On 20/08/2013 23:11, Nightjar wrote:

There are serious disadvantages to a referendum. Not least being that
the turnout is often well below that of a General Election, so it is
even less representative of public opinion than an election. There is
also the question of whether the people are likely to understand the
issues and make an informed decision or whether they will be guided by
political leanings or media rhetoric. On the plus side, a referendum
allows an unpopular decision to be made without blame being levelled at
the government or dividing it. There is also the faint hope for those
who have no other realistic hope of success, that the inherent faults of
the referendum will result in a decision that a well-informed majority
would never reach.

Indeed there are major problems with referenda - not least that
governments will carefully word them, produce carefully designed
information and ignore other information, to get the result that they
want. Look at the "Common Market" referendum. If all that fails, they'll
have another go until they get the "right" answer. Look at the Irish
currency referendum.

SteveW