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Pirate Party UK Looks Forward To 2012

Posted by timothy on from the gentrification-or-just-savvy dept.

Ajehals writes "The UK Pirate Party New Years message suggests a new sense of direction for the party, with a focus on policy and politics beyond what was seen as the party's norm, single issue position of copyright reform. Hoping to learn from and emulate the German Pirate Party's success in Berlin, Partly Leader Loz Kay is looking back over 2011 and to the future." I'm a slow learner; the Pirate Party for years struck me as mostly whimsical. If you live in a country with an active Pirate Party, what do you think of its impact? (According to Wikipedia, there are now PP organizations in at least 40 countries.)

2 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Whats in a name? by Spottywot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was very impressed with the German Pirate Parties success last year, but if the UK PP wants to emulate it then it needs to be more vocal, and on a wider range of topics. If they don't they'll never get the attention of anyone who isn't already passionate about copyright abuses, or the attention of any part of the UK electorate that automatically dismiss the party because of the fact they have Pirate in thier name.

    --
    In a cybernetic fit of rage she pissed off to another age...
    1. Re:Whats in a name? by Patch86 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Unfortunately a British Pirate Party is unlikely to ever do as well as their counterparts in Germany. Not due to British political attitudes, but due to our electoral system. With our FPTP system, they will be unable to elect any MPs to parliament unless they can get several dozen thousand votes in a single constituency (average of about 70,000 voters per constituency). They need to be number 1 in a race already crammed with popular mainstream parties.

      More hope for MEPs (which are elected more proportionally), but then MEPs aren't exactly influential...