Take the government to court

I love the Fawcett Society. They are named after the lovely Millicent Fawcett and have been around since 1866. They are still keeping up the struggle for equal pay for equal work, still a long way from reality, 40 years after the passing of the Equal Pay Act (which means that women earn at best about a fifth less than men and if you take into account lifetime loss of earnings for child rearing, a great deal less). They are excellent at telling it like it is about so called lap dancing clubs and have cearly helped lots of people to persuade their local councils to adopt the change in licensing laws which will end the ridiculous practice of licensing lap dancing clubs and the like under the same rules as a cafe (as have their sister organisation Object, also wonderful campaigning network tackling the whole gamut of the so-called 'sex' industry - or rape, harassment and sexual abuse industry as it could more truthfully be known).

And they have put the Equality and Human Rights Commission to shame, by doing the only responsible thing in the face of imminent budget changes which will result in more hardship, fewer opportunities, lower paid jobs and worse services, disproportionately for women - they are taking the government to court.

Someone really should be taking the Condems to court for just generally doing things which are likely to hurt poor people more than rich people. But we don't have laws against being unfair to poor people. And we do have laws requiring public bodies not to discriminate against women (we also have ones requiring them not to discriminate against disabled people, or people on grounds of their sexuality, hooray).

Last time I looked (about 5 minutes ago) the government hadn't yet been put out to tender and sold to the consultant with the best score on Best Value Performance Indicators, so I am pretty sure that it is still a public body at the moment. So this rule, known enticeingly as the Gender Equality Duty, still applies. And instead of the body legally constituted to hold organisations to account for adherence to equalities and human rights legislation, paid for with public money, it has been left to the Fawcett Society, a charity, funded almost entirely by individual donations and trusts, to tell the government that they can't do this without at least considering how this will affect equality between men and women.

Theresa May, Home Secretary and expert of the apparent 180degree turn illusion, aka Minister for Equalities, has made the Chancellor aware of this responsibilities to avoid discrimination of all kinds, including discrimination against gay people, disabled people and others under the Equalities Act 2010, in a clear letter which you can have a look at by clicking on that link. In other words: THEY CAN'T EVER SAY THEY WEREN'T WARNED, by their own Home Secretary.

So, support the Fawcett Society in their work, kindly helping to keep the government from breaking the law. If you join, not only will you have the pleasure of knowing that your money is helping to sue Cam'n'Clegg'n'co (and honestly, wouldn't that be a pleasure?). You will get a t-shirt with "This is what a feminist looks like" running attractively across your chest.

I have been photographed wearing this in a range of appropriate poses: whilst knitting aside a raging waterfall in Northumberland (the photographer lost his nerve there, so you will just have to believe me); as a protective outer layer when baking almond slices (of more anon), knitting in an ancient beech forest (see left), attempting to cook a three course meal for a family of 12 in a cliff top campsite in Wales, as half a pyjama. Frankly it could do with better tailoring - I didn't win many sartorial points as you can see, so there is a cliche sadly supported - but the political point is, I hope, clear. Feminists may bake, (or not), knit (or not), skip through meadows (or not), dress up (or down), rear or care for children and older people (or not) and we all work (whether paid or unpaid). Just like everyone else. Except for the important detail that we don't want (nit pickers that we are) to be treated as less important, less able, less deserving of decent lives, just because we are females. That's it. Nothing threatening there.

Any woman who doesn't want to call herself one out loud, that's a choice. Any woman who wants to slam feminism can, in order, give back: equal pay, protection under the law from violence, child benefit, right to vote, right to work, right to remain in work after marriage, right to own property, right to have own bank account, right to privacy and bodily integrity. Give 'em all back, if you have nothing but bad things to say about feminists - most of these didn't exist 50 years ago, lots didn't exist 20 years ago (including the right to say no to sex within marriage) and don't think for a minute that powerful political men just woke up one morning and said "let's do something nice for ladies today". Feminists organised and got busy and wrote letters and took to the streets and raised money to pay for legal challenges and thus, equal rights got a bit closer.

In reality, lots of the apparent gains are still mere mirages or fuzzy images at best, which is why we still need the Fawcett Society.

