{"id":600,"date":"2018-05-24T21:47:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T21:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=600"},"modified":"2018-07-30T21:49:44","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T21:49:44","slug":"democracy-does-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/24\/democracy-does-good\/","title":{"rendered":"DEMOCRACY DOES GOOD"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time subtext covered a city council by-election in University & Scotforth Rural ward (December 2016 – see subtext 156), the turnout fell to an all-time low for a public election this century. The last time campus residents went to the polls in a public election (June 2017 – see subtext 165), a series of ‘errors’ led to political posters being ripped down by campus authorities. So, what embarrassments to the democratic process would subtext witness at this month’s city council by-election on campus, won by Amara Betts-Patel and Oliver Robinson of the Labour Party?<\/span><\/p>\n

To our pleasant surprise, it all went rather well. Poor voter registration? Almost all campus residents were on the electoral roll. Poor voter turnout? At 27%, with 1033 people voting, this was impressive for a by-election in a student area. Evidence of total apathy? They were queueing outside the Chaplaincy Centre to vote. Evidence of lies, backstabbing and intrigue? The candidates (if not quite everyone on their campaign teams) were getting on famously, with campaign stalls lined up next to each other in Alexandra Square. And there was a statue of Poseidon made of litter.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were some brief shenanigans on polling day, when (it is alleged) some Conservative activists stole the giant Labour banner in Edward Roberts Court, but this was defused by a quick call to the police. The banner was back up soon afterwards. The Tories retired sheepishly to the bar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only other instance of disharmony came the day after polling day. During a shouty edition of Bailrigg FM’s ‘You Ask the SU\u2019, LUSU Vice-President (Union Development) Qas Younis and Labour\u2019s election agent Lucy Atkinson had a prolonged, testy exchange over who was responsible for the increased voter turnout. Mr Younis suggested that the increased turnout was largely due to ‘the work put in by the students’ union’, even though ‘it’s not our job to promote YOUR elections’ (it definitely is). Listen to the long, awkward altercation at\u00a0https:\/\/www.mixcloud.com\/BailriggFM\/question-time-grad-ball-founders-you-ask-the-su\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

More of this sort of election, please.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time subtext covered a city council by-election in University & Scotforth Rural ward (December 2016 – see subtext 156), the turnout fell to an all-time low for a public election this century. The last time campus residents went … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[332,330,20],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-issue-178","tag-local-elections","tag-lusu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-9G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1526,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/11\/11\/its-by-election-fever\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":0},"title":"It’s By-Election Fever","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 11 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Warm congratulations to Jack O'Dwyer-Henry, sometime Labour and then Eco-Socialist councillor for the University and Scotforth Rural Ward of Lancaster City Council, on being appointed Strategy and Communications Officer for the Green Party of Northern Ireland. His departure means that, on Thursday 11 November 2021 (Week 5), literally as subtext\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":564,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/democracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":1},"title":"DEMOCRACY","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 10 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS In a blow to the Labour Group on Lancaster City Council, Cllr Oscar Thynne, John O'Gaunt ward councillor and current Lancaster student, has relinquished the Labour whip and gone independent. As you might expect, the announcement of his defection on Facebook hasn't gone down well with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1234,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/were-still-the-record-holders\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":2},"title":"WE’RE STILL THE RECORD HOLDERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"As coronavirus fever first gripped the country, and as the government prepared to enact emergency laws to postpone all public elections, one solitary local council by-election took place on Thursday 19 March 2020, for the Upper Stoke ward of Coventry City Council. Other by-elections had been scheduled for that day,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/06\/19\/letters-29\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":3},"title":"Letters","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, subtext 193 published a piece of widely-believed, but inaccurate, Lancastrian electoral trivia \u2013 that the 8 December 2016 University and Scotforth Rural by-election had the lowest turnout of any British election, at 7.12%. I understand the current record-holder to actually be the former Melrose ward, Liverpool City Council,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1018,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/subtext-188-eurobants-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":4},"title":"subtext 188 – ‘eurobants subtext’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Every so often during term time (and sometimes a bit after). Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, running out of money, wellings news, atherton news, professional services conference, unconditional offers, nets, partnership quality update, fascists, cash only,\u00a0letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL The European\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1492,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2021\/02\/19\/subtext-196-wholly-government-approved-free-speaking-subtext\/","url_meta":{"origin":600,"position":5},"title":"subtext 196 – wholly government-approved free-speaking subtext","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 19 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Frequency determined by contributions received. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, campus update, rent strike, partnerships, freedom of speech, strategy, testing, still recruiting, a poem, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Exactly one year ago tomorrow, UCU members up and down the country began\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}