Also from last Tuesday, an illuminating extract from a debate in the House of Commons concerning amendments to the Alternative Voting system.
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab): The hon. Gentleman is being absolutely straightforward in saying that he does not really agree with his own amendment, but does he agree that it still does not get over the fundamental flaw in all AV systems, which is that they effectively give people two votes, and particularly people who support minority parties such as the British National party?
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch) (Con): Exactly. I agree with the hon. Gentleman and my amendment attempts to mitigate the terms of the Bill, under which some people might have three, four, five or six votes. For example, somebody might put the BNP first and the UK Independence party second, and then vote for some other nationalist party or whatever. All those candidates would never get anywhere near the top of the poll, thereby making it possible for that person to cast a large number of votes. Thus, some people will get a large number of votes, whereas others will not; indeed, they will get only the one vote. One way of explaining the virtues of the first-past-the-post system is to say that it is one person, one vote, which is something that everybody understands.
Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con): The hon. Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) made a good point about some people effectively having three, four or five votes. However, is it not the case that the meaning of the word "alternative" is "one of two", from its true Latin derivation, "alter"? My hon. Friend's amendment is therefore technically and linguistically absolutely correct. If the system is to be called the alternative vote system, the sense of "one of two" must come into it somewhere, not the sense of "one of four or five".
Moving on to a few nature observations and starting with this strange fish found washed up on a Pembrokeshire beach earlier this month. Yes it does look rather like the things you find after frogs have visited your garden pond. You will not be surprised therefore to learn that is indeed known as a tadpole fish.
Looks like there will be plenty of snacks on the trees for the redwings, fieldfares and bramblings this winter. It might be just me, but I have also noticed an abundance of acorns, hazelnuts and walnuts this year as well. That all points to a harsh winter which suits me down to the ground, making this country less attractive to the hordes of "economic migrants" from hotter climes waiting for the governmental green light to invade our land.
On the subject of hotter climes, if you want to see some photos of the first new carnivorous mammal discovered for twenty four years you might want to take a peak here. He doesn't look a very happy chap does he and it rather reminds me of the Rowan Atkinson's hysterical gorilla sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News - "wild, I was absolutely livid".
Finally I'm not exactly livid about it, but having found out that the Walker's Rainy Day competition limits me to just one entry a day, I am somewhat crestfallen. With my meteorological prowess and knowledge of Britain's most rain-sodden places (I seem to have visited them all) I was almost assured of a £100 a day income.
