I must admit that when I considered the two options last September I quickly decided that FPTP (First Past The Post) was futile, and that therefore an alternative system had to be the better option. This option, where it was explained that everybody could be a winner, was what finally clinched it for me, and what forced me to sign up for the campaign.
Despite many years of having been indoctrinated with the view that it is only the "winner" who achieves anything, such a concept was somewhat alien to me. The thought that the person/team/party who "won" wouldn't be able to claim as much success as the many who followed behind them seemed to appeal.
It is surprising that I had previously been such an advocate of FPTP as a very early experience at Butlins Holiday Camp in Blackpool (aged four and a half) saw me relinquish an apparently unassailable lead in the egg and spoon race, when said egg fell off said spoon, and I didn't realise that I could have picked it up and put it back on the spoon!
Had I realised that I could actually have finished first, by what I saw at the time as "cheating", I could have... ended up in politics!
But I didn't, and now many years later have the opportunity of rewriting history. The sympathy from those watching the race was clearly with me (apart that is from the parents of the spotty 7 year old who actually was FPTP) and therefore I would clearly have received more second choice votes and would therefore have won under an AV system - even though I didn't.
Anyway as I have already said I made up my mind last September. I decided....
...to take part in Trailwalker UK 2011, because I knew that even though the wonderful Gurkha team would "win", the achievements of those that followed would count for more!
As for political voting systems? Don't ask me!
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