A talk I attended at the British Academy about hung Parliaments

Our 'What Happens when no-one wins' event has just started #ELECTION2015 pic.twitter.com/vY1rFwkBx1
— British Academy (@britac_news) April 29, 2015

What happens when no one wins? Event kicking off #GE15 #GE2015 @paddy_o_c @britac_news @cath_haddon pic.twitter.com/CWXrkgJ5oN
— Jamiesha (@Jamiesha_Maj) April 29, 2015

Sat next to Cameron's former Uni tutor Vernon Bogdanor at a @britac_news event on 'What Happens When No-one Wins' the #GE2015. Amazing. #fb
— Peter Ruddick (@ruddick) April 29, 2015

What happens when no one wins? Hearing about past elections where large nationalist blocs led to minority governments-Parnell? @britac_news
— Natasha McCarthy (@ntshmccrthy) April 29, 2015

Iain Mcclean on comparison between Irish bloc in 1880s and SNP this year: Salmond has about 10% of the ruthlessness of Parnell! @britac_news
— Thomas Kohut (@ThomasKohut) April 29, 2015

Peter Hennessy FBA @QMUL_HSS on history of elections at our #ELECTION2015 event 'what happens when no-one wins?' pic.twitter.com/9lnGtZ2l2b
— British Academy (@britac_news) April 29, 2015

Peter Hennessy describes 'human factors' in coalition politics - Jim Callaghan wearied by constant deal-making to get support @britac_news
— Natasha McCarthy (@ntshmccrthy) April 29, 2015

Catherine Haddon @instituteforgov comparing this election to the last one: 'this time we have a wider discussion of constitutional issues'
— British Academy (@britac_news) April 29, 2015

At @britac_news British academy tackling unanswerable questions - eg how potential PM can show 'likely command confidence of House'.
— Katie Ghose (@katieghose) April 29, 2015

What happens when no one wins? @cath_haddon discussing the Fixed Term Parliaments Act @britac_news #GE15 #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/ttIXA9KY71
— Jamiesha (@Jamiesha_Maj) April 29, 2015

Catherine Haddon: history tells us that politics and legitimacy will probably trump law @britac_news
— Thomas Kohut (@ThomasKohut) April 29, 2015

.@cath_haddon : we don't know what will happen this time but politics and legitimacy likely to be more important than law #ELECTION2015
— British Academy (@britac_news) April 29, 2015

Fixed term parliaments are brand new and weren't designed to shape govt formation when no majority! @britac_news
— Katie Ghose (@katieghose) April 29, 2015

David Butler: new election soon after an indecisive vote unlikely - too much work and too much money for all parties @britac_news
— Natasha McCarthy (@ntshmccrthy) April 29, 2015

Elections guru David Butler predicts substantial 'eating of red lines' when realpolitik kicks in post May 7th @britac_news @electoralreform
— Katie Ghose (@katieghose) April 29, 2015

@katieghose @britac_news @electoralreform @ntfem Those Red Lines will melt away like snow in the winter sun 🌕
— Mr Frog (@laquamariner) April 29, 2015

@humour42 @britac_news @cath_haddon @paddy_o_c http://t.co/WTlhJr7EAp Are we really sure this system is the best system?
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 29, 2015

I thought Paddy O'Donnell was surprisingly bossy, and much more attractive than I imagined him to be. https://t.co/D3bCCnGEXd
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 29, 2015

The public would be puzzled then angry at the unnecessary complexity of the business of government. https://t.co/D3bCCnGEXd
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 29, 2015

It seems the pundits enjoyed complexity for its own sake, because just talking about it allowed them to show off. https://t.co/D3bCCnGEXd
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 29, 2015

Peter Hennessy said the establishment has good chaps capable of pulling out a rabbit at the 59th minute of 11th hour https://t.co/D3bCCnGEXd
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 29, 2015

This is something I know that he likes to say and I find his complacency infuriating. There will come a time when our luck runs out and lenders stop lending to us because they know we are being run by clueless lunatics or the unbelievably complacent.

http://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/interview/people-need-be-ready-longer-coalition-talks-peter-hennessy-interviews-former

I just want to feel well-governed. Listening to Prime Minister's Question Time is not hearing the clamorous voices of liberty, as Peter Hennessy says, but seeing that those who are supposed to be governing you wasting their time and energy putting on a show for themselves that you have no wish to see because it depressing, confusing, boring and pointless.

The one question I wanted to ask them all was "Wouldn't it just be easier if we just had a one party state? We already have a de facto one party state, we might as well have a de jure one.

Ancient Athens and Republican Rome were effectively one-party states, weren't they?

We also know how Athens destroyed itself too. The Athenian equivalent of NATO and/or the EU was of course the Delian League.

Why can't the political classes devote their time and energy talking about real issues of government rather than sweeping them under the carpet and playing around with the rules?

Democracy has not been good for Britain when you think how much it has lost as a consequence of of the operation of democracy, explained at http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/poppy-mania-day-prevents-any-rational.html

The enemies of society are sluts and socialists, the enemies of the British Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the English Democrats

Democracy allows the toxic ideology of feminism to thrive and take over all the organs of state. True/False #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

Every time you vote, the number of Slut Single Mothers and their illegitimate offspring increases. True/False #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

Every time you vote, the number of paedophiles increases. True/False #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

Voting causes feminism which causes immigration, family breakdown, illegitimacy degeneracy and paedophilia. True/False #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

Does 1) voting or 2) elections lower Western IQ? http://t.co/nHqei4OEQz #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

If government noticeably worsens after every election, should we stop 1) voting or 2) holding general elections? #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

If voting makes us more stupid and degenerate, we should stop voting and abolish representative democracy. Logical/Illogical #GE2015
— Claire Khaw (@ntfem) April 27, 2015

An analogy of what has happened to Cameron - how things appeared on the morning of 11 May

Cameron:

So you are saying you won't be me dinner unless I promise you you are going to get lucky with me tonight. What do you think I am, Nick? A whore?

[A bit later]

Cameron [smiling seductively]:

All right, Nick. I'll just say you will get lucky tonight if you buy me dinner.

[A bit later]

Cameron:

Did you say you are going to have dinner with Gordon tonight???? What about me? When are you having dinner with me, Nick??? Boo hoo hoo!

[The Ides of May continues to approach inexorably ... ]

My solution to the problem of a Hung Parliament

My suggestions for sorting the mess of a Hung Parliament:

1. Abolish the parties and allow only one party of national interest.
2. Retire all party whips.
3. Make every vote a free vote.
4. Make all the current MPs elect a leader declaring that membership of the House of Lords is no bar to being considered (Only Lord Mandelson has the ability to appeal to both Tories and Labour - he would be a unifying leader and reassuring to the markets.)
   
5. Draft a party constitution that properly protects the rights of these MPs who are all members of the only political party in the UK that can ever be in government along the lines of http://www.1party4all.co.uk/Home/Account/TopicForm.aspx?topicsId=107
   

Sorted.