Comments on: Reality check: democracy inaction

By: Tom Steinberg

Tom Steinberg — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:14:00 +0000

It'd be lovely to have consolidated information on all candidates, wouldn't it. A lovely example of the sort of really basic data gap that needs filling. mySociety could try to raise the money to do this manually (god knows where from), but then even if we're successful we're just compensating for institutions that don't see any need to modernise. Ho hum.

By: Simon

Simon — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:06:47 +0000

... which I think is exactly my point, Vestan. In fact I'm pretty sure we've had 'double' polling stations in the same room - at one of these two locations (Burdwood hall) - in previous years.

PS Is that a PWEI reference?

By: Vestan Pance

Vestan Pance — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:07:14 +0000

It's not necessarily "insane" to have two polling stations together in fact it's happens relativity often. In Calcot for example they have two in the same building.

By: Paul Walter

Paul Walter — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:22:39 +0000

Turnout was 34% which was up on the last election.

Votes cast were:

Marvellous Ford - Liberal Democrats: 1053 votes
Conservative (I never did catch his name either): 680 votes

Liberal Democrat majority - 373 votes.

By: Paul Walter

Paul Walter — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:25:38 +0000

I like your bog by the way - excellent lay out and some very good points. Indeed, to heck with it - I'll put you on my blogroll!

By: Paul Walter

Paul Walter — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:18:38 +0000

Understood Simon. Indeed I blogged about the proximity last night:

http://paulwalter.blogspot.com/2009/03/conundrum.html

I will link to your excellent photo. It was absolutely insane and when I mentioned it to a West Berks LD councillor I received my best laugh of the day when I heard his extravagant two minute stream of verbiage to describe the "staggering, mind numbingly, catatonic....etc etc....incompetence etc"!

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:58:01 +0000

For anyone who's interested in the proximity of the two polling stations:

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:43:05 +0000

I'm a big fan of Flock Together, Paul - as I told Lynne Featherstone recently, it's a magnificent resource which the LDs should shout about a lot more. If Obama had done it, etc... My criticism was aimed mainly at your opponents, who failed to even tell me they were standing. (There was a Tory on the ballot paper, but I've still no idea what he was standing for.) But it's still disapppointing that the West Berks LDs site had literally nothing about her. Now, if this was a political blog, I'd tell you there were 2 polling stations within 100m of each other - literally, I measured it. But it isn't, so I won't.

By: Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:27:59 +0000

Wow your uncle was Frank Hutchings! a famous local man who has a hall named after him. Apparently Marvellous won by over 300 votes

By: Paul Walter

Paul Walter — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:44:58 +0000

Marvellous won it.

http://paulwalter.blogspot.com/2009/03/marvellous-ford-wins-thatcham-south-by.html