UK Election charts are a nightmare

Vote Count Binface for Bindependence Day! • Vote Count Binface for...
Make your vote count. www.thisvotecounts.co.uk
Thanks to Dave Rowntree for taking time out on the campaign trail to help with this video: Dave Rowntree for Mid Sussex www.daverowntreeformidsussex.com
Thanks to Count Binface to for taking time out from commanding great swaths of our galaxy to peer-pressure me into this video: Count Binface for Richmond and Northallerton www.countbinface.com
Catch Count Binface on his debut comedy tour across the UK this September/October! aegp.uk/Binface
This is the BBC article I showed: “Tactical voting: What to watch out for on leaflets telling you who can win your seat” www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c...
The excellent More or Less covered bad leaflet charts as well. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00...
Watch the rest of Sky News grilling Reform over their 1066 plot. news.sky.com/video/why-did-yo...
Excellent video on voting systems by Primer. • Simulating alternate v...
Here’s my book Love Triangle I keep pointing at: mathsgear.co.uk/products/love...
FULL DISCLOSURE: as well as being an official Counting Agent for the Count Binface Party I did also donate my own money to help pay for getting all the flyers printed. The print shop demanded Earth Money and refused to accept Galactic Blemflarcks.
Huge thanks to my Patreon supporters. Even though I don’t think I can legally spend their money on this video. / standupmaths
CORRECTIONS
- I had accidentally spelled Earth Money as “Earth Monday” elsewhere in this description. Thank you to everyone who read far enough down to notice! It’s fixed now.
- Let me know if you spot anything else!
Filming by Matt Parker
Editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Written and performed by Matt Parker
Space lasers by Count Binface
Produced by Nicole Jacobus
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson
MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
Website: standupmaths.com/
US book: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...
UK book: mathsgear.co.uk/collections/b...

[@esuelle]

"Let's see the R value" 0.5715 "Let's not see the R value"

[@ares395]

The most hilarious moment of the video

[@peterryrfeldt8568]

so real

[@JaySmith91]

This comment ruined the punchline for me

[@Dihydrousoxide]

@@JaySmith91 Reading the comments before watching the video? Rookie move.

[@estebanrodriguez5409]

lol

[@distinctdipole]

Don't throw away your election leaflets. Send them to the University of Bristol who have an archive of materials from elections. Post them after the election with a note of the postcode where the items were delivered to: Special Collections, Arts & Social Sciences Library, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TJ. They check and redact any personal information before adding to the archive.

[@dariusftw3378]

Do you know if they only send leaflets to people in London? Or maybe to a few select seats where they're not sure who will win?

[@distinctdipole]

Sorry @@dariusftw3378, I don't understand what you're asking. I've received leaflets from five parties here in Bristol, but who is/are the "they" you are referring to?

[@grassytramtracks]

​@@dariusftw3378 why would they only send leaflets to people in London in a national election?

[@BananaWasTaken]

@@dariusftw3378I’m in West Yorkshire and got a Reform, a Conservative and a Green leaflet

[@Jack-tk3ub]

​@@dariusftw3378They are sending way more leaflets to Matt than to many others. This will be because (a) his MP is the chancellor and (b) the results will likely be close. If you are optimising campaign spend then you won't spend money trying to influence a seat that is already a foregone conclusion. You'll do it in important/closely fought seats like Matt's

[@iaingeo]

I think it's worth noting that in the 2019 election, Binface stood against Lord Buckethead who was representing the Monster Raving Looney party, thereby splitting the "nobles wearing receptacles" vote and allowing a third joke candidate to win.

[@crhu319]

Well bowled, sir. Well bowled.

[@michaelcartmell7428]

"Is it malicious or is it incompetence?" -- The eternal question of politics

[@jpdemer5]

I thought Hanlon's Razor had settled that one, but that was before Trump.

[@edd48576]

And the answer is always: Yes.

[@laurencefraser]

Sufficiently advanced incompitence is indistinguishable from malice, for whatever that's worth.

[@voland6846]

Porque No Los Dos?

[@hughcaldwell1034]

@@jpdemer5 I go back and forth on Hanlon. If we define malice as a mindset similar to sadism, i.e. actively wishing others to suffer, there is a surprising amount of that when you really drill down on what people think of certain groups. On the other hand, is that really malicious or are they too stupid to recognise the humanity of those they wish ill?

[@PsychoMuffinSDM]

I imagine these graphic designers back in their political headquarters all talking together, "so, did prof. Parker grade you pamphlet yet? What did you get?" "He docked me points for the arrow" "I got extra points for the dog!"

[@cefcephatus]

He should make grade certificate of measurement and send them to each corresponding designers.

[@TheCookiePup]

"I got a rock."

[@AHotLlama]

"Let's see the R value... Let's not see the R value" Spoken like a true statistician

[@anonymous-zg7wh]

i HOWLED when i saw that, I HATE STATS as an alevel student

[@thewarmedic2330]

I cackled when he said that; AP stats trauma/Stockholm syndrome 😭

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Bury the evidence.

