Thoughts on politics and life from a liberal perspective

Friday 22 April 2011

Excellent AV vs FPTP post from an award winning mathematician

I don't often do a post which essentially just links to another blog post but I am making an exception here.


This is simply one of the best blog posts I have ever read from award winning mathematician Tim Gowers. He goes through all of the arguments for and against AV and FPTP and with intelligence and humour analyses each one from a mathematical perspective but in an accessible way. He is clearly in favour of a switch to AV but he is not afraid to point out its weaknesses as well as its strengths.

It is a very long post and will probably take 20 or 30 minutes to read in full but it is very much worth it. If you are still undecided about AV (and even if you think you aren't) I heartily recommend it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark...you come across as a right muppet...

Hugh said...

The ineptitude of the Yes campaign has been underlined by its lack of reference to a key issue for many of the referendum’s swing voters on the left: Iraq.  Surely, many of them would have been attracted in 2005 by the possibility of being able to vote for an anti-war Labour candidate in, say, Sedgefield, without the risk of splitting the Labour vote and letting in a Tory?  If that doesn’t appeal, what about the prospect of an anti-Clegg Lib Dem in Sheffield Hallam, who would be able to fend off a Tory but crucially, not be Nick Clegg?