There is only a week to go before the referendum on the Alternative Vote for Westminster elections. Apart from students and teachers of politics I have yet to meet anyone who has engaged with the debate, let alone understood it.
Smugly I have ignored the 'Yes' campaign, lazily adopting Boris Johnson's analysis of AV as 'bonkers'. So I felt it was about I tried to consider whether the Alternative Vote has any virtue at all. I turned to Nick Cohen's Spectator article on AV (http://nickcohen.net/2011/04/26/changing-my-mind-on-av/) in which he sets out his reasons for changing his mind, and deciding to join the 'Yes' camp instead. In the past I have admired the work of Cohen so I was prepared to be convinced. However the article contains hardly any convincing arguments in favour of ditching First Past the Post; Cohen's main points are that we might as well have it as coalitions would become more common anyway, and that MPs would have to work harder for the vote. Is that it?
Having thought about it for a little longer I can find NO reason for voting YES next Thursday. There my conscience is clear!
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