On the other hand

(a) Abstaining is always wrong. Having been given a vote it is incumbent on you to use it. I would include spoiling your ballot paper in "using it". Simply staying away does not differentiate you from apathy.

(b) My instinctive reaction to the idea of any new layer of elected people is negative, but on the other hand I'm not sure that self-regulation (ie regulation of the police by the police) is working very well. The Hillsborough thing is a genuine shock. Would they have been able to get away with that (i) initially and (ii) for so long if there'd been an independent elected police commissioner? I suspect not. So maybe it's not as pointless an idea as it looks.

Posted By: Old Git, Oct 23, 11:15:51