'Executions, democracy and right-sizing the housing crisis' – Peter Rhodes
In the Land of the Free, one may have a free choice on being executed. In South Carolina, convicted murderer Richard Moore, due to die on Friday, has been told he can choose between lethal injection, firing squad or electric chair. Tricky one.
But in a country where people linger on Death Row for decades (Moore's crime was committed in 1999), maybe one extra humane pause could be agreed. In Blackadder Goes Forth (BBC) Captain Edmund Blackadder is sentenced to be shot at dawn on the order: “Ready, aim, fire!” He asks if the commander of the firing squad could leave a pause between the words aim and fire – a pause of perhaps 30 or 40 years. It's worth a try . . .
Meanwhile, is the great American public fed up yet with its ludicrous procedure for electing a new president? This, of all polls, is surely the one that should be solved by a simple majority. Instead, it is decided state-by-state using a variety of voting systems, which means the winner can be elected with a minority of the national vote, with everything hanging on the results in a handful of “swing” states.
