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UK Election Arcana, Explained By Software
An anonymous reader writes "For the first time in 35 years the UK government is looking to be at risk of getting a hung or coalition government. (The most recent previous hung parliaments were in 1974 and 1929.) The voting rules are somewhat arcane and the votes this time are such that there are many strange possible outcomes and a surprisingly large number of permutations of coalitions that could be formed and political strategies that may go into their forming. There are at least 60 permutations, some more politically plausible than others. Adam Back wrote some software to work out the permutations, and lists some of the arcane factors affecting the outcome. If Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose to, it would appear even that he could simply refuse to resign, ostensibly trying to form a coalition indefinitely, maybe even forcing the Queen to dismiss the current government, which last happened in 1834 under King William IV."
All that proportional representation guarantees is a hung parliament every time.
They can bring down the larger party by changing sides or simply becoming neutral. If that doesn't constitute holding the balance of power, I don't know what does.
If I wanted simplistic soundbites & claptrap, I'd go to Faux News. Strong government and absolute power are not the same thing. A strong democratically elected government (say the post-war UK Labour one) is nothing like a dictatorship. A dictator who dithers does not deliver strong government.
It has a strong majority government now.
Please forward me the memo. The one about how they reset everything so a new government starts with a clean slate. I appear to have missed it.
More fodder for the peanut gallery. Actions speak louder than words, and thoughts are silent.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."