AV v FPTP

On Thursday ^5th May, voters will vote on the issue of using AV to elect our MPs into Parliament. If you’re completely unaware of the whole referendum (really?) or don’t have a clue what AV is, read on.

First off, Alternative Vote. Voters will get a single vote and instead of scribing a cross in the candidate of your choice, you number your candidates in preference. AV is a majority system which the winner must achieve 50% + 1 vote to win. If a candidate has the highest of the 1^st preference votes but doesn’t achieve a majority, 2^nd preferences are added on, then 3^rd preferences and so on until one candidate is the winner and he/she goes on to represent the constituency in Parliament. How do the pair compare? Let’s see.

Representation

First Past the Post isn’t a fair representational electoral system when used for an election with multiple candidates. This is because the winning candidate of a constituency could achieve 35% of the electorate’s votes and represent the constituency, but what about the remaining 65% of voters who didn’t vote for that candidate? Is this representational of a constituency where only a minority of the voters want the candidate to represent the area? AV does help resolve this problem by being a majority electoral system but a candidate can win on 2nd preferences.

Mandate

Links with representation here. A winning candidate can win with 37% of the electorate’s vote, but it isn’t so much a strong mandate when only a minority support the candidate. Only a third of elected MPs currently in Parliament won 50% of the votes, not so much a strong mandate there, eh? Since a winner under AV requires a majority of the votes to win, the MP has a greater mandate to go on and represent his/her constituency in Parliament. AV can flush out some of the “weaker” MPs. 

Easy to understand?

FPTP is easy to understand; winner is candidate with most votes. AV however can seem complicated, but really isn’t when it boils down to just ranking in preference your candidates. There are far more “confusing” electoral systems than AV. AMS and it’s D’Hondt system anyone?

Tactical voting 

A major flaw of FPTP is tactical voting where voters vote against a candidate and vote for the 2^nd likeliest winning candidate to attempt to block the candidate from winning the seat. Under AV, it can be partly resolved where you could for example wish for the Tory candidate to not get the seat, so you could vote the Labour candidate as your 1^st preference and the Conservative candidate last.

Equal votes

Under FPTP, if a voter doesn’t vote for the winning candidate, his/her vote is wasted. Under AV, the ability to rank in preference your candidates means that you do have an equal vote to other vote and even if you didn’t vote for Labour, Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, your 4^th or 5^th preferences still can have a say. 

Democratic?

First Past the Post favours a two party system between the Labour and Conservative parties and safe seats. Under AV, it's slightly more democratic, but note I said "slight". Under AV, Liberal Democrats would benefit from the system as they're the third biggest political party and seen as an alternative party to vote for, therefore a noted second preference. The claims made that AV would benefit BNP is wrong. It would be quite extreme for the party to win a seat on fifth and sixth preferences which the No to AV campaign is making out to be something that could very well happen. Plus the BNP are campaigning against AV, so why would it benefit a party that doesn't even want the system? 

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Personally, if I could vote, I would vote yes. Partly because I think it’s a better electoral system but then again, any other system is. I’m all for proportional representation since it’s right for modern UK Politics and First Past the Post is a system that’s failed to stand the test of time and serves no place in UK Politics since we have multiple political parties and it’s undemocratic to use a electoral system that favours a two party system.

If AV was to be used in UK General Elections, then it would be rather a stumble than a step forward. AV is a better system, but it’s not the desired system that we, the public want. That’s why we feel cheated. We finally get a referendum on electoral reform and we get a half arsed one since it’s a compromise. To think, if the Liberal Democrats hadn’t been so weak to the Conservatives and stood their ground, we would have a referendum on STV, what everyone really wants. This feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity to get rid of the ancient First Past the Post system and we’re being offered a weak alternative. Alternative vote.

Waterlulz Road S6 EP 18: Waterloo Road Struts Its Stuff

(I finally did something!)

Last episode, Lauren and Amy strolled into school looking like two girls who have seen one too many Madonna music videos and everyone pointed and laughed at how awful they looked. Karen however, decided that the kids might as well have a fashion show to express their fashion talents. Oh here we go. Ronan thought this would be a great opportunely to show off his fashion and make up skills to charm the socks off Vicki, who he snogged last episode. The young lady described it as a "I waz lyke well hung, u know like" snog but then tried to soften the blow by agreeing that it was a "friend snog". Ronan was gutted, but he's Ronan, a charming young man and he won't stop until he meets his goal. Out of the blue came his mentor, Will Mellor of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps fame, out of his shiny, fancy car with his white shirt, leather jacket and sunglasses, the sort of look that women seem to like, particularity Vicki who quivered at the knees instantly.

