Today in 1835 William Lovett set up the London Working Men's Association which segued into the Chartist movement some months later. For the record, the 6 points of the Peoples' Charter were:
- Universal male suffrage
- Equal Electoral Districts
- Payment for MPs
- Abolition of property qualification for MPs
- Secret Ballot
- Annual Parliaments
(not necessarily in that order). What Lovett was trying to do was to establish a true democracy (but note, he dropped women from the equation fairly early as being unworkable). The government of the day found all this far too subversive and the movement failed. Yet today, all of it is law except Annual Parliaments (on the practical grounds of expense and upheaval). So let's have a People's Charter for 2012:
- No Old Etonians in government
- No coalitions
- No involvement in politics by the Lib-Dems
- Compulsory retirement age in House of Lords of 65
- No House of Lords.
That makes a lot more sense!
In other news ...
Charles Sturt, who discovered most of Australia died today in 1869. He went to Australia because he was tired of people thinking he was Charles Stuart and being the butt of various unpleasant decapitation jokes.
