Articles: Fighting apathy for free

It seems from many of the political commentry around that the upcoming election is going to be as much about fighting voter apathy, as it is about fighting between the political parties. After attending a fascinating lecture on our democratic instuitutions from Baroness Helena Kennedy this week, and then looking forward to the debate on free content at the Publishing Innovation conference in March it seemed fitting to write about the latest title from Icon Books X Marks the Box. The eBook is being given away for free until 4 March!

Who runs Britain?

This week I attended The President’s Lecture at SOAS – it was Baroness Helena Kennedy (a hero of mine) – the lecture was entitled ‘Who runs Britain? The Banks, the White House or Rupert Murdoch?’ Baroness Kennedy offered her views on the democratic institutions we have in the UK and how they are failing to deliver a system which makes the electorate feel like their vote makes any difference. She talked a lot about the need for proportional representation and a dangerous trending towards the ‘triangulation’ strategies of the USA. This means, as I understand it, that politicians focus only on marginal seats and try and win by asking the voters what their policy should be, rather than making policy based on any principles. This ends up with all parties offering essentially the same, and so less choice for the electorate). It’s all quite worrying stuff from a ‘democratic’ point of view!

Free or Fee?

Then, yesterday I wrote about the conference taking place on ‘Free or Fee’, which is looking at the pros and cons of publishing content for free.

As free certainly seems to have been the price of choice for Daniel Blythe in the initial release of his book ‘X Marks the Box’, and he hopes to “get other people excited about politics again”, it seemed quite fitting to mention him on CompletelyNovel.

Here’s some more information about the book:

X MARKS THE BOX helps the ordinary citizen to negotiate the political maze. In this political primer, designed to allay fears, explode myths and shake up apathy, self-confessed born-again voter Blythe argues that politics often has very little to do with Westminster. In his role as irreverent but informed guide to the workings of politics, he offers practical ways in which everyone can politicize themselves to fight for the things that they believe in.
As the most tightly-contested general election for 30 years approaches, and one which will be fought more than ever on local issues, Daniel Blythe gives an enjoyable, useful and penetrating insight into how to make your vote count.

So, the book is available to download for free in the run-up to the 2010 General Election on the author’s site www.xmarksthebox.co.uk

You’ve got until 4th March so head over there! Daniel also said that he is looking forward to discussing the book and how to make politics work with anyone who’s interested on his blog.