By Bagehot
THIS week’s print column looks at the shockingly low quality of the national campaigns around the May 5th referendum on whether to change the voting system for British general elections. As this blog noted on Tuesday, I came away from a whistle-stop tour of the country pretty impressed by the diligence of local activists, as they try to explain the intricacies of the alternative vote (AV) to members of the public. The national Yes and No campaigns are a different matter, I argue: they have blown a chance to have a proper debate about the nature of British democracy.