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Three Months of Britain's e-Petition System
eldavojohn writes "The idea seems simple. Provide feedback for your government via the internet. If enough people sign a petition, address it. That was the idea when an e-Petition site was launched in Nov 06 for Prime Minister Tony Blair. The BBC is reporting on the million or so petitions that the PM has received since the site went live. While most petitions are rejected or ignored, they have a top ten with one petition having 600,000 signers. Is this a valid way to provide feedback to the government or merely an exercise in keeping the populace happy?"
The Queen (via the Gov. General) sacked the Australian goverment in the 70's, much to the surprise of many Aussies at the time. The reason was a double dissolution with the incumbent refusing to call an election. I assume she has similar powers over the UK government under similar circumstances.
Other than that she pretty much minds her own bussiness and was completely apolitical when Aussies had a referendum on becoming a republic a few years back (the referendum failed to pass).
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
This is the government that ignored the "real life" anti-war protests that took place on its doorstep; I'm not surprised they find it just as easy to ignore digital petitions.