2001 Election Map of the UK
February 7th, 2005
Okay, this is going to probably destroy my bandwidth allocation, but what the hell.
After last year’s elections in the US, the folks at Princeton came up with some splendid maps of the US, using shades of colour to represent the balance of support the two parties have - rather than a simplistic view of an America divided between red and blue, it shows the spectrum of political views within the nation.
Well, I thought that was quite nice, and mused on whether a UK equivalent was available. There wasn’t. So I made one. And I made it in Flash, so it was zoomable and interactive-ish.
So, have a look and play with it (if you don’t want it in a popup window, use this link instead).
It uses the data from the most recent UK general election in 2001. The map and data together are 120kB or so, so dialup users will have to drum their fingers a lot. Hovering over a constituency will show the actual count for the three big parties.
There are some FAQs and help beneath the main Flash movie. It’s a bit flawed, admittedly - it only displays the three main parties (so sorry to the nationalists). Northern Ireland is ignored, and the Lib Dems are green rather than yellow thanks to the nature of light, and I have made it slightly too big for most screens, sorry.
But..I hope it’s handy, or at least of interest, as an illustration of the state of the political climate in the country. Let me know what you think.
February 7th, 2005 at 13:23:23
Wow, I don’t think I need to say anything else.
February 7th, 2005 at 14:05:08
Spiffy!
February 7th, 2005 at 14:38:59
Great stuff - love it.
Except that it reminds me how my constituency is a safe Conservative seat. Bugger.
February 7th, 2005 at 15:10:42
Gorgeous. However, living in Wales, I am bound to suggest that instead of adopting a rigid Lab/Con/LD hiearachy, wouldn’t it be “truer” to adopt a Lab/Con/3rd opposition thing? Which would then suit the nationalistic parties in Scotland and Wales?
Still, this is something the BBC ought to be doing!
February 7th, 2005 at 16:09:10
One problem with would be what to do about the welsh Lib Dem seats - how would you easily distinguish between them and the Plaid Cymru ones?
February 7th, 2005 at 17:36:21
Wow. want to contribute that to http://www.theyworkforyou.com?
(or do us some more awesome colour coded maps based on any of our myriad MP stats?)
stef
February 7th, 2005 at 18:27:50
If it would help then we’d be happy to make your bandwidth bill go away.
What a beautiful project.
James.
February 7th, 2005 at 19:45:12
…and there was me suggesting to Chris a few days back that it would be extremely cool if, as you mouse over each constituency, there was also a link to the TheyWorkForYou page for the currently sitting MP (e.g.).
I don’t think that quite came under the heading of “little tweaks to improve it”, however. I believe that, even from Cornwall, I could faintly hear the sound of Chris weeping plaintively at the thought of re-doing it all again…
February 7th, 2005 at 19:50:10
(Not that it’s anything less than sodding brilliant as it is, of course.)
February 8th, 2005 at 00:01:02
This is some good shizzle, Chris. V. impressive.
Nice to see student life is treating you so well…
February 8th, 2005 at 10:53:46
OK mate. Exactly how long did that take you? Very nice though
February 8th, 2005 at 11:56:30
May I be the first of doubtless many commentors to say, “that’s great, but how about…”? I’d love to see a version using a population-scaled map.
Seriously, though, that is really good. You should be proud.
February 8th, 2005 at 14:29:52
if you need more bandwidth for this, i’ll gladly help (you can find me in IRC in the evenings, irc.phrenzy.org #twoblock, or catch me via email). I found you though linkbunnies, btw.
February 8th, 2005 at 19:11:56
Jeez. That is some good monkey.
February 8th, 2005 at 19:24:08
BTW, despite not actually affiliating with any major political party (proof of this can be found on my Unison membership), rather self-indulgently, I’d like to point to the green colours, on the mainland, just above the Isle of Wight. They are Eastleigh, Winchester and Romsey & Waterside. Despite boundary shifts they’ve changed from Tory safe seats to strong LibDem ones. This heartens me for 2 main reasons:
1) Romsey went halfway through Labour’s first term; an unheard of loss for an opposition party at such a time.
2) Winchester (after Gerry Malone demanded a recount) went from a LIbDem majority of 2 to a Lib Dem majority of approx 22500 (currently), making it their strongest seat.
The New Forest must be next to fall (not literally, obviously).
Ok, a little pleased now and far too egostistical.
February 9th, 2005 at 21:13:28
Absolutely brilliant!
February 10th, 2005 at 08:29:51
That’s great. but… there have been a few by-elections since 2001 so maybe the map could be made more accurate by including those. I only noticed because you list my constituency (Brent East) as Labour when these days we’re Lib Dem. Results here: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snSG-02667.pdf
don’t mean to nit-pick, though…
February 10th, 2005 at 12:33:14
Thought you deserved a bit more praise for what you’ve put together. Fucking good show, old sport!
February 10th, 2005 at 12:50:33
Raoul - although there have been by-elections and defections since the 2001 election, I think it would be misrepresentative somewhat to show the few consituencies that reflect, say, the 2004 post-Iraq war political climate like Brent East does, amongst all the others that still remain the same from 2001.
Come the next election there’ll be a full update though, of course.
February 11th, 2005 at 17:56:29
Absolutely lovely work, I have one suggestion. A measure of the safety of the seat for each party would be good.
ie a way of identifying the marginal seats, weakest Labour seat, 2nd weakest etc…
February 13th, 2005 at 07:38:15
excellent..!
On a tech note.. it might be useful for flash newbee’s like myself , if you can write up a short process note for this.
thanks..!