[@Loki-]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1642">27:22</a> Missed opportunity to say "Count Binface is just there to make you think twice about putting your vote in the BIN."

[@agbook2007]

THIS 🤣👍

[@feedthedrummer]

Well as Labour's candidate in Richmond and Northallerton, and a long time Stand-up Maths fan, this is a crossover of my interests beyond anything I could have ever dreamed.

[@edd48576]

Good luck tomorrow! The whole country's rooting for you.

[@brunoparga]

Do you think you should withdraw to let the people's true representative, Count Binface, have the best possible shot? (You shouldn't. Go get'em. Good luck tomorrow!)

[@ilexdiapason]

good luck! from a richmond park constituent so i'm _close_ to being able to affect your chances but not quite on the right side of the country

[@edd48576]

@@brunoparga Binface is no longer a trash of the people. He sold his principles for a filthy peerage. Now he's just more royal garbage.

[@robertridley-fj8zz]

First order of business for you, have Northallerton actually included on the constituency map. I mean, I've been there and its easily missed, but even as an expat Geordie who dislikes anything further south than the river Wier, ( and frankly, I'm pretty ambivalent about much of South Tyneside) this seem a pretty egregious omission.

[@wearwolf2500]

Mat Parker at the end of the vote counting session "This isn't anywhere near pi, we are way off".

[@PeachCrusher69]

being wildly off is just a Parker tradition

[@the_multus]

Parker Pi. PP for short.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Force of habit.

[@lyrimetacurl0]

I predict (pi/10)% for Binface.

[@jamesaitken5653]

308 - you would have thought he could argue for at least another 6 votes to reach 314!

[@NineteenHand]

"Let's not see the R value." This about sums up my memory of college statistics homework.

[@gregs2284]

The constituency office at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="255">4:15</a> literally says "It's not 2019" across it. It's clearly a direct rebuttal of the chart on the right.

[@ptorq]

I noticed that and thought it was brilliant. "Our opponents' sign is misleading, and here's why."

[@neilbiggs1353]

@@ptorq Unfortunately though, they are using polling which is even less verifiable!

[@ptorq]

@@neilbiggs1353 At least in theory asking people how they're going to vote ought to be a better indicator of how they're going to vote. than how people in the area voted 5 (or 50, or 500) years ago is. "Er, Yes, our voter data shows a strong preference for the Plantagenet party."

[@neilbiggs1353]

@@ptorq It's a theory that doesn't survive contact with stats lessons unfortunately! Biased sampling is a classic trick of political parties, and that's just the beginning. Running 4 samples and picking the best one is not unheard of either! Unless the survey has been carried out totally independently (like say the local newspaper doing one), they should be treated with minimal trust

[@me-myself-i787]

​@@neilbiggs1353It was carried out by YouGov.

[@joshuahillerup4290]

Figuring out if a sitting Prime Minister has ever lost their seat in UK history requires answering the surprisingly controversial question of when the UK first got a Prime Minister

[@petertaylor4980]

Who's the potential precedent?

[@tulliusexmisc2191]

The catchphrase of the Extra History channel: It Was Walpole!

[@edd48576]

It was when the lettuce won.

[@WaterShowsProd]

Walpole is generally considered to be the first Prime Minister, but it is true that British history is marked with soft transitions rather than hard borders, as things like Prime Minister evolved, rather than suddenly being decreed.

[@TymberJ]

Technically if there's an election on, doesn't that mean there is no Parliament at the moment? If so, by definition a sitting PM couldn't lose or win an election, because they aren't an MP when the election happens.

[@bokkenka]

Is Matt Parker Count Binface? Have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time?

[@RonParker]

A Problem Squared listeners have heard them in the same place at the same time. Does that count? (Episode 018)

[@GoranNewsum]

They have, Matt took the photo of him at AEOUD at The Cambridge Theatre.

[@stephenlee5929]

Well maybe we will during the declaration in Richmond+ Nor...

[@-YELDAH]

@@GoranNewsum How do we know that was Matt taking the photo?

[@catsnorkel]

No, matt parker is clearly a human

[@abigailcooling6604]

Gotta be honest, Count Binface sounds a million times better than my current Tory MP...

[@mb-3faze]

I noticed his 'bin' has received a significant upgrade since the last election.

[@gregoryfenn1462]

He didn't come last in the London mayor election!

[@jpdemer5]

Low bar, that.

[@57thorns]

@@jpdemer5 The MP or not coming last in London? I assume both.

[@user-hd8gn1uj7e]

i realy like his policy to bring back ceefax

[@quillaja]

Clearly Binface's trend is exponential, not linear.

[@digitig]

Presumably the logistic curve. Even Count Binface can't go over 100%. But possibly in the region where exponential is a good approximation.

