Politics
This morning showed me the clearest indication I've yet seen that there's something wrong with the electoral system in the UK. On the morning that the Conservatives regained power after thirteen years, and after what the media seemed to think was a very strong Liberal Democrat campaign, the numbers currently look as follows:
Coservattives: 10 million votes, 288 seats
Labour: 8 million votes, 241 seats
Liberal Democrats: 6.5 million votes
So if you're Labour or Conservative, you get about one seat per 34,000 votes. If you're the Lib Dems, you get one seat per 125,000 votes.
A quick Excel excercise suggests how the government would look if the seats actually went in proportion to the voting:
PartyVotesActual SeatsPR Seats
Conservative 10,035,618 288 223
Labour 8,024,022 241 178
Lib Dem 6,361,341 51 141
UKIP 858,484 0 19
BNP 631,907 0 14
SNP 482,000 6 11
Green 262,000 1 6
DUP 168,000 8 4
Plaid Cymru 165,000 4 3
Sinn Fein 150,000 4 3
SDLP 107,000 3 2
Alliance 42,000 1 1
Coservattives: 10 million votes, 288 seats
Labour: 8 million votes, 241 seats
Liberal Democrats: 6.5 million votes
So if you're Labour or Conservative, you get about one seat per 34,000 votes. If you're the Lib Dems, you get one seat per 125,000 votes.
A quick Excel excercise suggests how the government would look if the seats actually went in proportion to the voting:
PartyVotesActual SeatsPR Seats
Conservative 10,035,618 288 223
Labour 8,024,022 241 178
Lib Dem 6,361,341 51 141
UKIP 858,484 0 19
BNP 631,907 0 14
SNP 482,000 6 11
Green 262,000 1 6
DUP 168,000 8 4
Plaid Cymru 165,000 4 3
Sinn Fein 150,000 4 3
SDLP 107,000 3 2
Alliance 42,000 1 1