Census Day
For anyone who doesn't know, today is Census day in the UK. The forms are ridiculously long this time and they seem to be obsessed with asking about your job past & present (13 questions on that subject) more than anything. Now, I love the census because as someone into genealogy it's a really useful way of tracking ancestors (movement, marriages, parents, children, occupations), but this one doesn't seem to do what a genealogist would really want. In a 100 years time our descendants will be able to see how many cars you have, whether you were looking for work in the last two weeks, whether you consider yourself British or English/Welsh/Scots, your religion, main language, level of qualifications, how many hours you usually work a week and how you travel to work, even a very detailed info on marital status. But, you won't be able to tell where the person was born (beyond country), their middle name, how many children they've had.
To me, it's like they've deliberately designed it so that people will be p'd off enough that they turn against the idea of the census. There had already been rumblings from government that 2011 would be the last one, so it seems they're trying to force public opinion against it with really invasive questions while not addressing the things we really want it to.
All that said, I'm stupidly excited at the idea that I will be able to fill it in and declare that both Mikey and TJ are my partners. And I do it in the hope that in a hundred years time when our census results become public that poly relationships will either be commonplace or at least open and stigma free. I can already imagine Luke's grandkids researching their great granddad TJ who had TWO live-in boyfriends. *grins*
I would be really interested in comparing the UK census experience with the US one. So if anyone wants me to type up a list of all the questions for comparison then I will.
*snuggles my flist*
Nate
To me, it's like they've deliberately designed it so that people will be p'd off enough that they turn against the idea of the census. There had already been rumblings from government that 2011 would be the last one, so it seems they're trying to force public opinion against it with really invasive questions while not addressing the things we really want it to.
All that said, I'm stupidly excited at the idea that I will be able to fill it in and declare that both Mikey and TJ are my partners. And I do it in the hope that in a hundred years time when our census results become public that poly relationships will either be commonplace or at least open and stigma free. I can already imagine Luke's grandkids researching their great granddad TJ who had TWO live-in boyfriends. *grins*
I would be really interested in comparing the UK census experience with the US one. So if anyone wants me to type up a list of all the questions for comparison then I will.
*snuggles my flist*
Nate