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Too right!!!
And you’re nuclear free!!!!
I was a GP in Auckland in ( wait for it ) 1976 and compared to the layers of UK red tape, found practice there a delight – had a good job to return to or otherwise I’d have stayed.
It was the refreshing and enabling small government there that convinced me that Scotland should have the same.
New Zealand. Lovely country. Lovely people. Lived there for three years. Now living in what I hope will become rUK but worried over part of a recent article (Scottish independence battle moves to pop-up shops and letterboxes ) in the Guardian (Friday 22nd Aug) re the proposed targetting of voters by No campaign. Here is a shorter version of one comment.
”No probably have access to databases that help them pinpoint undecided voters based on social survey factors such as age, social class, income, area of residence, employment, and so on. Add to that knowledge from door to door contacts and you have a formidable tool as any marketing researcher knows.
I remember the 1992 election campaign where only a few thousand people in marginal constituencies determined the actual outcome. Although the entire electorate of Scotland is the constituency this time, if the vote is close, it is feasible that targeting specific individuals might help the No campaign.
I trust that the activism of the Yes campaign will overcome the big business model reported in this article. Selective polling such as this is a demonstration of a top-down, power wielding elite attempting to mould the will of the people to their interests. It disregards the interests of ordinary individuals and devalues voting behaviour by over-valuing the votes of the minority targeted. It is an undemocratic approach to decision making and I trust Yes activists manage to counter this.”
I guess they must be spending their £4.6 million somewhere, if not out on the streets with footsoldiers.
OT… got my SfS ticket in the post today, but still don’t have the album dowload code… sent a message to Kevin via indegogo, but don’t know how often messages are checked. Can the code be sent please?
Thanks,
Brian.
Don’t worry- it’s coming its done manually
NZ politicians are worried that turnout in the coming general election will be a record low. That it might dip below 74.4%. You read that right, over 3/4 of Kiwis usually vote in general elections, run under MMP, like Holyrood elections without the ‘SNP beating’ variant of regional party votes. It’s all done nationally in NZ.
The night before election day, on a Saturday, ALL election posters, signs etc must come down or be covered over. On election day only coloured rosettes and flags are allowed. You see cars with party colours on the aerial ferrying the elderly and infirm to the polls. Oh and you vote in any polling station in any electorate. My first vote, as a student, was such a special vote. I was registered at home in Waitakere, West Auckland and voted in North Dunedin. A much more user friendly electoral system. Voting in NZ is usually a family affair, we used to take our kids as did others with a carnival atmosphere.
A system and turnout to aspire to. Perhaps with all the newly registered voters, after a Yes vote we can have a polity more similar to NZ than the moribund and sclerotic UK.
Free migration with larger neighbour, that’s where the comparison breaks down. That’s not what Yes’s citizenship plans are providing for here, for those of our own offspring who were born in the larger neighbour.
Could Scotland use the NZ dollar as its currency? Just a thought.
As a New Zealander originally from England I hope Scotland seizes the opportunity you have on the 18th with both hands. You will be a welcome addition to the international community and a sure friend to New Zealand.
Will people in England be upset, sad, angry? Yes, some. But maybe this is just what they need to embrace their own future?