Comments on: Lisbon Treaty in balance – Ben Dunne in Stockholm

By: leo

leo — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:27:51 +0000

Hi andrew, I agree with you about emigrants voting rights, i was talking more about those of us who need to travel frequently, and yes, I could have checked the register earlier!

By: Andrew Lawlor

Andrew Lawlor — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:22:00 +0000

Leo, I moved house about five years ago. Within a couple of months I re-registered my vote at my new address, so the next time I needed it it just dropped through the letterbox. I don’t know if you did this or not but the onus is on the citizen to ensure that they have a vote. The register can be checked online and as we don’t have too many snap elections (unlike the early eighties)it is not too difficult to protect your vote. In defence of the government I don’t think that they deliberately make it difficult for you to vote, (we can leave that to Jeb Bush) however there seemed to be a fair bit of incompetence before the last general election.Being unable to vote while out of the country doesn’t bother me too much either. I doubt very much if the absence of a relatively few voters from each constituency makes any difference to the vote. I would be very reluctant also to allow the vote for emmigrants on the basis of having no representation without taxation. If emmigrants care so much about the future of the country let them come back and contribute in a meaningful way.

By: leo

leo — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:55:31 +0000

I actually had an attack of conscience and decided to vote after all – imagine my shock when I found out i’d been taken off the register! (I had moved house). It seems like the gov. make it as difficult as possible to vote. it really sickens me, same way you cant vote if you happen to be out of the country; what kind of a parochial attitude is that? it would be good to hear your opinion on that, andrew.

By: Andrew Lawlor

Andrew Lawlor — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:58:01 +0000

Indymedia are, I find, a bit like the No side in the Lisbon debate. They tend to be against everything and seem to be made up of people who scour the streets all day until they find something which offends them. Complaining about stuff seems to be their whole raison d’etre.

By: leo

leo — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:11:47 +0000

Good piece Andrew – one thing that bugs me is why have the media in this country been so shy in investigating the very sinister Libertas group? I think indymedia are generally shite as a ‘news’ source (they come across like a soviet mouthpiece – all earnest, deluded trinity politics students with che guevara posters on their walls) but they managed a half decent piece on them. creepy fuckers, Libertas.