[@51monw]

@@digitig if temperatures can go negative (not in those stupid units but real units like Kelvin, negative temperatures are really hot btw), and -1 can have a square root, I see no problem with Count Binface getting over 100%, Russia got over 100% in the vote in Sevastopol for Crimea to become Russian, and I am sure anything Putin can do, Count Binface can do too.

[@51monw]

I so wanted a curve fitted for the three points, but that might be misleading.

[@andrewjolly319]

When i worked for the Lib Dems (more than 20 years ago) you'll be glad to hear that all my bar charts were exactly to scale...

[@ThePedrobl]

A few of those bar charts start right at the edge of the paper, so the inaccuracies in those are also from cutting/trimming them (print bleed)

[@thompkins6796]

That, and the designer didn't have enough room on the reds and greens to label them large enough for the format.

[@xenontesla122]

This year I had the bright idea to print out business cards with a built in ruler (for NSBE, an engineering convention). Dealing with the dimensions and print bleed was so unintuitive I had to correct a mistake in the parking lot of the print shop!

[@volbla]

I mean, you could always make bar charts that, you know, don't start at the edge of the paper.

[@ChristieNel]

You forgot the party that believes all coffee should be drunk from tall top-hat shaped mugs while laughing hysterically.

[@michaelwisniewski6047]

while foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards…

[@owentill]

Oh so Rees-Mogg

[@hughcaldwell1034]

Is that the same party espousing trickle-down percolation?

[@tomholroyd7519]

I always thought the Monty Python sketch about the "silly" party was a joke

[@RFC3514]

@@tomholroyd7519 - It was a joke, because that was actually the most serious party.

[@jonkf7548]

The other day I explained the UK FPTP voting system to my nephew but I used a "pizza party" analogy. Say you are hosting a pizza party for yourself and 6 others. You take a vote on what kind of pizza you are going to order. Two people want plain cheese pizza, two people want pepperoni pizza. Then there's your weird friend Kyle and his two gym bros who don't want pizza at all and just want raw eggs and protein powder. Four people want pizza, three people don't want pizza and unless the pepperoni and the cheese people come together nobody gets pizza. The lesson? IDK don't buy one pizza and call it a party or smth.

[@edd48576]

The lesson is never trust a Kyle.

[@luke0346]

It sounds like what you're after is a dictatorship. So I assume you're voting Labour lol.

[@thelazy0ne]

😂but it's a democracy, so that's all that matters

[@lztx]

I'm surprised you don't use the same system we use in Australia: instant runoff, or preferential voting. So you could vote for party B, with party C as your preference, which is counted if no party gets a clear majority

[@51monw]

Brexit weaponised this in reverse by never defining Brexit, so we ended up with cold pizza, with pineapple on, that had fallen off the back of the delivery bike and been run over a few time by the cars behind. But the 52% who voted for "pizza" got exactly what they voted for.

[@eclectichoosier5474]

Many in the US quite DEARLY wish that election season were so short.

[@NikolaHoward]

You guys do seem to be trapped in perpetual elections...

[@HunterJE]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1117">18:37</a> A little misleading here, since there were not parliamentary elections in 1066 the denominator should be 0, which means BF's share of 0/0 should be undefined rather than 0%

[@DavidBeddard]

Well, it's Nullity. It's only undefined if you don't define it within your mathematical paradigm.

[@Nxck2440]

There wasn't even a parliament in 1066, but there was a king who is the sole decision maker, so you could say its 0 out of 1 which is 0. Fixed!

[@gleggett3817]

@@Nxck2440 Though the was no parliament, the Anglo=Saxon kings needed the witan, basically meetings of the powerful lords of the country (which could include religious leaders), to agree with his decisions. The witan ratified the succession of king which was not decided on a "first born" basis. Edward the Confessor did not specify a successor and on his death bed gave an ambiguous declaration that Harold Godwinson (the Earl of Wessex) should protect the kingdom; the witan decided that Harold should be king. Parliament itself comes out of the witan and subsequent councils of the nobility called by post-1066 kings

[@mattlm64]

There was an election, but William of Normandy was the only one who stood and he selected himself.

[@michaelgreen1515]

This is a Moot point. There were regular parliaments as people were called forth at various levels to chinwag stuff over. It is often thought that William turned up because it wasn't exactly clear who was supposed to become the new King and those who were selected by the then electoral franchise to send representatives had different ideas and some may (or may not) have selected William sadly making a tapestry graph of how many people have approved you to be King takes too long so about 4 people arrived in Kingdom to take on the job. Count William made his army Count and became boss of Normandy and King of England... a lesson to be learned. Your propaganda is best not done by tapestry...

[@Huntracony]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="240">4:00</a> both posters clearly show their source at the bottom, so good on them. Also, love the passive aggressive "It's not 2019" bubble on the Labour poster.

