- published: 29 May 2016
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A referendum (also known as a plebiscite or a vote on a ballot question) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of direct democracy.
The word plebiscite comes from the Latin plebiscita, which originally meant a decree of the Concilium Plebis, the popular assembly of the Roman Republic. Referendums and referenda are both commonly used as plurals of referendum. However, the use of referenda is deprecated by the Oxford English Dictionary, which advises that:
In the United States, a plebiscite is typically known as an initiative when originating in a petition of ordinary citizens, and as a referendum only if it consists of a proposal referred to voters by the legislature. A plebiscite can be considered a kind of election and is often referred to as such in the U.S. (an election literally means a choice). In other countries, the term election is often reserved for events in which elected representatives are chosen.
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He resigned from all of these positions in June 2007.
Blair was elected Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party used the phrases "New Labour" and "New Socialism" to define its policy, and moved away from its support of state socialism since the 1960s and created a new version of the ethical socialism that was last pursued by Clement Attlee. Critics of Blair claim that "New Labour" did not adhere to socialism as claimed, and that it effectively advocated capitalism. Blair subsequently led Labour to a landslide victory in the 1997 general election. At 43 years old, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing the minimum wage, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Intro:
I. II.
G---------0-----0-----0-------------------------
D-2-2-0-2---0-2---0-2---0-2-2----2-0-----2-0----
A------------------------------------2-------2--
E--------------------------------------0-------0
[ EmEmD EmG D EmG D EmG D EmEm Em..............]
After which the first Em readily comes.
There was a man from Muddlebro', whose problems he laid
down
(Em) G D Em
Upon another's doorstep, in a distant stranger's town
Em D
But forgeting what he'd come for, and in patronizing
tones
Em G D Em
He gave them all his clothes and bread, to stop their
moans and groans
Em C C Em
Midverse chords under guitar solo:
G D Em C-C/B-Am G-G/F#-Em Em G D D
then repeat intro.
Verses 2 & 3 as first with same chords inbetween:
"It's not your fault where you were born", he said, all
condescending,
"We cannot all be made like me, with lots of true-blue
blending",
"But never-mind, i'll pass the hat around our gracious
nation"
The strangers held their laughter back, remembering
their station...
Back home in the Heads of State the people's memory
woke
And yet their yapping didn't stop, whoever rose and
spoke
But in the fields potatoes flowered, and gulls came
with high tides
And men came back from cutting wood, and gathered by
firesides.
The outro is part I of the intro, with an Em (sometimes
two) in it's end.
The chords:
EADGBe
Em 022000
G 320033
G/F#220033
C X32010
C/B X22010
D XX0212