Ok, I'll vote yes. But at least partly because the No camp is full of t**ts. AV won't make much difference to my vote unless I'm in a genuine 3 way marginal. Just means people can make a show of their first preference then vote tactically rather than do it blatantly. It is a little bit better... And if I'm honest I'm too obstinate to vote tactically so it is a blessing.
But to argue that voting no won't seriously damage Nick Clegg or the Liberal Democrats (as in the New Statesman) is ridiculous. And if that is what people want to do I won't judge them. I also don't believe there is a progressive majority in the UK but might be wrong.
The examples given for AV grate on me a little. Talking about picking the best pub to go to from a group of friends isn't the same. That makes it all sound lovely because in the end I basically still get to go to the pub.
Let's try another example.. which I think more closely resembles the process.
In the first round of voting: I want to go to the pub and so do 2 others, But I keep very strange friends and 5 of them want us all to go to a hip new place where they kick the rest of us in the balls for four hours whilst blasting trance in our ears. My other 4 friends are a mixed bunch who are (amongst my friends at least) hinting that if we support them they are basically in favour of a pub where you get kicked in the balls for 3 hours but there is no trance music.
The pub lobby have little choice but to join these 4 to avoid the trance hell and at least we get a pint.
HOWEVER- That isn't the end of it. We are just a single cell of friends amongst many. And for some reason we all have to go to the same place. We send a representative forward from the mixed bunch we arent' sure of but supported.
If we're lucky the majority of the other cells will choose the pub and we'll get our way anyway. Or the Psycho's will win and our balls and ears will be sore.
OR
(and I take the point that hung parliaments are only a bit more likely under AV but it is basically what I'm hoping for when I vote for the ball kicking in silence no?)
Neither of the straight choices win outright and I end up with perhaps:
Pub and ball kicking but only gently every third sunday,
or
Trance and Ball kicking plus A brand new idea (on nobody's manifesto but now strangely agreed on) to shove flaming dildo's up my arse of a morning, but I'm occasionally allowed a pint of mild and I can vote in a highly restricted referendum where I'm wondering loudly if there might be something I can do about the flaming dildo stuck up my arse.
P.S. I like a lot of Lib Dem MPs. I expect there are a lot of Lib Dems that basically have the same politics as me. But try as I might I can't work out what the party is for.
