Westminster Eye - Hamish Common
A letter in the last edition of Felix raised some interesting questions about political bias in this newspaper, accusing my fellow columnist and I of partisan reporting, and hoping we’d all be gagged in the run-up to the election in six days time (I guess it didn’t have the desired effect). Imperial College Union, of which this paper is a part of, has charitable status like most other student unions and cannot therefore sanction any political creed or party without jeopardising its charitable status.
All this means in practice is that the entire editorial content of the paper must not be in support of a particular party, and headlines such as ‘Everyone vote for X’ would get everyone into trouble.
Many people have asked me who I’m going to vote for, where I stand in it all, and even who they should vote for. Well, vote for whoever the hell you want! Anyone who has the brains to study at Imperial should sensibly make up their mind as to who they want to run the country for five years.
The only big recommendation I would make is that you do vote, because if you abstain on the grounds that ‘it wouldn’t make any difference anyway’ then you shouldn’t complain when a party you dislike comes into power. Those who do not vote have no voice. Party strategists, when deciding policy, take into account the fraction of affected areas of the population who turn out to vote. If particularly few of them turn out each election, they will be a ‘soft spot’ for unpleasant legislation which gains them votes with people who do turn out to vote. Campaigns such as ‘Rock the vote’ are trying to increase the influence of the younger generation by making them turn out to vote. If there is an increase this election of young people voting, the mainstream parties will be pressured to re-jig their policies to keep the young behind them. The state of higher education and the continual assault on student’s wallets demonstrate the paucity of the student vote.
If you are voting in the Cites of London and Westminster constituency, it may be wise to read last term’s interview with the main candidates, Peter Brooke, Kate Green and Mike Dumigan. The vote you make will be for a particular person to represent you and this geographic area in Parliament, as well as giving a party an extra vote in the passing of Bills through the Commons. There are many people who dislike a party but like their candidate enough to vote for him/her despite his/her allegiance, and vice-versa. Do take care of your vote as this is probably your last one until 2002, when most of you will have graduated, and could well working full-time with a mortgage and family!
Finally, a number of people including a certain other nameless Felix columnist and the person writing the ‘political bias’ letter seem to think I write under a pseudonym. Well I don’t. I actually live with this name, thank you. And remember to vote on the 1st of May.
The real, live and kicking Hamish Common’s Westminster Eye will be appearing intermittently over the next few weeks due to exams