No wonder Count Binface is so into graphs, after all, the German word for count is Graf!

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

And of course making a graph involves a lot of counting.

[@MidnightAmethyst]

Stand up maths at the start: "Quick video" Also stand up maths: 28 minute long video

[@JoeRobertshaw]

LoNg MaN BaD

[@n0tthemessiah]

2nd longest video posted in a year, to be exact. It deserves a hilariously disproportionate bar graph, if you ask me.

[@PopeGoliath]

Quick for him to make, not a short run time. Very different things!

[@x7954]

@@n0tthemessiahneeds to compare video lengths from 2024 and 1066

[@CravingBeer]

I'd vote Binface, but his unfunded promises on Ceefax makes me worried.

[@stevebollinger3463]

Ceefax will pay for itself many times over from economic improvement.

[@Shoomer1988]

Maybe we could just sell the Isle of Wight to pay for it.

[@jimmoriarty5107]

@@Shoomer1988 I dont think that's gonna cover it.

[@infwhale9183]

There is always a magic money tree for war. So where is it in this case?

[@Shoomer1988]

@@jimmoriarty5107 Haha.

[@Ellie-wt7pw]

“election season is upon us” bro polling day is tomorrow

[@neilbiggs1353]

It's also US election season, so expect to see lots of illiterate bozos still trying to argue his three videos from the 2020 election...

[@recurvestickerdragon]

he probably recorded this a bit ago

[@tehlaser]

Well, see, the UK has election seasons of a sensible length, so the day before the election is a non-negligible portion of the season. Unlike certain other countries whose media start speculating who’s going to win the next primary the day after the winner is known.

[@OsirusHandle]

france too is now

[@trueriver1950]

Today, now as I write; 4th July. Oddly the date means that millions of Americans will be inadvertently celebrating our election...

[@antonjensen9996]

absolutely love how matt stays in his lane and just loves math

[@aquilazyy1125]

Someone in UK should print stickers of “Citation needed” and put them on every chart they see.

[@zoefschildpad]

My plot has succeeded. You are the only person to receive that exact combination of mail and now I know where you live!

[@sirkiz1181]

I can already see the TED Ed video on this riddle about being an intergalactic trash can man and needing to find where a certain mathematician lives in order to get his help with your leaflet

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

The final leaflet was actually sent to him at exactly the right time so he would pick it up during the video, confirming that it was the correct house.

[@Petch85]

It feels like mathematicians would have chosen a different voting system to avoid this mess in the first place. 😂

[@rmsgrey]

It depends what the aim of the voting system is. If the goal is to most directly reflect the aggregate opinions of the electorate about the various candidates, then, yeah, there are much better systems than first past the post. If the goal is to have a simple system that's going to tend to give one party a clear majority even when the country is more divided, then first past the post does a pretty solid job. The big weakness of more democratic systems is that they're more likely to produce coalition governments.

[@Petch85]

@@rmsgrey Why is a coalition government a weakness?

[@PeachCrusher69]

​@@Petch85harder to make decisions that reflect your party's vision

[@meirl5700]

@@Petch85increases bureaucracy (as in time and money) if parties in government disagree on an issue and reduces the amount of government action taken, see Lib Dem’s + conservative coalition as example. (This is me playing devils advocate)

[@ge2719]

@@Petch85 they can never get anything done for one thing. having to constantly beg the other party for votes.

[@askermatthew]

Here to point out the typo on the leaflet: 2024 Richmonmd & Northallerton Prediction. Graph accuracy: 100% Spelling of Richmond on the leaflet accuracy: 83.3% (if we exclude the Richmond sign in the photo)

[@mb-3faze]

Somewhat embarrassing. (The typo is under the first bar chart.)

[@Simo_1223]

Also the second graph has the name as BInface (capital I).

[@askermatthew]

​@@Simo_1223Good spot! I suppose we can forgive the intergalactic space warrior for this minor slip...

[@jpdemer5]

It's a Parker pamphlet . . . what did you expect?

[@DylanSargesson]

Some people argue that Binface running could hurt Labour's chances of taking the seat. At least with including this accurate chart, people will be able to see that Labour is the clear tactical voting option.

[@tomasemitchell]

Was expecting some sick stuff about charts and then a wild Blur member appears... AND THEN A WILD COUNT BINFACE APPEARS. wtf

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

"Oh, so it's just a low-production rant video. I'm going to see twenty minutes of charts and... whoa."

[@RKH1502]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="352">5:52</a> "7 out of 8, so 47%"

[@doku7335]

When Matt said "half", I kept thinking "wait, how can he say half, it's 15, it's not divisible by 2 and you can't get half a graph" until he clarified

[@royliu1409]

​@@doku7335 He did get another graph at the end and made it half.

[@Tome_Wyrm]

I think he meant to say 7 versus 8. There were 15, as stated earlier.

