Daily View 2×2: 1 January 2010

Happy New (General Election) Year!

On this day in 1973, the UK joined the European Community, along with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. On January 1, 2002, Euro coins and banknotes became legal tender in twelve of the European Union’s member states.

It’s a quarter of a century since Britain’s first mobile phone call was made. In a seemingly random intersection of the Fates, comedian Ernie Wise was calling from St Katherine’s Dock to a room above a Newbury curry house – the then office of a little company called Vodafone.

2 Interesting Stories

Is a Labour-Tory coalition unthinkable? Only until you think about it
Martin Kettle muses in the Guardian on a hung Parliament:

It seems innocent to assume that either Labour or the Tories would automatically turn first to the Liberal Democrats in those circumstances – or that the Lib Dems would necessarily deliver. The big parties could calculate that they would be better off in a marriage of convenience with a historic enemy they respected, from which they could withdraw with dignity when the moment was right, rather than to embark on a more permanent entanglement with a Lib Dem party which at bottom they each despise.

The more one looks at the evolutionary dynamics of British politics, the more serious the grand coalition option may one day become. Is a Labour-Conservative deal really unthinkable? Only until you start thinking about it.

At least the next government won’t be decided on the toss of a coin… or will it?

Coin tossing through the ages

The Telegraph has an interesting history, including this:

Some elections have been decided by the toss of a coin when no candidate has secured a majority. In May 2007, Conservative Christopher Underwood-Frost only held on by winning on the toss of a coin after he tied with his Lib Dem rival on 781 votes for the Lincolnshire seat.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

  • Dip Me in Gaiety and Throw Me To the Creationists
  • Alex Wilcock’s last-minute entry for blog post title of 2009 snatches the trophy and raises it aloft whilst whisking readers through Darwin, Gladstone, Queen Victoria, faith schools, Twitter, Dr Who, university interviews, creationism and coming out. Phew! And Alex calls Gladstone a polymath…

  • Hey! Minister! Leave them kids alone!
  • Sara Bedford doing what she does best: taking high-blown theory and nailing it down to ordinary people’s experiences.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

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This entry was posted in Daily View and Europe / International.
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5 Comments

  • The election in question was local not parliamentary

  • Helen Duffett 1st Jan '10 - 2:52pm

    Indeed it was – 781 votes for an MP would be pretty dismal…

  • Wasn’t it Crawley a couple of years back where a coin toss decided the result of a seat and, with it, control of the council?

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