To those dear friends who think that we have gender equality and I am just being old fashioned - I must have missed the meeting where it was announced that the gender pay gap had closed, that there was no glass ceiling any more, that women don't get raped and beaten just for being women any more, that degrading treatment of women can no longer be packaged up and sold as harmless fun in magazines, websites or clubs for men any more. Come to think of it, I must have also missed the meeting where it was announced that men were no longer also being denied certain opportunities, just because they are men, or coerced into joining the armed forces and becoming cannon fodder, just because they were men without other job opportunities, any more. Gender equality is good for us all and it doesn't deny us the opportunity to be women and men in the ways we want to be, it just stops us from being discriminated against for it. Simple as.

Donate and help them sue the government, we need this now more than ever...

Hot coffee news!

Quick update on the Fair Trade coffee saga: I have now received a lengthy, warm and encouraging email from the CEO of the coffee retailer I love the most. Sadly, though unsurprising, there was no immediate commitment to putting a Fair Trade coffee on their shelves but some possibilities and she was most certainly understanding of the value of the Fair Trade presence for her customers - a breakthrough. I won't be naming them till I see the logo on the right on one of the lines in her delightful outlet and then I will resume my overdraft maintenance activities with gusto. Till then, I may have to desist.


CEO says the issue for her is quality, that she hasn't found a Fair Trade registered coffee with good enough quality. Does anyone know of one? I mean really REALLY good? Yes, I have tasted the ones you can get ready ground but neither they nor the very few FT registered beans I have ever tasted even come close to this quality, it's a one way street and I may have to give up coffee completely if they don't find something Fair AND tasty from Peru soon (that seems to be the most likely candidate said CEO has got). I have heard rumours of fine coffe from Uganda - please share the love and pass on the information if you have it, my caffeine addicted bones won't rest till I can get my fix with squeaky clean conscience and taste buds as happy as does the champagne my champagne socialism occassionally tickles them with.


The main thing is I want to find out how much consumer power counts for in the modern day - we are supposed to be consumers and to exercise our political influence at the check out so I hope that this saga has inspired some to at least ask the question in their favourite shops; why don't they stock any (or more) Fair Trade goods. We do have some power, it may be small but when more of us ask for things that matter, our voices get heard. Or am I being naive? Answers in the comments box, or by carrier pigeon, or attached to a fine bottle of pink fizz (is there a Fair Trade champagne? Is there a call for one? or are champagne producers not in need of such a thing to protect them? I suspect the latter but would be grateful for further information).


It's too hot to rant. If it weren't, there would be words on GROWTH NOT CUTS. I might mention that the current proposed form of voting reform is NOT what a lot of people voted for and barely counts as proportional representation. I could ask, coyly, why there is a new line of comment around about, that the coalition agreement isn't actually giving anyone what they voted for (and it would be tempting to say I told you so...see previous blogs). I could rail against the ubiquity of football and hurl forwards the possibility that supporting INGERLAND is a rallying point for the reassertion of nationalistic heteronormative hegemonic narrative (but that wouldn't make me many friends at parties). Or I could point out, annoyingly, that in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, over 6 turgid volumes, in 1776, pointed out that said decline was marked by a public obsession with celebrity and sport. He also did a fine job of denigrating organised religion. If you happen to be in Bentinck Street in London you can lay a copy of Heat magazine and your St George's flag themed memorabilia at the foot of his blue plaque in tribute and pray for the arrest of the Holy Father when his lips touch the tarmac in Heathrow this Autumn.


But like I said, too hot. I am taking to my chaise with three papers about domestic violence and a loose idea for a board game called choose a new labour leader snakes and ladders. And a yearning for a mint julep. I have no idea what they are but I think F. Scott Fitzgerald characters would be sipping on one right now. They certainly wouldn't be blowing unitone vuvuzuelas.

Rant free blog with coffee and biscotti

I said this blog would be rant free and this was partly a test, to see if this is possible. I am currently engaged in an email exchange with my preferred supplier of my two drugs of choice on the subject of Fair Trade registration, so I am doubling my hurdles if I want to write about this without ranting. And to be a person with no interest in sport (except for the Olympics -more on this another day) during World Cup month and Wimbledon fortnight would surely induce another rant fount?

But no. England can stay in the WC as long as it likes. When they play a football match I get zippy service from the library and the cafe supplier of all day breakfast and I am not taking my middle aged life into my hands whenever I don the helmet and mount the Raleigh Shopper (3 speeds, 1 basket, 43 years of existence) (that's the bike, not me) (no, actually, it's me as well), so there's no point not being appreciative. And converting my favoured coffee bean retailer to Fair Trade will clearly take time but will work better with charm rather than ranting. I am determined to bring her round, it's that or set up my own import-export business, THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.

