Electric Shocks this Week

Unusually, I'm starting and ending this post with quotations.

"There are two ways of seeing the world.  The first is to travel.  The second is to stand still, having so organised your life that you have time 'to stand and stare'.  I suspect that this latter is the more thorough way; but you need to be something of a saint, mystic or philosopher to be able to command the necessary patience and humility."

I found this in a book I was reading on Wednesday afternoon.  It's from an article called 'Standing by the Gate', one of a collection by Richard Church, published under the title 'A Country Window' way back in 1958.  No one would disagree, I'm sure, that life is lived at a much faster pace nearly sixty years later!

Now, I'm no saint or mystic, nor a philosopher in any accepted sense of the word, although I do sometimes find myself reflecting about life and its meaning.  One thing, though, that I'm beginning to learn from this present semi-retired status, is that there can be times when it is quite permissible to do almost nothing: in Mr Church's words, 'to stand and stare'.  In this case, the occasion was prompted, albeit accidentally, by nothing more significant than a couple of screws.  I will explain.

A few weeks ago, I had just plugged in the electric hook-up to my motor-home, ready to do a little job that needed power inside the vehicle.  Before leaving it for a while, I decided to tidy the lead neatly underneath, rather than leave it untidily across the lawn.  As I did so, my arm happened to nudge part of the trim beside the rear wheel-arch, revealing that this was loose.  Closer inspection showed that, at some time in the past, it had been knocked, and what should have been a firm joint was in fact quite loose.  It was nothing really serious, but I felt it ought to be attended to and, since the motorhome is still within its warranty, I made the journey back to its supplier for the purpose.  However satisfying, however much it might boost my confidence, a 40-mile round trip seemed a bit over-the-top just to have two small screws expertly fitted.  I decided, therefore to make a day of it, and visit nearby Grafham Water as well.

A gull stands bravely
before the threatening waves

The day wasn't ideal.  There was rain from time to time between the sunny intervals, and the wind ... well, that's best not spoken of!  I have to admit that the power of the waves on what is, after all, just a small inland lake, was certainly humbling. Apart from a brief stroll by the waterside, I contented myself with typing and reading and eating my picnic snugly inside the saloon.  It was interesting just to watch the birds trying to make headway against the air currents, or finding scraps to eat on the side of the dam in the face of quite a strong tidal wash.  It wasn't until I got home again, and prepared to go out in the evening, that I realised just how relaxed and satisfied I was feeling ... in an ideal frame of mind, in fact, to take part in a Bible study group.

Then came election day.  I was so taken by the sunshine to which I awoke, that I decided to walk round to the polling station before breakfast.  It took no more than twenty minutes, but it set me up for a day poring over figures at the desk, setting up my accounts for the new financial year, and wondering - but no more, at this stage - about my tax return.

Yesterday, by contrast, seemed a non-day.  Like many, I suspect, I was overcome by curiosity when I awoke during the night, and couldn't resist switching on the computer to learn of some of the early results.  I returned to bed around 4.15 am, thinking no more than 'oh, the nationalists are doing well', only to return to wakefulness a few hours later to discover the full extent to which post-election shock-waves had hit.  I confess to - as I described it to one of my fellow bell-ringers in the evening - 'wasting the day' working on a spreadsheet to explore the possibilities of re-arranging the results of the constituencies nearest me in some form of Proportional Representation.

Yes, bell-ringing on a Friday!  Being 8th May, we were ringing to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the european war, and Mr. Churchill's radio broadcast at 3.0 pm that day, during which he announced that, 'Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, but in the interests of saving lives the "Cease fire" began yesterday to be sounded all along the front, and our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.'  

Time to come out!

For all my adult life I've been voting Liberal (more recently Liberal Democrat).  In the first place I did so because I couldn't stand the constant one-against-the-other of the two main parties, and gradually I appreciated what appeared to be a realistic, 'can't please everyone all the time' attitude of the third party.  My stance was reinforced at some point when my father referred to his own father (long since dead) as having "always spoken well of 'the Little Welshman' (i.e. David Lloyd George); without him we'd never have got through the first war!"

Consequently, I had always been 'on the losing side' when it came to politics and my reactions underwent a sea change after last year's general election and the formation of a coalition that involved the Liberal Democrats.  Because one of the major planks of their policies that I've favoured is the reform of the electoral system, I again found myself on the losing side when the result of last week's referendum was declared.  Despite my political history, I was amazed just what a shock this was to me, and since hearing the result, I've been reconsidering my position.  I realise that I'd voted for AV - possibly like thousands of others - because it was what was on offer, rather than because I felt it was the best replacement for the existing system.  I recall Mr. Clegg's comment before the general election that it was a compromise, and now I come to think of it, I can't clearly see that it would have affected the outcome of future elections to a really great extent. 

I've been looking at the proportional system in use for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly which involve electors casting two votes, one for their constituency and the other for the regional lists.  This 'Additional Member' system seems very complex, and provides for at least some seats to be held by Members who have no direct constituency link.  I suppose this 'unattached' quality is a reflection of the status of the House of Lords, and in a single-chamber assembly these regional Members may fulfil a somewhat similar role.

The PR system that I prefer is the one used both for the Northern Ireland Assembly and in the Republic of Ireland.  This is a Single Transferable Vote within Multi-Member Constituencies.  At the user-end the appearance to the voter is the same as we've heard about AV - we would rank candidates according to preference.  The difference is that with each constituency electing several candidates (in Northern Ireland each of the 18 constituencies elect 6 Members to the Assembly), each constituency is represented by Members from more than one party (in Northern Ireland the average is 3.6 parties).  This must mean that there remain few individuals who can claim no elected representative who shares their point of view, no one who can speak for them with understanding and sympathy.  At the same time, each Member of the Assembly is directly linked to the constituency that elected him/her.

Given that the whole matter has been effectively kicked into the long grass for many years to come, what I say now will have little or no effect, but it's good to get it off my chest.  Now back to the steering wheel!