[@elvishfiend]

#ParkerMaths

[@ntzm_]

We're staying in a holiday cottage in Richmond and we got your leaflet, I really enjoyed the bar chart

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

gonna start timing my vacations based on when i'll get the most interesting mail

[@blazinghotpeppermaniac]

Count Binface won 308 votes, it's time for a new graph!

[@NeilRashbrook]

Or 0.6%, as that was what the charts were actually graphing.

[@Trisador9]

The main takeaway from these bar charts for me is that voting under a first-past-the-post system seems just terrible... Do they just serve to remind you to vote strategically? Edit: Should not have commented before finishing the video! Matt of course touches on this.

[@JdeBP]

It is terrible, and tactical voting is a lot of what this is all about, as M. Parker said.

[@edd48576]

@@JdeBP What a wonderful country. So many choices to throw your vote away. So many ways to have your voice completely ignored. How do other countries cope with the pressure of having their votes actually matter?? So stressful!

[@OsirusHandle]

If you consider your vote a public showing of opinion then voting in a way that doesn't effect the vote is fine, no?

[@TymberJ]

Well, it's only terrible in causing this kind of strategic voting when there are multiple competitive parties like in the UK. If you look at the US, where there are functionally only two parties, you'll find first past the post is terrible in completely different ways!

[@ribbonsofnight]

@@TymberJ The other way around. In the UK many vote unstrategically where as vast numbers of Americans vote strategically every year. They just never need to be told which two candidates have a hope. "I might vote for a third party candidate. go ahead throw your vote away Don't blame me I voted for Kodos."

[@christopherwyatt2771]

I thought you were going to go for a Reform UK style line graph showing Binface's results as a similar curve. Still lost it at "Let's see the R value.... Let's not see the R value."

[@TarenNauxen]

As an American it took away too long to get the "Bindependence Day" joke. Side note: I would have roasted the 1066 chart for the position of the 1997 label. Seems too far left!

[@philw6056]

They also missed the irish immigration of roughly 1mio people during and directly after the irish famine. Or all those people who immigrated from europe literally all them time(Jews, Flemish, Hueguenots, Eastern Europeans, ...). Or all those who immigrated from british colonies or the commonwealth.

[@mb-3faze]

@@philw6056 Exactly. And it matters the proportion of the population that each wave of migration contributed. (I'm of Huguenot descent.)

[@philw6056]

@@mb-3faze Unfortunately many politicians(and normal people) can't or don't want to deal with complex stuff.

[@janTasita]

The only time "it's too far left" is an accurate thing to say relating to the reform party.

[@voland6846]

@@philw6056 Ireland was part of the UK during the famine, that's erm kinda _why_ the famine occurred in the way that it did.

[@manudude02]

Matt announcing the count: Binface: 50000 +/- 50000

[@mattegan3439]

Quick video... 28 minutes long :D Love it!

[@kilianortmann9979]

Almost quick, Parker quick, one might say.

[@jetkirby]

My interpretation of his statement here is its a quick video from his perspective, time spent recording and editing the video is probably much shorter than his usual projects

[@RollTonight]

If they had more time they'd make it shorter.

[@curlybrace314]

Count Binface! What a delightful crossover.

[@plebius]

I am convinced, that the reason the graphs get messed up most of the time is people trying to fit them onto pages without the printers needed margin taken into account. Printers will regulary send back with edits done, due to space restrictions for margins. Which clients are usually oblivious too. When they receive the altered flyer to confirm they are happy. They never check it. I know its not a glamorous take, but having done some work with printers, I have seen this happen a lot.

[@dannyarcher6370]

Plebs

[@deek0146]

Look at me, Mr swing constituency with his 50 pamphlets through his door.

[@privacyvalued4134]

"They're pulling it from somewhere..." If the "somewhere" is "thin air" then you are 100% correct some of the time.

[@dielaughing73]

Maybe he meant somewhere more... fundamental?

[@snowdrop9810]

Some people call that their arse

[@skellious]

This was a party political broadcast on behalf of the count binface party.

[@toddlez123]

Congrats to count binface for 308 votes! A very definitive infinite improvement!

[@michelleinnocent867]

I just checked the results and the Count received a 0.06% vote increase, so a double infinity increase to report on your next leaflet campaign 😝

[@Jack-tk3ub]

Richmonmd It seems mathematical accuracy comes at the expense of spelling

[@JdeBP]

And so we witness the birth of the Parker Leaflet. (-:

[@EmPoulter]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="313">5:13</a> Extremely pedantic correction, since the dissolution of parliement on 30 May, there are no serving MPs, so technically Jeremy Hunt was the previous MP, and may or may not be the next MP, but is not the current MP

[@Outwhere]

The people of Godalming and Ash will probably vote for Jeremy Hunt to ensure that people keep on mispronouncing his name and end up on Have I Got News For You. But look at the possibilities with Green Party candidate Ruby Tucker (who I hope loves a curry)!

