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Post by carlton43 on Sept 13, 2023 10:37:57 GMT
Absolutely spot on. That Monty Python sketch has left us with a terrible legacy of candidates taking the mickey out of our democratic system with their narcissistic, ridiculous, contorted changes of name. Find it hard to get too bothered about this tbh, some of these people are irritating nuisances but others are genuinely inspired (Lord Buckethead for example) This is about the serious business of electing a representative. It should never be about grandstanding, entertainment, single issue promotion, advertising, personal vanity or a protest. It should only be about the proper object. I would prefer far fewer but better quality serious candidates and nothing else. And no 'paper candidacies' by people who don't want to be elected and if elected resign within a few weeks. Make the candidates sign an identiture of intent with an implied penalty on any resignation within a calendar year unless backed by medical certificate or proven documentation of employment change to a remote location or a job that disqualifies. |
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Post by yellowperil on Sept 13, 2023 10:58:08 GMT
Find it hard to get too bothered about this tbh, some of these people are irritating nuisances but others are genuinely inspired (Lord Buckethead for example) I’m not bothered by the obvious joke candidates but I don’t like the way that some candidates (notably a couple in Uxbridge & South Ruislip or “Corbyn Anti” in Batley & Spen 2016) use the “commonly known as” as a way of incorporating a slogan into their names, and I would be very surprised if any of those people were literally commonly known by those names. I do think that Mary Elizabeth Truss, say, should be allowed to stand under the name by which she really is commonly known, though. Did you mean "Liz Truss" or what she really might be commonly known as? Depends on which circles, etc.... |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Sept 13, 2023 11:03:10 GMT
Well, maybe. I still find it difficult to get exercised about, compared to certain other abuses of our election culture. I don't get exrecised about it - I think it is those who get excited about or 'inspired' by such candidates who are lacking in perspective. Mostly this is the very online types who are jumping on some kind of meme bandwagon - same as the Jackie Weaver 'phenomenon'. I'm slgithly surprised you come into this category.. |
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Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Sept 13, 2023 11:13:01 GMT
Eccentricity is a grand British tradition, restricting access to elections is not. I'd rather we solve our biased voting systems and (as near as damnit) corrupt voter ID laws, than stop people spending their own money on election campaigns.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Sept 13, 2023 11:21:08 GMT
Can I remind everyone that under England and Wales law, and in Scottish law, no legal process is required to change your name. Anyone can use any name they want, so long as it is not for the purpose of fraud.
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stb12
Top Poster
Posts: 8,385 
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Post by stb12 on Sept 13, 2023 11:26:40 GMT
When the Brexit Party pulled out of Chorley because of Lindsay Hoyle becoming Speaker their candidate stood as an independent and added Brexit to his legal name. Never had any real impact but it did seem quite cheap I thought
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Post by carlton43 on Sept 13, 2023 12:22:52 GMT
Can I remind everyone that under England and Wales law, and in Scottish law, no legal process is required to change your name. Anyone can use any name they want, so long as it is not for the purpose of fraud. Indeed so. As with married women carrying on with their former name as there is no legal need to make a change. But, we could make it a legal requrement that for the purpose of elections the given names on birth certificates, in full, must be used on the ballot. There could be exceptions for those of original foreign extraction using anglicized versions of foreign complexities and/or foreign scripts or characters. Also for those cases where people had long chosen to use a different name for familial, domestic or personal reasons. But the final arbiter of what is and is not admissible should be the office of registration where their adjudication is absolute and not possible to challenge. |
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Post by minionofmidas on Sept 13, 2023 12:31:19 GMT
Absolutely spot on. That Monty Python sketch has left us with a terrible legacy of candidates taking the mickey out of our democratic system with their narcissistic, ridiculous, contorted changes of name. I wouldn’t be as strict as carlton43, but the use of “known as” names has increased a lot in recent years, and has been abused with nonsensical descriptions. I think that individual candidates are doing it as a substitute for using a party name (there has been a corresponding increase in “Independent” or no-description candidates). I suspect that this is essentially because self-important weirdos are not organised enough to be able to register their parties properly, thereby properly registering a party name. In other words, they can’t find a second person willing to be the party’s other registered officer. though as it happens, Ankit used to have a registered party! |
