Antiquated voting no longer fit for purpose

becomes large industrialised units containing few people.

In Victorian times inequality was rife, but during the 20th century that balance shifted. After the Second World War up to the crash of 2008, inequality in the UK decreased dramatically, but now that has reversed. The Conservative government since 2010 has amplified the decline. To reverse this dark path must be a key priority of a new Labour government.

FOR the sake of our country and for all of us who live here, we need to reverse the legacy of successive Tory governments which have led to a disintegration of essential services and infrastructure, a carbon footprint far greater than it should be and a dramatic increase in financial inequality.

In this year when it appears that about 50 per cent of the nations in the world are going to the polls, it seems a good time to reflect and compare our own voting system with those of others.

Our antiquated first past the post system is no longer fit for purpose and contributes to some people feeling there is no point in voting.

We need to move to a system of proportional representation in line with the majority of other western democracies.

A Labour Party member and friend of mine summed up Labour’s plan of action if they form our next government: to invest in people; in society; in the environment.

I have no disagreement with this but there is another party who also has a vision of what a better UK would look like and makes a point about the need to understand the interconnectedness of social policy with environmental policy, and has the sort of economic policies that will work.

That is the Green Party, whose policies have extensive and growing support throughout the UK. We have had a shining example in Caroline Lucas of what a Green party MP can look like, and the contribution they can make.

At election time we are often urged not to “split the vote”. My call is vote with your conscience, find out what your chosen prospective candidate’s views are about our voting system, and whether this person, if elected, will commit to campaigning for electoral reform. news reports and features.

I refer to articles on the passing of nightclubs and pubs in our area, as well as the closure of familiar shops. It’s also been reported that across the UK, visits to major tourist attractions are still below pre-covid levels.

The number of church and chapel buildings that stand derelict are part of the same pattern that has been triggered by the fact that many people are just not going out and mixing with each other any more.

It’s easy to blame Covid and its lingering effects on society or the cost of living crisis for the present social and economic climate, but I think the reasons for today’s more insular world go deeper than that.

For me, James Smith, of the Leedsbased post-punk band Yard Act, got it spot-on recently when he said: “I feel like we’re distracted constantly (and that) the internet and social media is making us an angry but useless species that cannot focus on anything for more than five minutes.”

We have become a less courteous, less cohesive society.

This is manifesting itself in increased levels of shoplifting and in the increased verbal abuse suffered by public sector workers in such as shops, doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies.

Too much screen-time and the public’s insistence on gorging on the intellectual candy floss of social networking has undermined proper communication skills and made people selfish and downright boring. Face-to-face interaction with other people is needed, lest we all end up speaking a fractured version of George Orwell’s duckspeak.