[@ianstopher9111]

Vote for Michael Hunt

[@clickrick]

@@Outwhere Much as having that giggle at Sophie Ridge's expense was fun, expelling JH from the HoC is rather higher on our priorities here!

[@NeilRashbrook]

@@Outwhere This did indeed turn out to be the case. But at least the LD's charts came close to showing the resulting margin of victory.

[@beardedchimp]

I find it really weird with the yanks where their presidential election occurs several months before they change president. Historically that is the point where nothing matters any more, they don't have any electorate to woo and will just do whatever corrupt thing they feel like. So they'll appoint a load of extreme judges, pardon lots of people and poison the chalice for their replacement. The US President actually has insane powers, they are just by gentlemen's agreement not abused. That period between being voted out but still leading the country makes traditional respect for the office become null and void, they can make massive international actions that can't be easily undone by the new President.

[@davidioanhedges]

All the parties sent me leaflets ... Notably the Reform Party told me about their leader, and biggest shareholder, and biggest supporter, neither of whom are standing here .. and incidentally mentioned in passing who was actually standing for them ... but said absolutely nothing about the candidate at all ... All the others told me about the candidate first, and what they are standing for, and then something about the party ... I will be voting for one of the parties who are actually promoting their candidate for being my MP

[@jeremypnet]

I shall be voting for a party, not a limited company.

[@ribbonsofnight]

Notably as a new party given 6 weeks to organise that elections were 6 months early they probably have a good reason to not be able to tell you too much about all their candidates.

[@_maxgray]

The thing that confuses me the most as an American watching parliamentary elections is the idea that the party in power gets to decide when it would be most opportune to have an election (given that governments generally don't run all the way to the maximum length of time allowed). The part I am most jealous about is how short parliamentary elections are.

[@Minihood31770]

Matt calling it North Hallerton is very funny to me.

[@MechanicaMenace]

You think that's bad you should hear how southerners say Harrogate...

[@williamtoner8674]

If we use the numbers given at the start of the video then the Norman army would be 0.5% of the population. Whereas over a million people arrived last year which is 2% of the current population - - 4 times as much as a famous invasion that permanently altered the country forever. I can't help but come to the conclusion that their point probably still stands. Not that I would vote for them obviously. Especially when you add in the fact that most of the Norman army didn't stay

[@tissuepaper9962]

Yeah they really missed their own point with that graph. It is actually a rather persuasive argument; modern immigration is four times higher proportionally than immigration during the most notoriously influential period of immigration in the history of Britain. In an attempt to make a punchy, shocking graph, however, they just weakened the point by misrepresenting it.

[@asagoldsmith3328]

They also are comparing the two times periods as if the advent of global colonialism and industrializarion didn't happen in the interim

[@williamtoner8674]

@@asagoldsmith3328 what's the significance of that?

[@jell0goeswiggle]

Instructions unclear; threw my vote in the bin.

[@paulsieben9718]

As someone who does not live in a first-past-the-post system the style of ads is crazy, I've never seen anything like it. The fact that they all want to give you an extremely biased math lesson instead of actual party ads would be amusing if it wasn't so sad that that people don't really have much of a choice.

[@TStetheOG]

Imagine being a Lib Dem canvassing and being handed back your party literature with corrections on the graphs

[@WhiskersInc]

Count Binface got 308 votes! 🫡

[@stillprophet7529]

Bin-dependence Day is genius

[@patjohbra]

Matt Parker being a counting agent for Count Binface is both surprising and extremely on brand

[@benholroyd5221]

0.6% of the vote this time, so at this rate, hell be an mp next time.

[@b3z3jm3nny]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="475">7:55</a> the bars are narrower though so maybe they’re still accurate w.r.t. area not height? Strange decision though!

[@Adderkleet]

A historgram posing as a bar chart?! (that was my thought too!)

[@philw6056]

Easy decision, don't waste leaflet surface with useless information. And if someone complains and you know that they measured just the height and not the surface, you can first point out, that it wasn't done to delegitimize the greens and labour and then you can tell them to look at the area and win useless nerd points.

[@rmsgrey]

They're less than a factor of 2 off in height, but maybe a third the width, so the area is also definitely wrong (plus the two narrow bars are approximately the same width, but have significantly different vertical errors).

[@outwithrealitytoo]

Yup and it's like that so they peep out above the text, and to buy some horizontal space for the layout. I'll forgive them the arrow as "indicative of trend", but then the CON column would have to be depicted as burning down.

[@ge2719]

i think they just have them bigger because otherwise they would look like they're were picking on those parties by using the accurate measure. their bars would be so tiny

[@DeGuerre]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="420">7:00</a> Wait, those two "bars" are also narrower. Maybe they're using area?

