At a quick count there are 127 problems with the current British political system. But a couple of key problems are the significant disconnect between popular assessment of the worth of MPs and their own assessment, and an electoral system that renders a huge proportion of votes worthless and grossly over-represents the votes given to Labour and the Conservatives in the number of MPs they get.

I think both of these can be addressed fairly straightforwardly by splitting up the duties of MPs. Currently they have a dual role, both as those who draft and pass legislation and also as representatives of their constituencies. These roles don’t really mesh particularly well, either in terms of skills required or in terms of overlap of duties. MPs who may be very responsive to the complaints and issues of their constituents may not have the understanding and insight to be good at helping to create good legislation or at holding the executive to account. It also requires MPs to have a home in London (for practical reasons) and one in their constituencies (for political reasons) – one of the factors that have strongly contributed to recent expenses “scandals”.

A well-qualified, well-paid legislature is vital for the country. While the idea that paying more will inexorably lead to better performance is flawed, its equally the case that if politics is underpaid compared to professional jobs then almost inevitably it will be filled by mediocrities or ideologues, as well as increasing the likelihood of corruption. It’s a false economy to pay low salaries to a few hundred individuals if by paying more they could better spend the billions they control. Equally, it seems unfair that millions of people in crucial public sector jobs (teachers, nurses, police, you know the roll call) are paid less than backbench MPs who contribute precious little to running the country. Particularly if they are idiots like David Tredinnick and John Robertson.

So, my solution is to dramatically reduce the number of MPs. Although there are a significant government positions to fill, as well as the need to staff committees to scrutinise them, no more than 200 MPs required. Those left should however be well paid and well resourced. To allow them to focus their energies on ensuring good legislation and governance, their constituency responsibilities would be removed. This would mean they would no longer have to have second homes outside London.

Meanwhile the job of dealing with constituency issues would be dealt with by another set of elected responsibilities, covering the same constituencies as exist currently. Being able to devote themselves wholly to dealing with those issues should make them more responsive and effective, plus people would soon realise the benefit of electing the best performance of individuals rather than voting for whoever was representing the national party they supported. As this job could be perfectly adequately performed by mediocrities and ideologues, the pay would not have to be that high. The jobs would also be based in the constituencies – so no need to fund a second home in the capital.

The next question would be as to how to elect representatives under this system. First Past The Post (FPTP) has very few merits as an electoral system except that it provides a link between MPs and constituencies (largely redundant under these proposals) and it tends to provide a clear winner in elections. On the debit side, it effectively disenfranchises millions of people, it is deeply unproportional, it perpetuates a two party system and regularly gives almost unlimited powers to parties with only 40% of the vote. In its place, I’d suggest using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system for the legislative MPs. STV isn’t wholly proportional, but does tend to be more so than FPTP. More importantly it means that voters still get to choose on candidates rather than on party which minimises the scope for dubious candidates to get in through party lists as can happen with PR systems. By giving weight to second and third preferences it also recognises reality that most people have a number of political positions rather than simply sharing the platform of one single party. FPTP could be kept for the constituency representatives where its defects would not be so significant.

The potential benefits of these changes are manifold. Amongst other things, it would make our government significantly more representative, allow proper scrutiny of legislation, give each constituent a dedicated individual to deal with their issues, accountable only for themselves rather than the party they represent. The overall cost would probably rise slightly with an extra 200 or so elected representatives, though this would be partly offset by most of them no longer being based in London and none of them requiring two homes.

I’m currently writing epic and doubtlessly hugely influential posts on reforming the UK electoral system and vegetarianism. But while you’re waiting, some more links.

I’ve not watched any X Factor this season (and only under duress in previous series) but Jack Seale’s blog on the Radio Times site is so good that I just read it all the way back to the start. Most recent update here, click on “previous” for earlier entries. Amusingly, most people commenting make no reference to the articles, but simply lay in to Simon/Louis/ITV for whatever iniquity they have been responsible for this week.

Garfield minus Garfield, remove Garfield from Jim Davis’ tedious comics and suddenly an existential nightmare envelopes Jon … with hilarious results. Well, quite funny results, anyway.

The ever-excellent Pitch Invasion site has a genuinely touching article on supporting the Chicago Fire and their play-off game against the New England Revolution, plus the sites trademark quality photos. A useful corrective to anyone who likes to mock US soccer (like the idiot who wrote the last blog entry on here).

Lastly, congratulations to Wales on winning the Korfball Eurobowl Western Division and qualifying for their first ever European Championships. It’s reported with trademark lack of flair on the IKF site.

Elizabeth Lambert tries to prove otherwise.

Update: Jennifer Hewitt from the consistently interesting From A Left Wing blog points to the more serious issues involved.

I’ve long since given up posting on live journal (and I only posted sporadically when I did) but I still check it for some friends journals. On the front page there is a daily suggestion of a topic to write about for those struggling for creativity – usually very sensible ones, if a little dull.

Today’s however made me laugh out loud: “If your romantic partner told you that, given the chance, he or she would sleep with a celebrity/public figure you disrespect, would you be amused, jealous, or bewildered?”

The thing I’m tickled by is the bit about “disrespect” as if you’d be more or less jealous if you thought the celebrity merited their fame. “I can’t believe you want to sleep with 50 Cent, he can’t rap for shit! I thought we had something good going on! Now if you wanted to screw Jay-Z, then I’d say go for it. In no way would that undermine our relationship.”

Just look at the last endorsement. Obviously plenty of Americans do get irony, but good that some people out there are keeping up the stereotype.

For even less highbrow humour, reportage that pulls no punches. This is years old, but I still laugh every time.

