Kalvis Jansons, who started this petition said “There are many reasons why we might want Brown to resign, but rather than having lots of narrow petitions on this topic (most of which have been rejected), I wanted one for all of us“. There are nearly 9,000 signatories already. Thanks to Guido for pointing this petition out. You can sign it here.
Contact your local elected officials - for free
by Goldtop
26 Apr 2009 at 10:17
Its the attitude, priorities, conduct, honesty and accountability of government that needs changing not the name(s) and face(s) at the top.
Whoever replaces him (from whichever side) will be no better.
by John Bray
26 Apr 2009 at 11:58
Goldtop,
You’re probably right. Not much point bothering then – is there?
by Jericoa
26 Apr 2009 at 13:41
I added my name to the petition. it could be a powerful protest vote if afew million sign up, otherwise it is a waste of time.
by Goldtop
26 Apr 2009 at 17:01
“Not much point bothering then – is there?”
Not really, no. I’d be very surprised if this petition was taken seriously as I don’t see the point of it. Number 10 respond to these petitions, so what are they going to reply to this?
“We, the undersigned, petition the Prime Minister to resign”
“Er..no. Thanks for stopping by though, hope the kids are well. Love No.10 xx”
The petition doesn’t express any concerns, raise any issues or give any reason WHY the Prime Minister should resign. Its just more empty internet tomfoolery, up there with trolling and spamming campaigns. I would be impressed if this petition comprised of thousands of people who had filled in their names and addresses in ink, at least it would have showed a tiny bit of conviction. I don’t believe that this petition will reflect any kind of ‘weight of popular opinion’ because I don’t think that most of the signatories will actually have one on many of the real issues. I’ll illustrate what I mean-
I work in the entertainment industry. There was some concern recently that it had been revealed that the government was planning to introduce a law that required all live music venues to have decibel meters fitted and there were going to be strict noise limits imposed. These limits were going to be so restrictive that they would be exceeded by someone playing an unamplified drum kit so chances of a full band live performance would be zero. There would be no chance that audio engineers would ever be able to work their aural magic again and it would be a disaster for the music industry. Someone decided to start an online petition on the Number 10 website to protest at these draconian restrictions and hundreds of music business professionals signed this, alarmed at what these plans would mean to their livelihoods and Great Britain’s rich musical culture. Soon after the petition deadline had passed, the slightly baffled reply from the government was that there wasn’t, never had been and wasn’t ever going to be a law that required the use of db meters. Everyone loves music and all that even politicians etc etc. (the more cynical of us expressed the view that they loved the income that they got from taxing music millionaires even more but that’s the kind of people we are). Anyway, many of the music business professionals who had signed were puzzled too- where had the db meter legend come from? It was eventually traced to a posting on an unemployed musician’s personal website. Not a particularly reliable source as I’m sure you can appreciate.
Anyway, about a year prior to the db meter fiasco, the music industry faced a serious threat from another source. The expansion of communications and digital TV meant that more room was needed on the airwaves and the government put licences to broadcast on various frequencies up for sale. Some of the frequencies proposed were part of what is called Channel 69, which is a group of frequencies that had until that point been reserved for concert and event use. This time, the industry (or a part of it) was quick to realize the implications of this and a lobby group (my emphasis) was formed which consisted of representatives of the various wireless equipment manufacturers, national concert & event promotors, large audio companies and famous names from the music business. These people campaigned hard for everyday engineers and technicians out working in venues across the land to write to their MPs and to OFCOM to express their concern and alarm that their part of the airwaves was about to be taken away and how would we be able to stage the Brit Awards, the X-Factor finals or other large live events if we couldn’t use all the wireless microphone and in ear monitoring technology that is now standard? Not enough people bothered to take the time and effort to do this and the licences were sold and the government made millions (or billions depending on who you talk to).
What does all this have to do with a petition for GB to resign? It’s the credibility of the thing- it is easy to get many people to do something that requires no effort and that they know very little about (signing an online petition) but faced with a real world situation that will affect them and that requires genuine action to oppose, they will just put their head in the sand and the authorities will get their way. That is why this petition means sod all and is no threat and will not be taken seriously by anyone in government
by John Bray
27 Apr 2009 at 10:01
Over 17,000 signatures now and into the top ten!
by John Bray
28 Apr 2009 at 12:42
Now 25,000+ and number five in the charts.
by Jericoa
28 Apr 2009 at 12:52
Call me cynical but 25,000 in a country of 66Million, most of them on line is a pretty poor show.
You would get 25,000 votes immediately for some grasping wannabe celebrity who was the first to expose themselves on Big brother.
This is the sort of thing we are up against!
the broader media may notice if it gets up to 1 Milllion, I hope it does, i have voted already, it may give people a taste for using the net for demonstrating in this way.
by John Bray
29 Apr 2009 at 11:12
Lighten up guys – it’s only a bit of fun! 30,000+ and TOP OF THE POPS.
by John Bray
01 May 2009 at 10:42
Over 40,000 now and still number one in the charts.