Participation in the UK - Paxman and Brand

By Tom Baker, L6

Who knew that Jeremy Dickson Paxman, an English journalist, broadcaster and author would have something in common with the overly exaggerated English comedian, actor, radio host, and author Russell Edward Brand.

Both these men do not vote in our elections. This is due to Brand believing our political and voting system is not democratic enough, and Paxman stating that “the choice was so unappetising” in the last election, so just did not vote. Despite this, Paxman told Brand in a recent interview (see video below) “If you can’t be arsed to vote, why should we be arsed to listen to your political point of view?” which may be true, but in my view it is very hypocritical.

Picture Credit: http://markwadsworth.blogspot.co.uk,
using data from http://www.ukpolitical.info/Turnout45.htm

However, putting their statements and argument behind, what will their absence in voting cause to our participation in politics? It is well known that political participation is not high within the UK; it is in fact on average decreasing through the years. This is shown through the last few elections, in 1997 around 71.4% of the population voted. However, recently in the 2010 election only 65.1% of the population voted. This shows there has been a substantial decrease in the amount of voters within 13 years; evidently a serious problem if it keeps continuing to decrease.


It makes you wonder, if popular and famous figures, like Russell Brand, are not voting it could influence the upcoming younger generation not to vote which therefore may create a further decrease in political participation. Furthermore, if people like Jeremy Paxman, a man who understands politics well and who is well known for interviewing politicians harshly, do not vote it could swing people’s views on voting, due to people believing he knows best. This could then cause a further decrease in political participation and in a serious case cause a death to politics as we know it!

[Editor's note: See an interesting article here in the Guardian about the issue]