Rant alert: the very mention of the TINA acronym lurches me dangerously close to the frothy edged precipice of indignant fury on the subject of how the deficit is suddenly the most important thing to tackle (not the environment, not child poverty, not looking after the sick and old, not global warming, not the Iraq war.....) and that this is the ONLY way to tackle it.....but here I am backing gently away.

It was Fair Trade Fortnight very recently (it was also recyclying fortnight and knitting month). Rather than spend my pennies on Fair Trade goods supplied in certain high street coffee chains (being fairly traded doesn't in and of itself make it taste any better, just slip past your conscience more easily) I decided instead to choose the rocky road of reformation, one which had the added advantage of supplying me with delicious coffee.

Whilst in the middle of a commercial transaction for coffee beans which involves me looking away when the assistant shows me how much money I am about to authorise to leave from my overdraft (my bank treats my money like it is theirs so I think it only fair I should get to do the same sometimes), I casually asked the lovely woman if there was a reason why they don't stock any Fair Trade registered lines of beans and if so, what that reason might be. (right, sugar and lemon zest for the recipe, both from Fair Trade suppliers)

I will shorthand the rest of the several exchanges which took place as a result of this simple question. The staff at this shop are lovely, they know all about coffee, they know all about their coffees and they make little taster cups for you to try if your favourite bean is not in season. They are also - and I salute this - so passionate (an overused word in public life but I think it is appropriate here) about their coffee that this propels them to indignant and illogical fury when asked a very simple question about Fair Trade.

Now, Fair Trade fortnight is over, but you don't have to stop buying FT registered goods, they are for life not just for late May and early June. If you, like me with this beans purveyor, don't want to give your favourite shop up but they are persisting in ignoring or even mocking or rubbishing the only truly independent global scheme we have with transparent standards and processes for ensuring that goods with their mark are traded truly fairly, with proper regard for things some of us have clearly learnt to take for granted like living wages, safe working conditions and reasonable time off for maternity or sickness (it's not just about the money), try these simple steps:

1. Ask them, charmingly and when you have just paid them a stonking amount of money (if possible - may not work with Poundrite or Greggs the bakers), if there is a reason why they don't stock a single Fair Trade line (or so few, according to the observable facts).
2. Be positive about them as a shop - I agreed with the people I talked to that of course I trust them in matters of the taste of the coffee and the chocolate and yes their judgement is impeccable. But the difference between trusting them on the goods and trusting them that they were fairly traded is that I can taste the end product, I can't check on the process that brought it to me. Others can, and I am willing to pay for this certification (though often Fair Trade goods are not more expensive than the unfair sort).
3. Make sure you are helpful - I offered to find out about the costs of Fair Trade, looked it up and came back with information about the whole process. Here is a link to their website.
4. Be clear about why it matters - yes, I replied, of course I am also concerned with the working conditions of the staff in the retail outlet, and would surely support them if they felt they were being illegally exploited. However, they are covered by UK employment law and right now (though give it about ten more minutes under the current coalition and......step away from the rant and get back to the point) that means staff in European shops are protected from unsafe conditions, can't be paid less than the minimum wage and have a right to maternity and sick leave.
5. Acknowledge that yes, many big companies are now following this trend, but that this doesn't make it a bad thing or a mere marketing bandwagon. Indeed, I would take it as a sign that it is commercially helpful for a big supermarket, chocolate manufacturer or coffee selling company to seek out Fair Trade brands, particularly in commodoties so renowned for their unfair conditions (coffee and chocolate being two of them, and as they are the only two mood alterants I am now allowed, it matters to me that there isn't blood on them). Fair Trade means more trade.
6. If they say that it is not in demand, you can always point out (still charmingly) that there is a demand, from you and your friends, family and colleagues.

Is this effective? to be continued. Meanwhile I am well stocked for not registered as Fair Trade coffee of such fine quality I am having to share it amongst my friends to dilute my guilt. I do realise that I could have gone to my local supermarket, a veritable cathedral of consumerism, it giveth and it taketh away and there found Fair Trade ground coffee and no doubt 54,687 other things I didn't want. But, donning the cloak of moral superiority on top of the worn rags of cowardice and possibly sloth, I chose to support the local independent small business (yes, and get the good stuff I wanted).