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Post by phil156 on Sept 13, 2023 13:50:32 GMT
They will be counting this on the night
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Post by johnloony on Sept 13, 2023 15:34:37 GMT
Find it hard to get too bothered about this tbh, some of these people are irritating nuisances but others are genuinely inspired (Lord Buckethead for example) This is about the serious business of electing a representative. It should never be about grandstanding, entertainment, single issue promotion, advertising, personal vanity or a protest. It should only be about the proper object. I would prefer far fewer but better quality serious candidates and nothing else. And no 'paper candidacies' by people who don't want to be elected and if elected resign within a few weeks. Make the candidates sign an identiture of intent with an implied penalty on any resignation within a calendar year unless backed by medical certificate or proven documentation of employment change to a remote location or a job that disqualifies. Beware of unintended consequences. With a law like that, the accidental winners, those who didn’t expect or want to win, those who realise they couldn’t hack it, would avoid the penalty by not resigning, but then they would just disappear, not turn up, not to the job, not do the council work, and leave their constituents (and fellow councillors) in limbo. |
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Post by johnloony on Sept 13, 2023 15:52:38 GMT
Another hazard of the “commonly known as” name phenomenon is something which I noticed particularly at the Uxbridge by-election: the discrepancy between the real names and the pretend names produces a discrepancy between the SOPN and the ballot paper: in other words, the order in which the Returning Officer lists the names in the declaration was different from what the SOPN told us in the first place. This caused me some confusion as I was writing the results down.
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Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Sept 13, 2023 15:57:58 GMT
This is one of the perennial debates we have on this forum that tend to go around in circles:
1. Should constituency boundaries reflect communities and services or be largely arbitrary?
2. Should there be restrictions on standing for election (such as increased deposit, maximum candidature numbers, restrictions on "names" etc)?
3. Should Recall exist at all in the UK?
4. Should we change the Westminster voting system?
We'll potter on.
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Post by doktorb🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ on Sept 14, 2023 9:06:50 GMT
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Post by batman on Sept 14, 2023 9:25:50 GMT
that's a Jessie J song
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Post by Devil Wincarnate on Sept 15, 2023 14:14:31 GMT
Greater thinkers than us noted that it's all about the money, it's all about the dum dum dee der der dum. |
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Post by AdminSTB on Sept 17, 2023 0:13:15 GMT
And many of us need a dollar.
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Post by jimboo2017 on Sept 17, 2023 11:54:04 GMT
“I don’t support the SNP — I’m just getting paid to hand this sh**e out. "It’s a zero-hours contract as well.”
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YL
Non-Aligned
Either Labour leaning or Lib Dem leaning but not sure which
Posts: 4,915
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Post by YL on Sept 21, 2023 18:18:34 GMT
Possible twitter feeds for the Independent/no description candidates: Garry Patrick Cooke (nb his tweets are mostly in Gaelic) Andrew V Daly(neither mentions the by-election, though, so these identifications might be off) Cooke has tweeted as follows on the above account: Here's his leaflet (which is in English). His main issue seems to be that he wants an all-GB Premier League. |
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Post by finsobruce on Sept 21, 2023 18:28:58 GMT
Possible twitter feeds for the Independent/no description candidates: Garry Patrick Cooke (nb his tweets are mostly in Gaelic) Andrew V Daly(neither mentions the by-election, though, so these identifications might be off) Cooke has tweeted as follows on the above account: Here's his leaflet (which is in English). His main issue seems to be that he wants an all-GB Premier League. So he's going to stop kids supporting clubs outside Scotland by having an all GB Premier League. Hmmm. |
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Sept 22, 2023 5:24:02 GMT
Possible twitter feeds for the Independent/no description candidates: Garry Patrick Cooke (nb his tweets are mostly in Gaelic) Andrew V Daly(neither mentions the by-election, though, so these identifications might be off) Cooke has tweeted as follows on the above account: Here's his leaflet (which is in English). His main issue seems to be that he wants an all-GB Premier League. I love that his tweets are in Gaidhlig given he's a candidate for a Scots speaking areas of the Central Belt too. |
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