Adanna didn't like the whole event because it "objectified" the kids (She truly is a diet Kim) and especially after he showed up. You see, they had a bit of history in which they hooked up and you can figure out the rest and I had the sneaky feeling that some man from her past was going to pop up after she said she's been married 3 times. Anyway, the writers made Vicki a girl with low self esteem of her own appearance, but since Ronan cares about her, he got his good ol' buddy Dan to try and make her cheer up about herself (Quite cliche) and she was given a fancy dress and even some lunch! Vicki was infatuated by Dan's charms and went in for the snog with Adanna popping up to immediately think the worse, especially after the whole Bex/Hodgy affair. "I don't date kids!" he proclaimed! Crikey, an adult that doesn't like children, something that's quite rare in the Waterloo Road universe.

 Couldn't help but laugh with Ronan discovered Vicki and Dan hugging when he had make up on and flashing his bare chest.

Miss McDonald stormed off and she was clearly embarrassed by the whole affair, even offending Ronan's handy work. Vicki hugged Dan as a thank you, but oh dear, cue Ronan to assume that he was trying to get it on with Vicki. She was upset and after realising how the effort that Ronan put in turning a picnic blanket into a dress, she decided to wear it and boy, she looked fab-u-lous in it. So there you go, Ronan scores the girl he wanted to take advantage of at the party. At least he did it by winning her heart, not waiting until she's pissed and a bit worse for wear.

Cesca and Jonah weren't worrying about being caught out this episode, but rather what they should do about the foetus inside Cesca. She was adamant about aborting their baby, much to the sadness of Jonah who begged that she reconsidered. But all it took to change her mind in the end was a soppy and cheesy call from her hunk to make her think twice about the abortion and for her reward, he proposed to her in the suspiciously always empty art room. Oh wow. Talk about moving too fast, Jonah. By snogging Jonah's face off, she meant yes and they celebrated by having a session in the room, but oh no, cue Ronan to pop up and be completely gob smacked about seeing his mate baring his chest and Cesca in a tank top looking all guilty. Oh aye aye, señor.

 Waterloo Road pay homage to The Deer Hunter.

Denzil is up to no good with Kyle who are both doing dangerous things for money. What's the dangerous event this episode? Downing large bottles of fizzy drinks. Hardcore. One girl (Can't remember her name) opposed this reckless behaviour and couldn't see the fun in boys pissing themselves because they can't handle chugging bottles of cheap lemonade. So with the bets in, it was Harry, Denzil, Kyle and some random boy competing together to win some money and to see who has the largest bladder. Harry pulled off his signature move and so did the extra to set up Kyle v Denzil, a real Frost v Nixon duel. Kyle pissed himself so Denzil won, most to the disapproval of that girl, but he didn't care because he won some money. He did however spew up near the fashion show stage, which is a shame because if it were on the catwalk, it would have certainly livened up the show with girls in heels attempting to dodge the sick while looking like they fell out of a wardrobe of charity clothes.

Grantly reads extracts of Katie Price's new book.

Ruby was given a push from Grantly to write a novel and she attempted to write a romance novel. Grantly proof read what she did so far and from his description, we could see it was all sex with no plot, rather like your average porn film. Ruby enlisted Grantly to help her turn this bargain bin soft porn novel into a Jane Austin novel which if Grantly was writing, would have some sarky character that mutters a one liner every scene. Certainly would have liven up Pride and Prejudice.

Guess Who's Back? No, It's Not Slim Shady.

Yeah, I am. Finally. Well, 2 weeks off school and you can sit there and go "Yeah, fucking yes, no school, nice weather" but then it suddenly hits you that you've got AS Level exams after the break and a stack load of revision to do during the break. Brilliant. High workload when it finally gets warm. It's like we have been teased, we can go outside and play in the sun, but then suddenly feel bad that you playing football in the park is you neglecting your studies. Tut tut me.

Anyway, I'm back on the blog. I've missed out on so many blog entries other the past few weeks which could have pulled in more views, but no, coursework is a top priority. I have semi watched Waterloo Road episodes 18-20, will be typing my failure commentaries when I get the chance, not really thinking of doing the individual commentary on each one episode when I could just condense the 3 episodes into one commentary. Lightens the workload and lets me experience more of this warm weather we're getting lately.

