I'm voting tactically and I really want you to too

Convenor: Stella Duffy

Summary

- How do we know where "best" to vote tactically?

The BBC website has useful information, including a list of "battleground" constituencies for each party:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/default.stm

- Paralysed politics

- How sad that we're defensive voting

- One of the problems in arts funding is not enough confidence to stop funding people when they're shit

- Constitutional reform- can we get a written constitution??

- Steven Whinnery- the fox/eggs analogy (Steven compared the parties to foxes- labour will grab the chickens in it's mouth, but will fill up with regret, and will drop the mauled chickens again. If the Tories get in, then there will be no chickens- no eggs under the Tories!)

- Change the architecture of the debating chambers- use the semi-circle instead

- More young people live in varied places, not one place, so it is harder to get involved in local politics

- Write to your MP

- Tories who wouldn't vote Tory <= war?? (someone's Tory parents (retired military) don't want to vote Conservative because of their stance on the war)

- Democracy is not sophisticated (deep democracy might be)

- Jenn: at leat the top issues aren't "gay marriage" and "abortion", at least it's the economy and immigration

- The arts are being discussed differently by political parties

- Labour have put it on the agenda (and has that created arts with agenda?)

- Arts has benefitted, fundamentally changed funding (untrue stuff from Jeremy Hunt on arts funding!)

While it seemed that we were coming from a disillusioned/hopeless perspective to start, we were glad we were having this discussion, it did feel great to be talking about it, and we were reminded by Rebecca that plenty of arts orgs/theatres etc ARE putting on stuff about the election/politics, we're not alone in our desire for a better, more engaged world - or a better, more engaged arts! (And I especially liked the range of ages in this discussion!)