I haven't yet told my target shop about another I have found which supplies fine coffee, not as fine as theirs, but coffee which is triple certified - Organic, Fair Trade and some quality control one. As I said, that last isn't so important, I am a fantastic quality control checker of chocolate and coffee, it's taken years of dedicated effort but I am an acknowledged expert on my own taste buds. My taste buds tell me that I should be trying to support my favourite (and very commercially successful) coffee and chocolate retailer to go for Fair Trade rather than switch drug supplier.

I am now waiting for the email reply I am promised from the CEO of this company, who has already (charmingly, briefly, but with a promise to reply in more length) replied to my email to her in which I made some of these points. This was a suggestion made by the manager of the local outlet after our last conversation, who took my email address and passed it on to the CEO, who contacted me within 24 hours. I have some hope that this may signal something positive in the long run. We will see and there will be news in this space. If successful I can cancel the plan to open a triple certified coffee and chocolate retailer and continue with weekly shocks to my overdraft.

If Fair Trade is a bandwagon, I think that like anti slavery, it's a bandwagon we should probably all want to be on. My taste buds are nervous that they may end up having their souls crushed by chain supplied beans. I am hopeful.

Coffee and biscotti (i cantucci di Prato)

This biscotti recipe is adapted from several, but mostly from "A Tuscan in the Kitchen" by Pino Luongo. Some great recipes, so very flowery writing and a ridiculous comparison between making risotto and wooing a woman. In the midst, some excellent food to be cooked.

Coffee: Buy Fair Trade Coffee beans. Go home. Sniff them. Grind them in a coffee grinder. If you haven't got one, buy the SIMPLEST sort you can find (try ebay if your local department store only sells fancy ones with flashing lights and dials, they are mere distractions). Grind coffee till it is as fine as caster sugar, not icing sugar. Warm your cafetiere. Put coffee into it. Pour some recently boiled water on to it, just to cover it. Stir and allow coffee to swell somewhat (you won't see it, just believe). Then pour the rest of the hot (recently boiled, but not boiling) water on to it. Stir again and allow to brew. Then, uttering the sacred text "je plonge" push the coffee plunger thing gently but firmly down to the bottom.

Biscotti: Separate 4 eggs. Whisk the egg whites until firm, add 500g sugar and finely grated zest of one lemon and stir well.

Whisk or blitz egg yolks and fresh vanilla seeds from one pod together, then stir into the mixture. Add 500g plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder. I tend just to tip the whole thing on to the worksurface and knead and combine in one go.

Knead the dough and as you knead, add 100g chopped hazelnuts and/or almonds or mixture. They can be in their skins though recipes do say blanched. Work hard to knead dough to fairly smooth consistency. You can always add a bit of juice or water if needed, but only if you are absolutely sure you need it, knead it first - it should be stiff, not moist, these are not cookies.

Roll out into tubes about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Flatten slightly to make an elipse if viewed from the side. Place on greased baking tray or non stick tray. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 200c (400f) till slightly coloured. They will expand slightly. Take out and turn the oven down to 135c (275f). Allow the columns to cool for 5 minutes or so while the oven cools down. Slice diagonally into 1 inch (2.5cm) thick slices like the ones you have been served in fancy coffee shops. Place these back in oven. Bake for further 15 minutes. Check they have dried out - if not, put them back in and check again in a few minutes. When dried, remove and cool. Serve with coffee or after a meal with Vin Santo. Yum.

The machines are taking over...

This is not a blog entry so much as a question to the world - why did my Masala Omelette blog, clearly written post election and not containing any electoral related rants at all (a small welcome home gift for my mother, who does not need to hear them, she implanted them all electronically into my brain at or before birth) appear as written and uploaded in April?


Anyway, it's about Slumdog Millionaire-ification of documentaries about India, it contains a picture of the most beautiful cinema I have ever had the pleasure of drinking fizzy wine in and there are eggs.


It's under April ("Masala Omelette for one").


Coming soon, something possibly about rubbish, or possibly about emigration. And the recipe options include: egg-free chocolate muffins; Tuscan soup; cantucci biscotti (those hard almond biscuits you think you won't like but turn out to be as more-ish as a more-ish thing); risotto; aubergine curry.


More when the sun goes down.


The Baker.

The electorate has spoken apparently, or have we?

