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Agreed on all counts. For those who don't know what we're talking about: this map of the recent UK election results should illustrate the huge divide between S

by s_kilk 11y ago

Agreed on all counts. For those who don't know what we're talking about: this map of the recent UK election results should illustrate the huge divide between Scotland and England: https://flipchartfairytales.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/screen-shot-2015-05-11-at-10-03-33.png https://flipchartfairytales.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/scre... They are two very different cultures.

gsnedders 11y ago
I don't think that's really fair — that makes it look like Scotland almost unanimously voted SNP, which they didn't. While yes, the SNP got 50% of the vote, that's far from the 94% of constituencies they won. Similarly, it also overstates the Tories' success in England — actually only 41% of the vote. (And it doesn't look like Labour has anywhere near the same number of seats that the Tories do, even though they're only a hundred off, out of 650.) Being disenfranchised with Westminster is far from a Scottish phenomenon: the SNP's success one can easily argue comes in significant part from the fact they've managed to position themselves as a viable winner in a large number of constituencies, not least through leading the Scottish Government since 2007, as a large proportion of voters end up voting for one of the two largest parties in their constituency given a single-winner system. Convincing the electorate a vote for your minor party isn't a wasted vote is a major part of the challenge of making a small party a real challenge in a large number of constituencies.
IshKebab 11y ago
That's a very misleading image. Here's a better one: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03297/2010-vs-2015_3297055a.gif http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03297/2010-vs-20...
pbhjpbhj 11y ago
That image is a screencap from the BBC website AFAICT, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results/scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results/scotland - 50% of voters in Scotland voted SNP. >They are two very different cultures. // You might be able to show that but not with these election results - is Edinburgh a different culture to the rest of Scotland (well it is, but not any more than Glasgow is different to Aberdeen), is Orkney & Shetland a different culture (same thing applies)? Bradford and Bridlington [2 conurbations in the region of Yorkshire in the UK] are probably more culturally diverse than most random pairs of Scottish and rUK places.

by s_kilk 11y ago

gsnedders 11y ago

I don't think that's really fair — that makes it look like Scotland almost unanimously voted SNP, which they didn't. While yes, the SNP got 50% of the vote, that's far from the 94% of constituencies they won. Similarly, it also overstates the Tories' success in England — actually only 41% of the vote. (And it doesn't look like Labour has anywhere near the same number of seats that the Tories do, even though they're only a hundred off, out of 650.) Being disenfranchised with Westminster is far from a Scottish phenomenon: the SNP's success one can easily argue comes in significant part from the fact they've managed to position themselves as a viable winner in a large number of constituencies, not least through leading the Scottish Government since 2007, as a large proportion of voters end up voting for one of the two largest parties in their constituency given a single-winner system. Convincing the electorate a vote for your minor party isn't a wasted vote is a major part of the challenge of making a small party a real challenge in a large number of constituencies.

IshKebab 11y ago

That's a very misleading image. Here's a better one: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03297/2010-vs-2015_3297055a.gif http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03297/2010-vs-20...

pbhjpbhj 11y ago

That image is a screencap from the BBC website AFAICT, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results/scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results/scotland - 50% of voters in Scotland voted SNP. >They are two very different cultures. // You might be able to show that but not with these election results - is Edinburgh a different culture to the rest of Scotland (well it is, but not any more than Glasgow is different to Aberdeen), is Orkney & Shetland a different culture (same thing applies)? Bradford and Bridlington [2 conurbations in the region of Yorkshire in the UK] are probably more culturally diverse than most random pairs of Scottish and rUK places.