SwiftVets.com

[Bob51]

From today's South China Morning Post.
A reporter in Edinburgh ruminates on Tony Blair's limited use of Internet technology while citing the veterans who created doubts about John Kerry's war record.

If you have about one minute, do fill in the form at:
http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/
I got a very surprising result which shows how out of touch I am with UK politics. Either that, or their weighting of issues needs rebalancing.

Bob51

BRITISH ELECTION
Use of the Net gets a particularly British spin


SEAN MUNDAY in Edinburgh

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Britain's next prime minister is unlikely to attribute his success at the ballot box on Thursday to the wonders of modern technology.
The internet played a key role in last year's US presidential election, with both the Republican and Democratic camps fund-raising via e-mail, studying databases to target swinging voters and using weblogs - or blogs - to rally support.


But things are different on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tight restrictions on party fund-raising mean that the millions would-be Democrat candidate Howard Dean raised last year by e-mailing supporters would be unthinkable in Britain.

European Union data protection legislation, meanwhile, restricts access to electronically stored voter information and British blogs remain largely the reserve of single-issue pressure groups.

Stephen Coleman, a professor of e-democracy at the Oxford Internet Institute, said mainstream British political parties were using information technology, but in an old-fashioned way.

"Most political parties are using the Web as a way of managing their own supporters, not as a broadcast medium," Professor Coleman said.

"Candidates used to put a leaflet through your door at election time with a picture of themselves with their wife and dog. They now put up a website with a picture of themselves with their wife and dog."

There was no evidence that party websites were overtaking traditional media in forming voter opinion or doing anything to address the apathy that is predicted to result in a record low turnout.

"If you were to look at this election campaign on the basis of what's on the Web, you would conclude that it's not that much different from the last election in 2001; it really hasn't moved on much," Professor Coleman said.

"If the mainstream parties are concerned about the 40-50 per cent of people who are not voting - and the even larger numbers of young people who are not voting - they've got to start looking at online networks, at how you use a website to create links between people, how you enable people to contribute to the electoral process and, most importantly, how you learn to listen."

Single issue groups, while lacking the clout of American counterparts like the Vietnam veterans who made doubts about Senator John Kerry's war record a campaign issue via their website, have taken the lead in blogging and e-mail.

"The mainstream parties peer into blogs and there are some politicians who have them, although they don't on the whole run them very well and they don't quite understand what they're for," Professor Coleman said.

Non-partisan websites designed to help those having difficulty making up their minds have proved popular. One site, www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com, provides an online questionnaire covering 25 key policy areas and calculates which party an individual should support on the basis of his or her answers

[shawa]

Interesting.
There's some kind of skew to the poll.
I expected a high Conservative score, but got 31 conservative
37 UKIP, 27 labour, 67 liberal democrat, 52 green.
Make any sense of that???
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)

[Bob51]

Shawa

I also expected a moderate to high Conservative score, but apparently I am now a Green with Liberal Democrat tendencies...
I have been away from the UK in Hong Kong/China for the last 14 years so things must have changed. Then again, apart from Blair I do not even know the names of other politicians much less what is in their manifestos. Treat as amusement only, I think.

Bob51

[SBD]

I'm still a conservative, even in the UK.

Who should I vote for? v2
Your expected outcome:
Conservative


Your actual outcome:

Labour -21
Conservative 36
Liberal Democrat -50
UKIP 35
Green -32


You should vote: Conservative

The Conservative Party is strongly against joining the Euro and against greater use of taxation to fund public services. The party broadly supported the Iraq war and backs greater policing and ID cards. The Tories are against increasing the minimum wage above the rate of inflation, and have committed to abolishing university tuition fees. They support 'virtual vouchers' for private education.


SBD

[Bob51]

The "Conservative" description makes sense. Maybe there was a system hiccup. I'll try it again and see if I get a sensible answer next time.

Bob51