To go straight to the recipe, avoiding the politics scroll down the page to a yummy sweet mascarpone tart, written with help from a Miss I. Debbonaire of this parish


One of the more irritating cliches being peddled over the last 3 days is that the electorate has spoken, as if we have all got together in a room, thrashed it out amicably (with not a hint of negative campaigning, just everyone being nice) and agreed unanimously that we would vote in such a way as to produce the confusing chaos we are in now. How is that possible? Why would we do that? And yet so many people apparently did, seemingly, get together in a room somewhere in Broxtowe or St Andrews and find some way of controlling the voting system, persuading their friends to vote against their political views, failing to deliver sufficient ballot papers to polling stations in Sheffield, send the wrong postal ballot papers out in Bristol, find some bigot in Rochdale who can pass for a sweet old lady and then set up Gordon Brown to identify her correctly, etc. until we have the results and consequent situation we Brits are in now.




POLITICS FREE PARAGRAPH FOLLOWS
Apologies now to all non Brits and any Brits who aren't convinced that politics has been the most interesting story in town over the last few weeks not days. There will be something else shortly, involving mascarpone tart and my niece Imogen making her first ever pastry (a proud moment for us both, there were tears and photos and then complaints that the tart filling wasn't sweet enough) (or smooth enough - Imogen was not happy that when the smug-market down the road failed to supply ricotta to blend with the mascarpone and we had to make do with organic cottage cheese and a cup of thick cream instead; she correctly concluded that cottage cheese is too gritty).






AND NOW BACK TO THE POLITICS FOR A PARAGRAPH or two or three or seven
Am I alone in thinking that harping on about proportional representation is slightly weird? At least at the moment? At a time of an economic crisis we are all hiding behind the sofa from, increasing animosity towards so-called immigrants stoked up by misinformation, no, let's call a spade a spade, lies and yes, racism (I could be forgiving and call it ignorance but this is my blog so I can call it as I see it), impending back to the future re-runs of the 1980s if the Tories have their hands on the till (sorry, did I say on the till? I meant in the till, that's how you take the money AWAY from POOR people and give it TO the RICH people), why on earth are so many people getting together to demonstrate about our voting system? The Greeks are on the streets about public services and unemployment, we are shouting "what do we want? proportional representation by one of the many possible systems, but probably the Single Transferable Vote! When do we want it? As soon as we can say it quicker!"




Priorities?
Whether or not it needs changing, it seems pretty pointless to change it now, when we have already got the lack of overall majority which would surely result, and apparently that's what the voting reform supporters wanted anyway? The only party that benefits from this will always be the party of the centre, their supporters the only beneficiaries. They came third and that includes all the votes of people who said that they were voting Lib Dem to keep the tories out. Contrary to popular opinion, moving politics to the centre does not inevitably bring about a more representative government. It doesn't represent the interests of the poorer pensioners, the low paid workers, the single mothers, the working families, the worker thrown out of work in a recession. Come to think of it, it doesn't represent the interests of the blindingly rich, the bankers, the workshy shareholders or the premier league footballers but they will probably manage to get by whoever is in power. It represents the views and interests of those who are politically at the centre or those from small fringe parties such as UKIP or the BNP. That's a minority of us. How can that be representative?


First past which post? Where is the post?
Our European colleagues and friends can look on aghast or amused at our quaint system but at least first past the post means that we have local MPs who have to know their constituency in order to win, as they will have had to pound the streets themselves, understand local concerns and also make the case strongly for the electorate in their constituency that their political values best serve the majority of their interests. It also means that we get to vote for who we want - yes it does! I get my ballot paper, and I mark a cross next to the person I want to represent me. If he or she hasn't made the case strongly enough to my neighbours, or is plagued by missing ballot papers or closing polling stations, or if I live in a constituency where most of my neighbours have very different priorities to me, then someone other than the candidate I wanted will get more crosses and she or he will win. She or he will represent the whole constituency and will do so knowing that the majority of her or his constituents will agree with most of the decisions they make. My vote isn't wasted, in my opinion, simply because the person I voted for didn't win. My rights will be wasted, however, if the British National Party gets a foot in the corridors of Westminster, because we have come up with some voting system which allows this.


