This is the year that the majority of the world votes in elections. It is in many ways a year of democracy. The problem is that our current system provides limited opportunities for real people to share their opinions on the issues they experience in their local context.
The world is an increasingly complex system. Not only is the political system typically reduced to 2-3 competing parties, but the range of issues that they need to consider is increasing dramatically. There is consequently a mismatch between the political choice that people are presented with and the variety of issues that they care about.
The result is a system where there is an increasing distance between politicians and the people. This limits the effectiveness of political decision making and leaves decision makers speculating on what people actually think about those issues.
Good decision making is driven by a deep understanding that those decisions impact. We believe that this distance between decision making and context is the root of the political disenfranchisement that we see in the UK.
The UK itself is experiencing difficult times. The cost of living has skyrocketed due to inflation following the COVID pandemic. 1 in 10 local councils are facing bankruptcy. External geopolitical affairs and viral news stories are dominating the political discourse, further alienating decision making from the real and present issues that people face on the ground level.
72% of people believe that bias in the media is a problem for our democracy (Electoral Commission, 2023)
We need a system that deepens our understanding of local context, so that we can systematically improve our decision making.
We need a voice for London..