When short of material, a blogger always has the trusty fall back of search terms that people used that Google sent to their site. Here are a few recent ones for here:

• “where can i buy david dimblebys tie” (x2) – I only wish I knew. Then I could try and put them out of business.
• “bestialité moyen-âge” – I hope they were looking for bestiality from the Middle Ages rather than bestiality involving middle-aged people. In any event this blog is a bestiality free zone.
• “bavarian faces” – I genuinely am not sure what they were hoping to get here.
• “sexual brutality” (x2)  – Eww.

When you’re living in the countryside getting a taxi is a bit more complicated than in the city where all you need to do is stick out an arm. No, invariably you have to book in advance, sometimes more than a day beforehand. One of the reasons why this might be is the taxi company in Church Stretton doubles as the undertakers, and when I was younger they drove the school bus too. The Welfare State may no longer guarantee to look after us from the cradle to the grave, but Morris and Son are willing to fill the breach. When I did manage to get organised enough to book one of their taxis I did think about asking them if they ever had to bring the hearse out for a taxi trip – perhaps if their regular car(s) broke down, but I guessed they’d probably heard the joke too many times.

Perhaps they also need the money on the side because they have broken the cardinal rule for taxi companies – having a name that goes right at the top of the alphabetical list in the phone book. This desperation is now getting to ridiculous levels. Old favourites like A2B and ABC taxis are being pushed down the list by more imaginative firms. I’m looking at the Shropshire Yellow Pages now (time hangs heavy) and A2B are only 4th, with ABC behind them. Just ahead are AAA Shrewsbury Taxis which at least looks like it could stand for something, but they are trumped by AAAAAA R&J of Shrewsbury who have abandoned all pretence of dignity in a desperate bid to get first place. Sadly, their efforts are in vain as they still fall behind AAAAAA 1st 4 Taxis who are clearly masters of the post-literate txtspk world. The multiple ‘A’ trick undoubtedly works, but I’m a little unsure that calling your firm something that resembles a scream of terror is going to encourage business.

One trick no-one seems to have used is going from the start of the dictionary and having Aardvark Taxis. Perhaps they fear that it will give people the impression of some kind of rickshaw, pulled by one of these:

OK, the subject of this quiz is the most common names of England Football Internationals. Despite the subject, I don’t think its particularly of interest for sporting reasons, more for social historical ones.

“List fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you, for whatever reason. Make sure it’s the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

Tagged by Nerves Strengthened with Tea. I’m interested that my list contains much more non-fiction than either her list or adventures in bibliotherapy. Luckily, none of us is at all interested in speculating on the importance of gender in determining cultural significance.

The fact that I’m going to order my list (alphabetically) doubtless tells us nothing either.

(frankly I think that the directions given are incompatible, so I’m just going with part 1)

• Animal Farm – George Orwell
• A Season With Verona – Tim Parks
• Bad Science – Ben Goldacre
• Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat – Bill Watterson
• How to be an Alien – George Mikes
• Middlemarch – George Eliot
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
• The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• The First Casualty – Phillip Knightley
• The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers – Paul Kennedy
• The Silence of the Sea – Vercors
• The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
• Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne

I know that this blog has been relatively serious since I restarted posting, so as a reward for sticking with it, here’s some music. The theme is body parts (though I restrained myself to only one “heart” reference to stop it being too easy)

Music posted on this thread is intended to create interest in the featured artist. Should copyright holders object to the use of material on this blog, please contact me and the links will be removed ASAP.

Before You Close Your Eyes – Tindersticks

From Simple Pleasure, the ’sticks go Philly Soul

Grandma’s Hands – Bill Withers

How do you turn a duck into a soul singer? Put it in a microwave until its Bill Withers. Ahaha. Bill’s paean to happy family life – where apparently it’d be perfectly appropriate to whip a small child for dropping an apple core.

Goin’ Out Of My Head – Florence Ballard

The ex-Supreme’s cri de coeur over a boy who just doesn’t appreciate her properly.

L’Eau A La Bouche – Serge Gainsbourg

Early, jazzy, Serge.

Ce Petit Coeur – Françoise Hardy

Typically jaunty stuff from the queen of French pop.

Fistful Of Faith – Herman Dune

Some French dudes who actually have the decency to sing in English.

Hairstyle Of The Devil – Momus

Momus addresses the common fear of being cuckolded by Beelzebub.

Maria’s Little Elbows – Sparklehorse

No-one makes a word salad more affecting than Mark Linkous.

Faces And Names – Lou Reed & John Cale

The Velvet Underground alumni get back together in a tribute to Andy Warhol, this is a fairly straightforward song amongst the sharper edges of Songs for Drella.

Get On Your Knees – Kevin Blechdom

Kristin Erickson’s had her heart broken, and she’s not happy about it.

Follow These Eyes – The Hidden Cameras

One of the many reasons I never became a music journalist was an utter inability to describe songs like this. It’s indie pop. It’s pretty good.

Mick Jagger’s Lips – Li-Lund

Surely most of us have been fascinated by Mick Jagger’s lips at some point. Li-Lund takes it to the logical conclusion.

Couples Holding Hands – Ian Cockburn and the Whole World

A righteous (and witty) tirade against the tyranny of public displays of affection.

Les Mains Dans Les Poches – Les Roche Martin

People’s hands in their pockets is a much underdone topic for pop songs. The ye-ye band try to correct this.

Idle Hands Are The Devil’s Playthings – Palace Brothers

It’s true. Keeping this blog going is my desperate attempt to keep Satan at bay. Alt-country par excellence.

Akhian Udikdian (My Eyes Are Desperately Seeking For Your Look) – Faiz Ali Faiz

The translation looks a bit dubious, but who am I to argue.

Your Head To Your Toes – Hefner

Simple song, simple sentiment. It works.

Lovin’ Arms – Etta James

Gorgeous, tragic lament from my favourite soul singer.