A scenario..
There’s an election coming up and you get a candidate from the Liberal Democrats, Tories and Labour turning up at the same time.
What do you do?

Me? I’d make them take turns (imagine their whinging about preference as to who goes first but any arguing and none of them get a vote)lay down rules such as straight forward answers only, no interuptions, they get a set time limit each and they’d have to sign a legally binding guarantee saying they’ll carry out their promises but any violation of my rules and they don’t get a vote.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7zbWNznbs[/video]

If there are people in the world who really expect representative democracy to work like this, then it’s hardly surprising that we endlessly hear that “people are disillusioned with politics”.

It’s like being “disillusioned with relationships” when you’re this guy. The problem is you.

We are (in any kind of historical and geographical context) amazingly lucky to live somewhere where who gets to exercise power is determined by a system other than violence.

A scenario..
There’s an election coming up and you get a candidate from the Liberal Democrats, Tories and Labour turning up at the same time.
What do you do?

Lock them in the shed and beat them with a cricket bat until they agree on a fundamental difference between themselves. And then beat the Tory some more just because.

We are (in any kind of historical and geographical context) amazingly lucky to live somewhere where who gets to exercise power is determined by a system other than violence.

You say that but election debates where the victor was whoever most vigorously defended their policies through the use of Fisticuffs rather than obfuscation or outright lies would have much better viewing figures engagement with the electorate…

TBH it’s going to have to go the X-factor route eventually isn’t it:

Political debate just ain’t sexy, if you want the great unwashed to vote then there have to be hyperbolic voice overs, Dancing girls, Celebrity Judges and of course the contestants Candidates have to get their “Journey” across in a tightly edited 40 second package where they tell you their thoughts on immigration, NHS funding, foreign aid, education, social responsibility and how upset they were when their Nan/cousin/cat died…
No more of this polling station cobblers either we just need a phone number/website/app for the public to register their support for the fella with the nicest smile…

Losers don’t get away with simply pulling a sad face either, the public can have a secondary vote on a live punishments for wasting everyone’s time, these can range from being pelted with rotten fruit to being eviscerated…

Either that or they could just flip a coin to decide who speaks first…

ask them what they are doing to improve the lot of cyclists.

Give anyone who mentions hiviz,helmets or share the road a KFC

A live in a safe seat for my MP. I don’t see politicians canvassing. I believe they concentrate on the marginals. I’m not sure how this fits with democracy.

I live in the North – I don’t think we have any candidates other than labour. If we do they don’t have social media pages.

Lock them in the shed and beat them with a cricket bat until they find a fundamental difference between themselves.

I still think MP’s would be better chosen at random – like jury duty. If not MP’s then the Lords.