From what I've seen of series 6, I doubt I would be watching the next series of Waterloo Road because it's got to a point where I'm purely watching to produce half arsed commentary thingys on the episodes, trying to produce a decent joke or two when I can't. First half of the series I enjoyed doing because I didn't feel like I had any pressure on me and didn't have much of a workload, but blogging about the second half of the series has taken its toll on me and I've come out of it thinking I'm no good at this writing lark. The hiatus has made me reflect on why the recent entries have been awful-ish. It's due to pressure from two sources; schoo as I've been trying to boost my grades and also, "fan" pressure. This blog has always been a side project of mine and isn't that much of a high priority, so I wasn't going to fart out top notch posts when I've got coursework, revision and various other issues to deal with. Sort of a shame because I hate disappointing people and I have recently so I put my hand up and apologise. Obviously, you must understand and possibly sympathise with me, I don't know.

Always, Media coursework almost finished, needs another day of work and I'll be satisfied. Well, all but the trailer, since I had to record most of the narration and came to the realisation I sound like an unattractive nerd that plays World of Warcraft all day. Ewww, I know. Sadtimes. English Language coursework is currently at a C grade, 1 or 2 marks of a B grade, but I'm pushing for a A grade so if I get a C in the exam, I should get a B overall. I always put my best effort in coursework and get the highest mark I can possibly get so it acts as a safety net if I cock up as bad as an Arsenal centre back. Economics is going... well not great, it seems what I've been taught has gone through one ear and out the other. BUGGER. But good news for Politics, a subject I have high hopes for, a subject that I could easily get a B grade in since you only need 70/100 to get a B, which is awesome. Last 6 exam questions I've done have all been marked as B grades so if I can do that in the exam, that would be superb.

So yeah, back on the blog now. I'll stop typing now since I realise that I've been rambling like I've been talking about electoral systems to a person who doesn't give a shit and I'm sure you would probably agree.

K, bye.

General Notice

Hey guys, I'm busy with work so I'm going to even slower with posting blog updates and it should ease the workload on me so I'll be able to post content at the quality that I usually work at, not half arsed Waterlulz Commentaries. I have getting complaints and I agree with them, they are shoddy at the moment. I blame my work load for that since I'm putting most of my time and effort into Media Studies and English Language coursework which are both massive pains in the arse. I'm not sure how this would go, perhaps I'll be slow on updating or not post at all. I do like blogging but it's going to the side for the moment.

So I'll errr be back in a bit then. Yeah?

- Mike

Waterlulz Road S6 EP17 - New Danger in Youth Culture - DAYTIME RAVES.

This week, Ronan and Finn planned to have a party at a "departed" and "unused" warehouse in order to get some girls (mainly Ronan scoring Vicki) and have a general laugh with each other. For some reason, they decided to have it straight after school, rather not at night when most parties usually happen. A party in the daytime? Ha, you Waterloo Road kids are living the dream. Ronan and Finn smuggled all the supplies in a rather Chuckle Brothers style and the party was set. To make it better, they found some alcohol under some covers which anyone else would realise that this superposed unused warehouse is playing host to something else

With teeth that white, does he use the same teeth whitening product as Richard Hammond? 

So the party kicked off and was going well. I was honestly waiting for the warehouse to suddenly crumble and injure and kill a load of people like what happened a few years ago on Neighbours (yes, I did watch that, don't judge) but instead, a gang of men turned up to question why everyone was drinking their alcohol and why girls bodies were on show. One man squared up to Sambuca who wasn't afraid of gruff men like him, but Finn wanted to look all tough and "hard" infront of her so he squared up to him, but thank God for Tom Clarkson, who stopped Finn getting battered (fish joke, ha) and single handily told the naughty gang to go away. Bravo. Other than the thug incident, the party went well; Finn and Sambuca kissed and made up, Ronan got some Vicki (made his pants sticki) and Janeece, the trendy mother she is, had a good time.

After his previous saving the day attempts and man handling bad guys, I think he should have his own spin off series where he quits teaching and becomes a renegade police detective, with a shiny Audi and could have Josh as his wise cracklin' side kick. This has to happen for reals. Don't steal my idea, TV people.

Looks like Amy and Lauren have been watching a load of Madonna music videos.