Some proportional representation systems someone invented earlier
Under proportional representation, I could mark the candidates in order (Alternative Vote) - very difficult for anyone who genuinely doesn't support or share the priorities outlined by most or all of the other candidates - or I have my vote transferred if the candidate I like the most has enough votes to pass a certain quota and win a seat in my area or not enough to stand a chance (not actually my own constituency, my area, from and for which a number of MPs will be chosen) (Single Transferable Vote or STV). Again, lots of us really do not want to have our votes transferred to another party other than the one we are members of or whose principles, priorities and practices we most agree with most of the time or are prepared to argue about. And actually I am not that keen on simply voting for all the candidates from my preferred party in my area - which is what I would personally do - because I want the mixture of party and local representation which our current system gives us. I am not alone.


Can sarcasm dilute the strength of a good argument?
The Electoral Reform Society (http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/index.php) recommends the STV and amongst the very curious reasons it includes "Candidates don't need a majority of votes to be elected, just a quota, or share of the votes, determined by the size of the electorate and the number of positions to be filled". Don't need a majority of votes to be elected? Then how, pray, are they really representing their electorate? If I am represented by a collection of people, whose constituency surgery do I visit to get my illegal eviction notice dealt with? If it is a group of people, this is highly likely to mean my case gets lost somewhere in the middle, as so often happens in social care organisations without a named key worker system - when I am everybody's problem I am also nobody's problem.


Warning, may contain left wing ranting against the press, what a surprise


If I sound angry, it is because I am. I am as angry that the ERS published a map with certain seats marked as unwinnable for two parties - including the one I was campaigning in, so admittedly I am biased (or emotionally charged and footsore) on this matter - as I am at the party leaders (of all parties) for failing to back great candidates and leaving them open to the vagaries of protest and tactical votes. I am angry that polling data gets to influence how people make up their minds, rather than actual policies and track records. I am angry that the party leader TV debates took over the campaign and reduced it to three white middle aged men, who would be no more representative of us under PR than they are now. I am furious at the biased, inaccurate, racist, ill-informed and often badly written sraps of paper which pass for newspapers, many of which are owned by not just non-doms but non UK citizens. There is a law against foreign money influencing our election. I think this should mean that any newspaper or TV channel owned by Rupert Murdoch should not be allowed to report on politics at any time, but that's just me, call me a bad loser if you like just don't call me a Guardian reader.


Fairness in voting does not equal fairness in general
Finally, some people appear to be confusing a so called fairer voting system with more fairness in society in general. If you want progressive politics, with more equality of opportunity, you generally vote for a progressive party. If the voting reform gives a platform for a wider range of politicians to get elected from, this does not necessarily result in more fairness, a progressive society. If more right wing politicians get a space at the table, particularly in systems where the smaller parties wield disproportionate amounts of power because there is no overall majority (the hung parliament we are in now or the results of most elections by proportional representation), this means more right wing power in politics and an increased public platform from which they grow, simple as that.
So here are the Bakery Window Suggestions for a fairer voting system:

1. Candidates from any party and none can stand for election. They have to set out their stall on policies, their working histories, their track records in local or national government or on the school governing body or local neighbourhood action group. They do this on the doorstep, at public meetings, by phone, blog, facebook, email or carrier pigeon.
2. We have a total ban on any opinion polls during the election or before it. At least on overtly political subjects, although I think that covers everything really.
3. Respected organisations such as the ERS or any political party and less respected organisations alike are not allowed to publish maps, diagrams, bar charts or anything else which contain the words "this seat is safe" for any party.
4. Our polling stations have enough ballot papers for the number of voters in that area, our postal votes go out well in advance so that people who asked for them, responsibly, because they knew they wouldn't be near their polling station that day or their home that week (it was a bank holiday on the Monday, lots of people went on holiday before their ballot papers arrived on the Saturday) can vote.
5. We promise each other we will never EVER go over to a system which relies on computers or buttons or mobile phones or anything more technically sophisticated than a pencil and a piece of paper with the names of the candidates on, counted by trusted people who are watched by others who are allowed to say if they make a mistake.
6. The electorate listen to the policies, pay attention to the arguments, take the time to read something and ask questions of the candidates - in person, on their blog, by twitter or phoning them up, it's not like they aren't accessible any more.
7. Then we vote. And the votes get securely delivered to a counting station where they are counted by trusted people etc as stated in 5 above.
8. That's it. The person with the most votes in one constituency earns the right to represent it. Fringe parties get to express their (sometimes hateful, sometimes beautiful) views and thereby influence other parties or in time, gather more experience and exposure so that they gradually stop being fringe parties and start getting elected (Green Party or for that matter the LibDems themselves, but dear me hopefully never the BNP).