[@jonathanrichards593]

Which would be the proper way to do a histogram. The area of each of the bars should represent the COUNT of the data points in that BIN. Aha! Count Bin-face is clearly an intergalactic data visualizer! IIRC it's quite hard to make Excel™ draw a proper histogram, i.e. to shrink the inter-bar spacing to zero.

[@lasagnahog7695]

I think the bad charts are absolutely malicious. It's clearly done specifically to mess with Matt Parker.

[@SimonFrack]

Please add closed captions. I want to watch this video but will have to come back later because I can’t hear sound. 😭

[@edd48576]

You're really not missing anything. Closed caption: Elections suck.

[@ReedCBowman]

Too late, but I dearly wish you could show up to be a counting agent cosplaying as the Count from Sesame Street.

[@user-bq9wy9kx3y]

Ive noticed similar things. Our local Labour council tried to sell off our local parks but failed because of the local outrage. Then in the next election they (Labour) claimed to have saved the parks because they never managed to sell them off. Worst thing is most people dont even know. Lots of short memories around here.

[@anglonrx2754]

likening immigration to an invasion is exactly reforms point

[@zaddyjacquescormery6613]

“Bin-Dependance Day” sounds a little more ominous than I was expecting.

[@JECastle4]

Arthur Balfour lost his seat in Manchester East in 1906, but was re-elected in a by-election in City of London shortly afterwards. It's a very small club though.

[@sec147]

But he had ceased being PM a month before that election.

[@couldntmixapotnoodle]

the support for Count Binface is great A truly british way to spend your vote. im stuck between Elmo and Binface

[@thebiblioholic]

Congrats to the Count. Looks like he got 308 votes for 0.6% share!

[@yavoth5850]

The biggest takeaway from all this should be how messed up the British electoral system is, and how absurd it is there is not a greater push for proportional representation of some kind.

[@brunoparga]

You are absolutely right about proportional representation. In fact, it might have happened when the Lib Dems were actually in the nearly-only coalition government the UK has had, in 2010-2015. Instead they wasted their entire political capital into a referendum on instant-runoff voting, which *would not have helped them* if it had passed. That was one of the most stupid political moves of all time.

[@dannyarcher6370]

Vote Reform, then. It’s in their manifesto.

[@OsirusHandle]

​@@brunopargawhat would you say is the best system

[@HQbaracuda]

While I do think your voting system is one of the worst on this planet (alongside the US-American), let me guarantee you, that the voting system does not protect you from duchefaces who ruin your lives by making stupid decisions and sitting out problems, that should get addressed immediately (just look at Europe as a whole)

[@digitig]

There's certainly a push for PR, but no party (or it's supporters) want to change the system by which they just won.

[@bj_]

I like how all 3 coffee parties are opposed to each other yet none of their preferences are mutually exclusive.

[@JdeBP]

The coffee policies were not-very-thinly veiled references to actual U.K. political parties.

[@thesenamesaretaken]

​@@JdeBPhmmm let's have a go All additives banned = Green (environmental regulations) Coffee however you like it = SNP (gender self-ID) Your coffee is my coffee = Conservative (delayed phase-out of internal combustion cars)

[@carlorossi4928]

Matt parker, count binface and David Rowntree from blur all in one video. Matt never ceases to surprise me.

[@michaelimbesi2314]

Godspeed, Count Binface

[@OwlRTA]

The second half of this video was amazing

[@marasmusine]

In the spirit of Stand Up Maths, are you sure that it is amazing from exactly the half-way mark?

[@CyberMartian890]

So unexpected but so glorious

[@grubzer1369]

Mandatory reminder of CGPGrey series on voting systems

[@ChaosSwissroIl]

Mandatory reminder that first pass the post is the most resistant to 'fortification'.

[@edd48576]

@@ChaosSwissroIl You misspelled "most susceptible to anti-democractic fuckery".

[@OsirusHandle]

​@@ChaosSwissroIl what do you mean by fortification

[@OsirusHandle]

​@@edd48576how can a vote be anti democratic. fptp still needs a plurality if not a majority no?

[@camo5553]

@@OsirusHandleif you had 5 very similar parties that get a combined 80% of the vote and split it evenly, and one very different party getting 20 of the vote, the one very different party would sin with first past the post

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

Political commentators: "Rishi Sunak's count seems to be taking a while. I wish they'd get it done so we can interview him" (meanwhile) Matt Parker: Binface's vote count doesn't seem to have ended on a prime number, this ought to be a recount

[@NeilRashbrook]

Turned out to be 2²×7×11.

[@prosfilaes]

"Tens of thousands of people." On screen: *48,600. It's so nice to be dealing with someone who cares about the numbers; I recently argued with someone who claimed that k:1 (for some value of k, 2 < k < 9) is "multiple orders of magnitude".

[@greggassen5548]

The fact that the british parliament decided to call an election on American Independence day is somewhat comical to me

[@rmsgrey]

Technically, it was the British Prime Minister who decided the date. Parliament didn't get a say.

