A BLOG
A blog: " De Borda abroad." From Belfast to Beijing and beyond... and back. Starting in Vienna with the TEDx talk, I go by bus and/or train for more debates in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Yerevan and Tehran, before flying - sorry about that - to Urumqi in Xīnjiāng, followed by more debates in Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong and Taiwan... but not in Pyongyang. Then back via Mongolia (where I was an election observer last year) and Moscow (where I worked in the '80s).
I have my little fold-up Brompton with me - surely the best way of exploring any new city! So I fly hardly at all; I go by train, boat or bus if possible, and then cycle wherever in each new venue; and all with just one plastic water bottle... or that was the intention!
The story is on: https://debordaabroad.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/de-borda-abroad/
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The Hospital for Incurable Protestants The Mémoire of a Collapsed Catholic This is the story of a pacifist in a conflict zone, in Northern Ireland and the Balkans. Only in e-format, but only £5.15. Available from Amazon. |
The director alongside the statue of Jean-Charles de Borda, capitaine et savant, in l’École Navale in Brest, 24.9.2010. Photo by Gwenaelle Bichelot.
Here's the YouTube, the PowerPoint, and the text of the speech (more or less).
Saturday, April 6, 2019 At some future date, the UK should hold a multi-option ‘second’ referendum on perhaps the following five options: a) in the EU and the € zone; b) in the EU with the £; c) in a Common Market 2.0; d) in a Customs Union; e) under the WTO.
Thursday, April 4, 2019 INDICATIVE VOTES, ROUND TWO – MONDAY 1ST APRIL The aim of this paper is to hazard a guess at how the indicative votes cast in the House of Commons on Monday 1st April might have produced a different outcome if the voting methodology had been different. As it was, the MPs used...
Thursday, March 28, 2019 HOUSE OF COMMONS THROWS OUT PERFECT COMPROMISE It got over 250 1st preferences, definitely. It got over 100 2nd preferences, maybe. and a few 3rd/4th preferences, perhaps… but it got thrown out. Binary voting is like a thermometer with only two readings, ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. The warmth of the House towards this or that option cannot be measured by such a blunt instrument.
Thursday, March 28, 2019 PRESS RELEASE IMMEDIATE 26.03.2019 (INDICATIVE) BINARY VOTES ARE ORWELLIAN In 2003, the late Robin Cook tried to persuade the House to adopt preference voting, in vain, for “this would have required the technological development of a pencil and a piece of paper,” he said, “far too big a step for our parliament and its medieval procedures.”
Wednesday, March 27, 2019 Our article on the indicative vote is published today in the Irish Times. The House of Commons can learn from the experience of the Citizens’ Assembly
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/indicative-voting-an-irish-solution-to-the-brexit-problem-1.3840063
Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Indicative) Binary Votes Are Orwellian In 2003, the late Robin Cook tried to persuade the House to adopt preference voting, in vain, for “this would have required the technological development of a pencil and a piece of paper,” he said, “far too big a step for our parliament and its medieval procedures.” His efforts were prompted by a series of majority votes (on Lords reform) – which Lord Desai had warned would be “daft,” (Hansard, 22.1.2003). They were indeed inconclusive.
press release Sunday, March 24, 2019 A series of majority votes might indicate nothing - as in 2003. A knock out system, the two-round system or AV, could give the wrong outcome. Best use a ranking system, we say in our latest press release.
Thursday, March 21, 2019 The next book - Majority Voting as a Catalyst of Populism - is due to be published by Springer later this year. It is based on my overland journey from Belfast to Beijing and back, Sept. 2017 to Sept '18, and it talks of how majority voting and binary majority rule have been part of the problem, pretty well everywhere: in conflict zones like Belfast and the Balkans; in 'stable democracies' like the UK, as in Brexit; in communist countries like Russia - the very word 'bolshevik' means 'member of the majority'; and even in China where Máo Zédōng was also a majoritarian: “we must win over the majority, oppose and smash the minority…”
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 openDemocracy has just published our latest press release:
The Danish parliament uses plurality voting; the Finns and Swedes opt for serial voting; the Norwegians have provision for two-round voting. Sadly, even when the question isn’t binary – and Brexit is definitely not binary – Westminster still relies on binary ballots.
Monday, March 18, 2019 The BBC Radio 4 Today programme, 18th March broadcast an interview with Peter on multi-option decision-making. Hear it on Iplayer (53:30).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0003cth