Cesca has officially been knocked up by ridiculously white teethed Jonah Kirby, who almost stupidly everyone told who he got prego at the daytime rave. He plans to now quit school and get a full time job because he thinks that changing nappies and looking after your missus is better than getting an education. His job search was found out by his sister, Ruth, who's appearance came so out of the blue, you'll be forgiven if you didn't know she was. He's determined to drop school for his missus in order to provide for her, which you could call gentlemen like, but is she really worth it? With a oh-la-la body like that, it is.

Yay! The Hodge/Bex/Jess storyline has ended! Bex was back with that Hodge bloke in order to stop any footage of Jess being uploaded to his lovely site. Jess told Karen and Chris that she's met her and wants to bring her back so Jess meets Hodge and he tries her away, much to the disapproval of Karen, who really should of chased the pair by car rather than a frantic run. She was taken to their pad and instead of saying bye to Bex, she was going to star in a non-family friendly movie. Bex managed to get text Karen Hodge's address in which Karen and Chris raced over to and found Jess lying on a bed. "He's taken her. I couldn't stop him" she uttered. Well, if you shagged him, I think you would of stopped him for a couple of minutes. But actually, he and Bex didn't get that far and only got to a bridge where Bex vented at him and good thing she did that since some nice Policemen popped up and took him away. Pretty dramatic. Even had knock off Requiem for a Dream music in the background, now that's what you need for a cheap drama scene.

Also, well done to BBC iPlayer for cocking up the preview image for the episode:

Waterloo Road S6 EP16 - Sex(y) Bex

Finally! We find out about Bex’s past and it wasn't something that the family would approve of. She was revealed to be an amateur pornstar, opening her legs for money for her and so Hodge wouldn't show her family her new job. This stunning revelation was discovered by Wayne who's the definition of a sexist pig; he's mental and obsessed about women's jugs and genitalia who casually strolls around with one hand on his phone flicking through porn and his other hand on his you-what-what.

Harry's bulimia is returning, then.

After a random search on a site, he stumbled upon Bex stretching and doing suggestive poses on a bed and immediately showed his buddies and eventually everyone after making posters of her doing a seductive pose in some lacy undies. Finn being the good boy he is now, tried to stop this video being leaked and it did. To Tom and Karen. Oh very dear. However Karen was supportive of her daughter, determined that this Hodge will be taken down for child abuse, but Bex isn't able to go through it due to those painful memories, unsurprising really, I wouldn't want to be shagged by a man with the knowledge that many horny teenagers will be jerking off to it.

This sudden revelation couldn't of happened on any other day on Head Captain election day with Bex running against Jonah who too has a dirty secret. Who knows, her campaign slogan could "Vote for me, complimentary handjobs for all". Bex and Jess were being honest, just handing out fliers with "Vote Bex", but she might as well used her poses in lingerie as her campaign flyer as it was likely to boost votes and male erections. However, Ronan's grand idea to get Jonah the win was to photoshop his head onto a muscular body, presumably Taylor Lautner, famous for having more screentime topless than time having clothes on. People were impressed, but not everyone wants to see Jonah's photoshopped body, but his actual policy. 

What was wrong with a "Yes We Can" campaign, Jonah? 

Bex won the contest after a powerful speech from her mother and herself (Wayne should get a thank you card ) but she's unable to take up her new role as she's back having unwanted sex with Hodge in order to prevent the footage of Jess riding his disco stick being uploaded onto the internet. Awww, that's family love right there. 


By default, Jonah gets the Head Pupil role. I bet Cesca loves a boy with authority. The morally wrong couple continued their awkward scenes this week with both anxious, especially Cesca and as Wayne suggested to Finn about Sambuca, maybe "she needs a good seeing to". They manage to resolve their issues and agree to act like a proper couple, still being secret but that's not going to last long in dramaland. To prove how serious she is, she's given notorious womaniser Tom Clarkson the slip by semi telling him the truth that she's getting serious with someone. Poor Tom. His womanising charms only seem to work on staff members and he's not got a lot of choice other than Adanna and Karen. Definition of scraping the barrel. 

Funnily enough, this episode centred on sexism and porn aired a day after International Women Day.

