Reading the top five girls’ names for this year, a thought struck me: EARS, the software that ther Lib Dems use for canvass data, has a special filter that identifies people as ‘possibly old’ based on the fashionability of their names. With names such as Olivia, Ruby, Grace, Lily and Poppy making a comeback, such a filter is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
On the other hand, maybe we should simply assume that if they’ve ever voted in the past, they’re almost certainly over-60.
It’ll be another 10 years and more before the new Lilis, Rubies, Graces etc are eligible to be on the electoral register.
The EARS filter is relatively unsophisticated, but there are versions of the program that can give likeliness of a given name is a certain age to within a decade.
A bit like when Daisy – my partner – got a Tory direct mailshot on pensions….?
Why can’t these registers just simply put down the age of the person? We can work out when someone has joined the electorate register because they are 18. We know their addresses and whether they have voted in the last election. I don’t think it is a significant invasion of privacy if political parties know the age of the occupant.
Ideally everyone should be given a free email address where political parties and registered companies wanting to advertise their products can send to individuals which would be sorted into folders. This would cost a nominal charge (1p) to minimise constant spamming. The mail would automatically be deleted after 6 months unless the individual changed the defaults. Individuals could use this email address or simply ignore it and not use it. Once this is set up – then unrequested junk mail including political leaflets should be legally phased out accept for people (e.g. those without internet access or unable to get to a library) who like receiving such mail. This way we can cut down on so much unwanted literature and saving many thousands of acres of trees.
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