What is AV?

The Alternative Vote is a type of sytem to elect members of Parliament or to elect others, eg. MPs elect their own leaders using AV. From the experts: "AV represents a logical progression from first past the post. Preserving the traditional one member, one constituency, it ensures all MPs have a real mandate while delivering greater choice and eliminating the need for tactical voting." Electoral Reform Society. Wikipedia has an exhaustive article on IRV Instant Runoff Voting or AV. The definition is: Instant-runoff voting (IRV), also known as the Alternative vote (AV), is a voting system used to elect one winner from a pool of candidates using preferential voting. Voters rank candidates in order of preference, and their votes are initially allocated to their first choice candidate. If after this initial count no candidate has a majority of votes cast, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and votes for that candidate are redistributed according to the voters' second preferences. This process continues until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, upon which they are declared the winner.  The uTube video below is worth watching, preferably more than once.

AV is widely used

It is a mistake for those in the "No to AV" to suggest that AV is not widely used as IRV is widely used and Runoff which is in effect a sort of AV.  Taken together FPTP is less than half of the other types of selection for electing a government.  The informaton can be gleaned from this source: Table of voting systems by country  The video broadcast below is in support of  AV. 

FPTP is popular?

FPTP seems to be the most popular system only because there are many other variations of how citizens may vote. Collectively these other systems are can be split into IRV/AV or PR as may be understood by reading the Wikipedia article on Proportional Representation best read together with the accompanying Wkipedia Discussion page. 

FPTP is the most popular system but less than half the governments of the world uses it.

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Diesel UK £1.34 a Litre diesel USA $3.53 a gallon! Rip-off UK!

I filled up my car yesterday. It cost me nearly £99!  Using the current exchange for the GB pound and the US dollar ($1.6 =£1) we are paying £6.08 a gallon. In US dollars this would be equivalent to $9.86! (Except that one UK gallon is 1.2 US gallons.) So the USD price should be $8.22. Published date 14th Feb 2011

  UK current fuel prices fuel UK

Data source 14/2/2011 updated weekly

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Support Phil Packer to raise £1 million in support of Help for Heroes

When Phil was recovering from surgery in Hospital, he decided to embark upon a quest that would change his life forever; by doing so, he hoped that he could help change lives too. He visited Help for Heroes and was inspired by Bryn and Emma Parry, Mark Elliott and their Team’s work at Help for Heroes. Until he was able to return to work in the Army, Phil was determined to selflessly assist others and provide information on sports and events to the disabled military community and the wider disabled community as a whole. He believes he has a responsibility and duty to do so. He also pledged to raise £1million for Help for Heroes and to try to help in making a difference to fellow injured servicemen and women.

Major Phil Packer was injured in an incident following a rocket attack in Basra on 19 Feb 08. Sadly, as a result of the accident he lost the use of his legs and is now a paraplegic with what are classed as catastrophic injuries. He was originally told he would never walk again, however there have been positive improvements and it is his aspiration to walk the Flora London Marathon on the 26th April this year over a two week period on crutches. (he has completed the marathon!) He attends Headley Court every other month where the Medical Team assists him in physical rehabilitation.

Phil needs support to make his Quest a success. He is supported by family, friends, colleagues and those that hear about his story. To enthuse and inspire others, Phil has laid down the gauntlet for ANY challenges, events or sports to participate in, that will assist him in reaching his target. Amazingly, within a year of his injuries, he rowed the English Channel in just over fifteen hours!

If you want to support Phil, his Just Giving Page is www.justgiving.com/philsmillion and there is more information on his website at www.philpacker.com

 

 

 

 

 

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http://www.sitepoint.com/ are Australian publishers of web based material. They have a very high reputation among the web design community. For this limited period they are offering to sell five of their PDF format books for less than 30 USD. All of the proceeds will go to the Australian Bush Fire Relief fund.  I am sure that anyone who has an interest in web design and associated business will be able to find PDF based books to buy. Sitepoint offer an enormous range of titles. Just click the link 5 for the price of 1! You’ll be kicking yourself if you miss out ... (61)

This is the best book deal we’ve ever done and it’s all in the name of charity!

For the next 3 days, you can pick 5 PDF books and pay just $29.95.
That’s $149.75 worth of books for only $29.95. Oh, and did I mention it’s any 5 books?

Our entire range of PDF books are on offer. Designers, developers, freelancers, managers, and business owners alike can have instant access to “How to” and reference guides galore.

Sound too good to be true? Imagine having 5 electronic SitePoint resources at your fingertips�same information as the physical books, but without the wait. PDF means you can have it now!

100% of the proceeds from this sale will be donated to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal. That’s the entire $29.95. Our ambitious goal is to raise US$50,000 to help the thousands of people affected by this tragedy.

Remember, we’re only doing this for 3 days and since this is the biggest promotion we've ever done before, it’s going to be a long time before we do it again - so what are you waiting for?

And its not just the people who have lost everything if they are lucky enough to remain alive.

The animals are suffering as well. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25034233-661,00.html

 

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I am like everyone else pleased to hear of the incredible action of Captain Chesley Sullenberger who used his knowledge and considerable experience to save the life of all the passengers and crew of Flight 1549. Captain Chesley managed to not only land the aircraft in the river Hudson but also to land it close to boats which could help in the rescue.  The bird strike that caused both engines to fail could have meant that the aircraft would have crashed in New York city, resulting in a large loss of life and considerable damage.

This news also reinforces the decision made by President Bush, who under pressure, raised the age of retirement of airline pilots in the USA from 60 to 65 . http://www.leftseat.com/age60.htm Captain Sullenberger would have been due to retirement under the earlier law!

I don't think that a younger, less experienced pilot could have saved that plane. Provided older people are fit and healthy why should they be compulsorily retired? Of course there is the other argument that people could be worked in to the grave.

Captain Chesley Sullenberger is no ordinary pilot though, as the following Wikipedia article reveals Chesley Sullenberger. Let's make sure that we don't compulsorily retire people, as this is nothing more than age descrimination. And society loses those who still have valuable skill and experience.

 

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