Reading seems to be falling out of fashion, according to research in the UK. Two out of five adults have not read a book in the past year. Fewer than a quarter had read one a month.
Assuming similar habits locally, these figures must have made concerning reading for the States Assembly & Constitution Committee.
In the last election, the new island-wide voting system saw traditional leaflets from candidates swapped for a glossy brochure of all candidates’ manifestos. It was a triumph for the officials who put it together. Despite spanning 230 pages, the information was clear and the design consistent. Basically, it was made as easy as possible to read, assuming you had the time.
This year, Sacc has even bigger plans. Candidates will be allowed up to four pages – up from two allowed five years ago – and the finished tome could conceivably reach 500 pages. Worse still, candidates are being let loose with their own page designs, which at best might result in a confusing read.
What does that mean for our democracy? How many of us will read every page to scrutinise candidates? Did we need double the amount of information on candidates?
If two-fifths do not read books anyway, will this mammoth directory be engaging enough to get them turning the pages? Only time will tell.
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.