Blame

[coalescent]

It's been a while since I felt so completely out of step with what polls and elections tell me is the national mood. A friend of mine just emailed the list of places that actually voted Yes to AV -- Hackney, Glasgow Kelvin, Islington, Haringey, Lambeth, Cambridge, Oxford, Southwark, Camden, Edinburgh Central -- which makes some sense of this,

Comments

[nuttyxander]

You forgot to blame the Queen and the wider royal family. Otherwise a clean sweep :)

[purplecthulhu]

And our more generalised Lizard Alien Overlords...

But yes, I think you have it surrounded.

Personally, if Scotland does go independent, there's a non-trivial chance I'd emigrate there.

[coalescent]

I suspect "Moving to Scotland" will become to the UK what "Moving to Canada" is to the US.

[purplecthulhu]

Don't get me started on the result of the Canadian election or the need for electoral reform in Canada. Just don't...

[andrewducker]

Yeah, I'm with you on all of this.

And despite doing all of my campaigning in an area that voted Yes, I still blame myself for not doing more.

[coalescent]

I donated to the campaign, but that was all. Bah.

[huskyscotsman]

Likewise. And I tried to persuade friends and family (hopefully without pissing them off too much), but it was very much preaching to the choir.

[coalescent]

That's true, I did persuade one of my colleagues, who had only seen No materials, to vote Yes.

[coalescent]

For not being numerous enough? :-p

[coalescent]

Well, I think I'd dispute that "most" -- part of the point of the post is that I don't think the No vote can be explained by a single cause or a couple of causes. Some people are stupid, sure, and some are willfully obtuse, and some are genuinely confused, and some are malicious, and etc etc etc.

[storme]

I did talk a few people (who seemed mostly uninformed either way) into voting for AV. I wish I'd campaigned. I wish my reaction wasn't so cynically 'yeah, of course people said no; they were told to in louder voices'. And I'm angered beyond measure that some people seemed to regard the vote as some sort of referendum on Nick Clegg.

For data: not only did this area vote No (by 65%), not a single seat in the local council election changed hands. And only 40% turnout. Change? Ha.

[coalescent]

And I'm angered beyond measure that some people seemed to regard the vote as some sort of referendum on Nick Clegg.

In their decision of how to vote, or in their interpretation of the result? Either way, yes.

[storme]

Yes, both ways.