Last week reformed bad boy Finn Sharkly took the reins of being Denzil's mentor, angering Sambuca, Rochdale's answer to Kristen Dunst. He wasn't really doing himself any favours when she appeared at the wrong time, getting the wrong end of the stick as he was seen to showing Denzil some porn. Sambuca is annoyed about Finn and constantly keeps whinging how bad Finn is, but Amy and Lauren saw something; she fancied him in a love/hate way. Weird, I know. Sambuca realised that she was in the wrong and they kissed and made up (literally) and good on them. Denzil however didn't seem too pleased, it being played for comedy, he could of put his arms up in the air and pulled a sigh face.

Waterlulz Road S6 EP15: The Penny Drops for Karen

Karen has been in charge of the dump since the start of Series 6 and proved to be popular with most fans, with some undecided and the followers of the Rachel Mason cult didn't really like her because she obviously wasn't Rachel and she didn't spend her time being a superhero for a single character who was likely to bugger off after that episode.

So it was all about Harry v Karen this episode with everyone banging on at Harry that he's currently failing his grades and if he keeps at this level, he'll fail school, have no job, get on drugs, have no house and generally fail at everything. He puts it down to his mother's ethnics and how arrogant she is including not letting him see his dad (is he still in t'Corrie land?), but she's having no bad talk about her so he keeps telling him to shut up. In order to stir some drama, the little scamp stole Karen's phone and used it to frighten and infuriate staff members by sending emails of "You're not very good at your job" (hence why they work at Waterloo Road) and "Come to my office for a verbal spanking".

Harry's Ninja skills at work here.

As long term fans would know, Grantly likes to pull the Teacher's union card whenever he gets upset on something and this was no different. He called for a union rep to get Karen at least suspended for these emails. This set up an event in the corridor to let everyone vent about Karen believing that it was fine to do so considering she had apparently sent these emails. Two wrongs don't make a right etc etc. Grantly and Ruby did have a lunchtime "date" together to which made Ruby nervous after Janeece suggesting that Grantly fancied her. To be fair to Janeece, anyone could of said that when there's blatant chemistry together with their book swaps and comedy scenes. Plus John isn't about so they can do whatever the bloody hell they want to, as long as they're being discreet about it.

Discreet did I say? Cesca and Jonah are going to need to look that word up in the dictionary after Harry's antics did cause a bit of tension between Cesca and Jonah (not that sort) when Cesca received an email about an certain "incident" and blimey, if Cesca and Jonah had come out then, Harry probably would of got a pat on the back for that one. Funny how them nearly getting found out made them even less secretive with their conversations being in the art room that's funnily enough always empty (No Kim, that's why), the bike shed and even bonking in the cleaning cupboard. Next weeks episode: Cesca and Jonah have a session in the school library with Jonah putting his hand on her throat to feel how the Spanish moan their pleasure.

It all got resolved after Harry owned to the emails and she wasn't too pleased about her son being her unofficial messenger. Harry had another "You're a controlling person, you don't listen" rant, Karen finally realised that she's not exactly been the best of mothers or Headteacher, so apologised to everyone and even had a mother/son bonding moment on the stairs and went out for pizza, the obvious choice when peace making.

Karen Fisher angry - What a surprise.

I think the problem with Karen is that she's elitist and ignorant. Being the big cheese means that she's all powerful over the students and staff making her opinion more important than whatever someone says and thinks making her understandably a hate figure. You know, someone talks to you and you know that they're talking to you but you're not really listening because you're wondering what's for dinner tonight. Also if we're getting picky at her, I don't like her voice. I mean come on, everytime she says "What is this?" she sounds like she's trembling and about to cry.

Segregation between girls and boys looks even more doomed after this week with the girls continuing to embarrass the boys in class results. A plan to get the boys looking brilliant and marvellous was running as a smart arse businessman visited the school to do a business enterprise which was essentially just a diet  Dragons Den. It all seemed to go all tits up when Kyle Haystack's great idea to recycle sewage water back into the kitchens for re-use was meet with the same reaction as watching The Human Centipede for the first time. It also got stormed by a load of girls who were whining over being left out but all they think of was a dating website as if there wasn't already a load of those ALREADY.

Tom uses the "Actions speak louder than words" approach when judging Kyle's idea.

In a twist to the Bex v Hodge storyline, Jess stupidly agreed to meet up with him despite the obvious freakouts everytime he was mentioned or when his Hodge radar was beeping. She found out that he was an alright bloke and a bit of a charmer, so of course it felt right to book a hotel room and have a Night in Paris session. However, next week we'll find out about Bex's mysterious absence and what this means for her and Jess. I'm not really fussed unless I manage to get a copy of the sexy business.