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by robhu 3343 days ago
In 2011 the UK had a referendum on whether to change from FPTP to The Alternative Vote[0].

The people voted No overwhelmingly (68% No, 32% Yes).

As with the Brexit referendum, those that lost complained afterward that the public was mislead, weren't given appropriate choices in the election etc.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vot...
2 comments
sandstrom 3341 days ago
Yes, I know. But as with any referendum, how well had people actually understood the implications?

Interesting map, hadn't seen it before. The only ares where Yes won was Cambridge, Oxford and a few parts of central London/Glasgow/Edinburgh.

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abritinthebay 3343 days ago
> As with the Brexit referendum, those that lost complained afterward that the public was mislead

And they weren't wrong. The problem unfortunately is that the public, as a whole, just doesn't care.

They'd rather a comfortable, self-affirming, lie than an uncomfortable, intellectually challenging, truth.

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robhu 3343 days ago
The fact of the matter is that both sides believed the other side was lying during the campaign (e.g. Osborne's punishment budget, Cameron saying he'd invoke article 50, and Project Fear in general).
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abritinthebay 3343 days ago
Maybe, but the Leave campaign provably lied (and was exposed as such even during the campaign.

Result: no-one cared. It was never about truth, it was about emotion

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