Yes, I am voting No….

The Economist would vote No were it enfranchised on 5 May. I am inclined to vote the same way, albeit for rather different reasons. The Economist says it is in favour of an element of proportional representation (PR) within our elected systems, with the remainder being the mis-named first past the post (FPTP). I don’t like PR. I think it accepts and enforces the de facto status quo and doesn’t address the real underlying problems with our electoral system. So while The Economist rejects the alternative vote (AV) system because it is not like its favoured 20% PR (I don’t understand how this would work), I reject AV because it is irrelevant to the actual problems in our politics and would, I suspect, reduce the likelihood of us ever getting a Parliament that I would be happy with.

Spurious history of apple strudel

In February, Sophie and I celebrated Apple Strudel day with our friends Tom and Rachel. We were asked to bring our account of the origins of apple strudel. Little did we know we were soon to purchase a book, hidden within the pages of which was a first-hand account of the biggest food fraud imaginable. Here are those pages: