THREAD: Here we are again. Staring into the electoral abyss. A majority in this country want a #FinalSay. A majority in this country want broadly progressive politics. But we’re silenced, held hostage by our electoral system, by tribalism, by sheer democratic immaturity. ~AA 1/ 
I had to explain our political system to a group of international first-time voters tonight. It was illuminating. I was embarrassed to answer their questions. Embarrassed to explain typical turnout rates to someone whose friends died for the right to vote. ~AA 2/
Embarrassed to explain to a young woman from Bangladesh why her vote would probably not count for anything in either of the two constituencies she could register. Embarrassed to explain to them why someone can be elected with, in some cases 20-odd percent support. ~AA 3/
Embarrassed to explain why we have a system that sees as democratic to enact the wishes of a 2016 majority, in the teeth of a 2019 majority wishing the opposite. Embarrassed, most of all, to explain how she gets a vote after 6 months and I don’t after 30 years. ~AA 4/
And yet the two big parties propose no reform (or even review) of the core issue, the wickedness at the centre of this constitutional mess that means only a few thousand votes matter, that convinces people their voice is not heard, that led to Brexit: First-Past-The- Post. ~AA 5/
Even Labour with its “radical” manifesto “for the many not the few”, which proposes review on just about every other constitutional matter, is silent on the issue. Of course it is. A binary system suits it as long as it is one of the two contenders. ~AA 6/
But it is folly. Folly to look at coalitions and supply-and-confidence-by-bribe, of unlawful prorogation and attacks on the judiciary, of advisory referenda that turn binding, of electoral fraud and dark money, of three elections in four years and say “let’s do nothing”. ~AA 7/
Yet here we are, looking into the abyss. Again. Begging our leaders to have the vision to put country before party and #WorkTogether. A progressive majority, fractured, squabbling, at the mercy of a minority, terrible at governing, but really good at getting to govern. ~AA END/
