Why my MP is saying no to AV (and why I'm saying yes!)

My MP, Mark Lancaster, has a blog he's using to campaign against AV: http://marklancastermp.wordpress.com/

In theory he allows comments (that's to say he hasn't turned off the comment facility on his WordPress blog) but there aren't any visible yet. Here's what I tried to say. It is awaiting moderation, but somehow I suspect it could be waiting for some time!

Why don’t you come clean. There’s one very big reason you want to say no to AV: you wouldn’t be elected under AV! You were elected with 43.5% of the vote last year, so 56.5% of those who voted in your constituency did NOT want you*. It is a pretty safe bet that the vast majority of Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat voters would NOT have put you as one of the alternatives so almost certainly Labour would have been elected.

* How is THAT fair?

It seems it would be such a small change, yet it would mean I could vote for who I really want - I wouldn't be forced into chosing between voting tactically (which is what I've always done) and wasting my vote. Under AV I would almost certainly vote Green first, then Lib Dem followed by Labour or vice versa (depending on the individual candidate).

Arthur Peacocke

One of my heros. I heard him speak at Oxford in 1979? Sadly he died in 2006. Here he is interviewed after he'd received the Templeton Prize in 2001.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow

A couple of people have pointed me to Csikszentmihalyi's idea of 'flow' over recent weeks. This 18 minute talk is a nice overview (thanks to Robin Faichney).

Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow | Video on TED.com

Bible quotes in gun sights

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found. [...]

The company's vision is described on its Web site: "Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom."

"We believe that America is great when its people are good," says the Web site. "This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals."

Old Testament "Thou shalt not kill" would seem the more obvious choice.

Lord Carey calls for immigration cap

Even if it were politically the right thing to do:

Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, shatters the Anglican consensus on immigration

None of his fellow bishops has signed the document, which says:

"We are gravely concerned about the rapid increase in the population of England that is now forecast. We note that the official projections show the population of the UK will increase from 61.4 million in 2008 to exceed 70 million by 2029. Over the next 25 years the population will increase by 10 million, nearly all of the increase being in England. 70% – 7 million – will be due to immigration. We believe that immigration on such a scale will have a significant impact on our public services, our quality of life and on the nature of our society."

From report in the Telegraph

These are not the priorities of the Kingdom of God, and the Church should not be associated with it. It was very wrong of Lord Carey to sign. "What on earth is the Church for?"

Christmas poster from Down Under

This poster is set to ruffle some feathers in New Zealand!

The hard-hitting climate change advert.

I did see this on TV once, but there was a fuss about it being too frightening and that it'd be banned. I don't know what happened in the end, but it's pretty powerful, isn't it?



You could argue that the add is trying put the onus on us, the consumers, to act, rather than the government making hard decisions. But I think this add prepares the ground for the hard decisions.

PS, I know this is old news. Sorry, this Blog's never going to be up-to-the-minute!