Local elections
So, it's local election time again. I like to think that I'm pretty diligent about doing my bit for the democratic process - I've voted in every local/national election since I turned 18, and I am intending to vote tomorrow. However, I think I'm now succumbing to the same apathy that seems to affect so many of my friends, partly because it seems that none of the politicians are taking it seriously.
Normally I vote LibDem; the only exception has been when I voted for Ken Livingstone as an independent candidate for London mayor (having previously voted against the idea of an elected mayor), and in hindsight I regret that. For this election, I felt that I should at least attempt to make an informed choice, so I tried to gather some details on the different candidates. This turned out to be remarkably difficult.
My first stop was the BBC website. However, despite claiming to offer an indepth guide to "every council, every election", all they really had was a list of constituencies.
I then tried Croydon council website. They have a Statement of Persons Nominated, which sounded encouraging. However, this just turned out to be a long list of names/parties, so it basically just said "For each ward there are 3 Conservative candidates, 3 Labour candidates, 3 LibDem candidates, and a few others". Again, this isn't amazingly useful, unless you assume that everyone will vote along standard party lines based on national policies.
What I'm really looking for is some information about the individual candidates who are standing. For instance, what kind of track record do they have? Are they new to local government, or do they have a lot of experience? Do they have any significant achievements, or goals? Will they just toe the standard party line on all issues, or do they have any particular preferences of their own?
In a national election, I'd typically get this kind of information from flyers through the door, or possibly canvassing. In a local election, I suppose it's reasonable for the parties to keep their costs down. So, perhaps they'll make use of the internet instead, by putting this information on their website.
Going to the LibDem website, they publish their manifesto for all English local elections in 2006 (one size fits all, apparently). Incidentally, every manifesto I saw was in pdf format, so they lose points for that. In fairness, I have just found a site for Croydon LibDems, which lists their candidates. However, it still doesn't tell me anything about those particular people beyond their names.
In the past, one thing that's appealed to me about the LibDems is that they're quite positive. Typical election campaigns would go like this:
Conservative: "Don't vote Labour!"
Labour: "Don't vote Conservative!"
LibDem: "Do vote for us!"
In that situation, I figure that I can make everyone happy by voting LibDem.
However, in this case the LibDems seem to be falling into the same trap, by basically saying "They suck, we rock" and not giving specifics. Typical quote: "And where Labour and Conservatives have let people down, we
Normally I vote LibDem; the only exception has been when I voted for Ken Livingstone as an independent candidate for London mayor (having previously voted against the idea of an elected mayor), and in hindsight I regret that. For this election, I felt that I should at least attempt to make an informed choice, so I tried to gather some details on the different candidates. This turned out to be remarkably difficult.
My first stop was the BBC website. However, despite claiming to offer an indepth guide to "every council, every election", all they really had was a list of constituencies.
I then tried Croydon council website. They have a Statement of Persons Nominated, which sounded encouraging. However, this just turned out to be a long list of names/parties, so it basically just said "For each ward there are 3 Conservative candidates, 3 Labour candidates, 3 LibDem candidates, and a few others". Again, this isn't amazingly useful, unless you assume that everyone will vote along standard party lines based on national policies.
What I'm really looking for is some information about the individual candidates who are standing. For instance, what kind of track record do they have? Are they new to local government, or do they have a lot of experience? Do they have any significant achievements, or goals? Will they just toe the standard party line on all issues, or do they have any particular preferences of their own?
In a national election, I'd typically get this kind of information from flyers through the door, or possibly canvassing. In a local election, I suppose it's reasonable for the parties to keep their costs down. So, perhaps they'll make use of the internet instead, by putting this information on their website.
Going to the LibDem website, they publish their manifesto for all English local elections in 2006 (one size fits all, apparently). Incidentally, every manifesto I saw was in pdf format, so they lose points for that. In fairness, I have just found a site for Croydon LibDems, which lists their candidates. However, it still doesn't tell me anything about those particular people beyond their names.
In the past, one thing that's appealed to me about the LibDems is that they're quite positive. Typical election campaigns would go like this:
Conservative: "Don't vote Labour!"
Labour: "Don't vote Conservative!"
LibDem: "Do vote for us!"
In that situation, I figure that I can make everyone happy by voting LibDem.
However, in this case the LibDems seem to be falling into the same trap, by basically saying "They suck, we rock" and not giving specifics. Typical quote: "And where Labour and Conservatives have let people down, we