in the UK with first-past-the-post systemRead andypic's tweets

1849: Jeremy from Greenwich writes: If first past the post can allow a party with 28% to have the most seats then it is wrong. Why are the Conservatives against change?Have Your Say

1833: The SNP is more than half-way to its target of raising £50,000 by the end of Monday to fund its planned legal action to force the BBC to include a Scottish representative in Thursday's prime ministerial debate on the economy. Deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon says it has now received more than £26,000 in donations.

1746: Lord Owen reckons Nick Clegg is the first Lib Dem leader to put himself in a position to deal with either Labour or the Tories. "If you can't work with one, you can't bargain with the other. This puts him in a much better negotiating situation." The former Labour cabinet minister, SDP leader and ally of the old Liberal Party adds that a coalition speaking for more than 50% of the electorate could deal more effectively with the economic deficit than a party with a slim majority.

1730: Support for independence would rise in Scotland if the Tories win the general election, a new poll has suggested. The YouGov survey of 1,001 people for Sky News found that 31% of voters would vote for independence if a referendum was held now, with 54% saying they would vote "no". People were then quizzed about how they would vote if the Conservatives won and a referendum on independence were held two or three years later - then, 40% of voters said they would back independence, with 43% voting "no".

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