[@nickbeaumont1637]

Ah well a coincidence, based on being the earliest possible date for an election. It was pledged to be ‘in the second half of the year’, (not that keeping pledges has a strong track record) is always on a Thursday, and this is the first Thursday of July.

[@BlackMageJawa]

The bookies gave better odds

[@TheGodpharma]

And the US election is on November 5th, which has a (vaguely!) similar resonance here in the UK as July 4th does in the US.

[@agbook2007]

@@TheGodpharma, touchè! This is delicious coincidence for either side of pond.

[@martinleduc]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1156">19:16</a> You meant to say 0.2872% not 28.72%

[@edd48576]

Heretic! How dare you diminish Count Whats-his-face's losing tally! You'll be the first to toil in the garbage mines when his retribution never arrives!

[@pboy124]

I've always hated how they never include non voters

[@helenr4300]

No grand historical moment but the Binface party did well at 308 votes

[@xylusirl1527]

Important context for the first stat of 1066 vs now. 1 in 6 people legally living in England and Wales today were not born in the UK. 2.5 million people immigrated to the UK in the last 2 years. So I think that could possibly still be far higher than 1066 even as a percentage.

[@xylusirl1527]

0.56% migration in the norman invasion. By the population estimate of 1.25m vs 7000 Norman invaders. In 2023 there were 1.2m immigrants to the UK. Which is 1.8% of the population in a single year. There is no England specific data but we can assume England's population grew more than 0.56% that year. On a side note. Currently there are 10 million first generation migrants living in England and Wales. This is 16.8% of the total population of England and Wales. I doubt even in 1066 even close to 1 in 10 people living in England were first generation migrants. Let alone more than 1 in 10.

[@TimL_]

​@@xylusirl1527 You are wasting your time in this comment section populated by conceited idiots who think it reasonable to compare 21st century immigration to Romans and Normans. And even those who will admit the sheer magnitude of the numbers are so persistent in their delusion that will go on pretending every kind of immigrant (or invader) is the same. Europe has apparently decided to stop existing as a distinct cultural and demographic region.

[@alistairmathie7632]

Please add subtitles!

[@SeamusGunther]

Come for graphs, stay for count binface

[@Netist_]

As an American, seeing some of this UK election material is nuts. We have a lot of problems ourselves, but a party sending out leaflets basically saying "If you're a member of this other party you can't win so don't bother voting" would be insane.

[@CarolHaynesJ]

What about the Angles, Saxons and Vikings? Oh Reform think we are all Anglo-Saxons - ie. immigrants!! Don't forget the Romans

[@wyrmhand]

All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

[@syllogism5843]

"What have the Romans ever done for us?"

[@swedneck]

what have the romans ever done for us anyway?

[@distinctdipole]

And don't forget the Irish in Wales! They effectivley had there own kingdom there.

[@abigailcooling6604]

Let's not forget about the various Celtic tribes that came across the Channel on lots of small boats. And while we're at it, the Neanderthals and Stone Age humans immigrated here over the Channel before the Channel even existed.

[@Cossieuk]

The 2nd bar chart only adds up to 99.3%, where is the other 0.07%

[@rmsgrey]

The effect of rounding the projected figures from the polling data. If you have more than two options, it's pretty common for the total percentage to be something other than 100.

[@shocktrooper2152]

It also does not include any candidates from other minor parties, or the independent candidates.

[@HT-vd4in]

Plot twist: The charts are right and the percentages are just rounded

[@lexyeevee]

missed a huge opportunity to graph the number of people who /didn't/ vote for each party

[@Alex-hk3dj]

10 quid says Matt is actually Count Binface.

[@TheErador]

Cannot be, Binface can say Northallerton correctly. Matt kept saying North-Hallerton

[@edd48576]

@@TheErador No one in UK says anything correctly. You may have invented English but Americans perfected it.

[@TheErador]

@@edd48576 yeah... Arkansas

[@MRAMAZRBALLZZ]

It's also worth pointing out that you can register and do the count as a normal person. I do it at all elections and it's great

[@battatia]

This was so good - congratulations on your counting agent appointment!

[@stephenmclaren5692]

I saw this flyer at work as someone bought it in to show. I had a good giggle at the graph. Now I know why it was so good! Have fun at the count!

[@mytube001]

"Make your vote COUNT" is just great! :D

[@edd48576]

Shoulda said "BIN your vote"

[@shanemjn]

Of course it's incompetence, it's politics

[@zakswaine7272]

Might want to increase turnout by making it seem more pertinent to vote

[@Respectable_Username]

You just know that part of the deal with Binhead was that, if they win, they'd make Matt a Count himself. Because there'd be no greater honour for a mathematician!

[@edd48576]

Sell out. Peerages are the dumps. No more royal trash.

[@jonathanrichards593]

ONE good joke. Ha. Ha. Ha.

[@ComeRee]

*tips hat in respect for working with Count BinFace*