Yes I can see the flaws. Particularly in step 6. But I am a crazy dreamer and I do think that politics makes a difference and if we move it to the centre by creating a system where no party is given a mandate to follow a coherent and thought through manifesto or be held to account at the next election if they fail to do what they said they would do without a decent enough note from their mum, we will end up representing only those people whose priorities and values lie in the centre or on the extremeties, such as the BNP, who will no doubt benefit highly from the STV. If you don't believe me, just have a look at some of the countries which have Proportional Representation. Our far right has not got any seat in parliament and has just lost all their local seats. But their votes added or encouraged by proportional representation could mean they get a cushion and perhaps even a name tag in the big house.
I have pored over the results of last week's election and one thing is clear to me: most people's priorities and values do not lie in the centre, most of us did not vote for the centre and at a time when the predictions through the campaign had been for the party of government to be thoroughly thrashed by the party of the posh boy and getting a fairly firm spanking from the party of the other posh boy. If so many people support voting reform how come most people didn't vote for the party which can't stop going on about it, the one which scored THIRD in votes but appears to have the most power in the current negotiations? People, with proportional representation, this awful insult to democracy would happen MORE OFTEN - my Euro colleagues assure me that this is normal to them, is this what we want? Do the people who voted LibDem because they wanted PR understand that this will also help the BNP to get elected? Are they OK with that? For more fairness, vote for a party with progressive politics at the core, periphery and surrounding atmosphere. If you can find one...I know there was one here somewhere...is that it coming back into view? To be continued...
and BACK TO THE RECIPE
Mascarpone and fruit tart, using Imogen's first sweet pastry - in her own words, as dictated by her


First of all, you measure 250g flour (plain) but you don't have to seive it if you don't want to. Then you add 50g caster sugar. Next you cut up 125 block of butter and chop it up into little pieces on the chopping board. And then you tip it into the bowl which has the flour and sugar in and then chop it up into more little pieces. Once you have got it into as little lumps as you can, you have to rub, using only your finger tips as they are the coldest part of your body. It's important to keep it cold, so that the butter doesn't melt and go funny. It's something about a chemical reaction.


Question: How do you know when you have done enough rubbing in? Answer: when you shake the bowl there aren't any big lumps on top.


So after you have done that, you have to make it into a bowl, no a ball, using only a spoon, because of the whole heat thing, oh adding cold water to make it stick. ONly a bit at a time. You get all of the flour/butter rubbed in mixture that's not been added together and bring it together, using spoon or knife to press it into a ball. Only add the water a little bit at a time, because although it can be solved (the problem which occurs if you add too much) you are less likely to make mistakes.


Then, once it is in a firm smooth ball, you have to wrap it up in greasproof paper and put it in the fridge. Then you make the mascarpone stuff and then you can take it (the pastry) out.




Mascarpone stuff


First of all you get a seive and you get 200g of cottage cheese or really it should be ricotta. You get the cottage cheese or ricotta in the seive and you use the back of a spoon to push it down so that it comes out all smooth. You have to keep on doing that until all of it has gone through and is a smooth paste in the bowl.




Then you add your mascarpone (200g) and your double cream (100g). And you scrape out the seeds from half a fresh vanilla pod and you scrape the zest of a lemon (that's the skin, but not the white stuff under it) with a good zester or a fine grater and you mix it all together. You add about 50g icing sugar (check that it doesn't have any egg whites in it if you have brothers or sisters allergic to eggs), or some more if you want it sweeter. YOu can add some sweet dessert wine or perhaps some grape juice but we didn't.


Pastry shell - see previous blogs


The rolling, lining and baking has been explained before. For this much creamy stuff you will need the amounts listed above and a 12 inch tart tin with removable bottom. Just remember, 20mins with the baking paper and baking beads on, then remove beads and paper and bake for 10 mins more till just golden. Allow to cool fully.


Smooth the creamy stuff in.


Then put loads of fruit on the top - raspberries or strawberries or something like that - make it pretty. Put it in the fridge for a while to chill and firm. You should then be able to remove the tart from the tin and onto a pretty plate.


And serve with a raspberry coulis (squish raspberries through a seive and add icing sugar to taste) or if you have finished the raspberry coulis a raspberry sorbet will do nearly as well.


By Imogen D.


NEXT TIME ON BAKERY WINDOW: Will there be a government to rant about? Or will I change the subject? In any case, there will be food....