General Election 24 - nerdery

[Gfamily]

There are more constituencies with an ' and ' in its name than constituencies with "North / South / East / West" geographic indicators (250 vs 247)

An example of a constituency that has both, is Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North - which has the longest name of any constituency.

The shortest constituency name is Bath

[Gfamily]

Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North

Constituency as cartoon sealion

BHH&SN.jpg (58.89 KiB) Viewed 6623 times

[bob sterman]

There are more constituencies with an ' and ' in its name than constituencies with "North / South / East / West" geographic indicators (250 vs 247)

An example of a constituency that has both, is Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North - which has the longest name of any constituency.

The shortest constituency name is Bath

The The constituency with the most letters in its name (not counting spaces) is Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

In terms of population per character - Na h-Eileanan an Iar has the fewest with just 1305 per character (1535.29 excluding spaces). While Bath manages 25,500 per character.

When it comes to the number of vowels in the name as a proportion of the total number of letters - Poole comes top at 60% with Clwyd North bottom with just 10%.

[lpm]

There are 40 constituencies with "ford" in their name, 47 with "shire", 97 with "ton" and 63 with "ham".

But only 6 with "saint" in their name (St Albans, St Helen's x2, Holborn & St Pancras, Bury St Edmonds, and for Welsh speakers Llanelli).

[IvanV]

There are more constituencies with an ' and ' in its name than constituencies with "North / South / East / West" geographic indicators (250 vs 247)

An example of a constituency that has both, is Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North - which has the longest name of any constituency.

The shortest constituency name is Bath

There are so many "and"s because they have stuck poorly connected things together to get them to have the requisite population, while trying not to cut other things up too much.

My sister in Horley, previously in Reigate constituency (along with Redhill), now finds herself now in the constituency of Dorking and Horley. It is an L-shaped thing with posh Dorking at one end, gritty Horley at the other, and a very extensive area of posh Surrey villages in between. There's little connection between the two places. Horley's main routes of travel and economic connections are to Redhill and Crawley. To be fair, my sister, a dental hygienist, did get a part-time gig at a surgery in Dorking for a while, to supplement her main gig in central London, but it didn't last very long.

Near me is the even more ridiculously shaped new constituency of Harpenden and Berkhamsted. It is just the kind of thing which gave gerrymandering its name, being salamander shaped, long and thin with limbs. It stretches both rather W of Berkhamsted to Tring, and rather E of Harpenden to Wheathampstead. Again, there's very little transport or economic connection between the two main places mentioned in the constituency, which have instead connections to the much larger towns each is nearer to.

[IvanV]

Constituency as cartoon sealion

Chesham and Amersham now looks remarkably and appropriately like a red kite.

Chesham and Amersham map.jpg (293.78 KiB) Viewed 6550 times

[Gfamily]

The The constituency with the most letters in its name (not counting spaces) is Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

16 constituencies have a comma, but (disappointingly) not Oxford West And Abingdon

[lpm]

There's no particular reason for a constituency to have transport or economic connections between the main places. All that matters is it's not gerrymandered. But if it's distance between places, wouldn't pick Dorking and Horley as one where they're far apart - 25 minutes drive.

Which raises the question: which has the biggest distance. Scottish seats obviously. In Wales probably Brecon? But in England?

Richmond and Northallerton is 1.5 hours drive east to west, but Richmond itself is close to Northallerton. Thirsk and Malton is even longer east to west - 60 miles and 2 hours drive.

In the south there's East Wiltshire - from the edge of Swindon down to the edge of Salisbury, over an hour's drive.

[Gfamily]

In terms of population per character - Na h-Eileanan an Iar has the fewest with just 1305 per character (1535.29 excluding spaces). While Bath manages 25,500 per character.

Na h-Eileanan an Iar is one of two constituencies that would require an act of parliament before their extent can be changed (the other being Orkney and Shetland)

ETA - am checking this, as Ynys Mon may also be protected VAR check over

[lpm]

In 2019 there were fewer Conservatives with double-barrelled surnames (7) elected than Labour (8).

[Gfamily]

Na h-Eileanan an Iar is one of two constituencies that would require an act of parliament before their extent can be changed (the other being Orkney and Shetland)
ETA - am checking this, as Ynys Mon may also be protected VAR check over

Checked again; a 2020 act amended the 1986 act to make Ynys Mon protected.

[dyqik]

The The constituency with the most letters in its name (not counting spaces) is Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

16 constituencies have a comma, but (disappointingly) not Oxford West And Abingdon

That's because the Oxford University style guide deprecates the Oxford comma.

[monkey]

The The constituency with the most letters in its name (not counting spaces) is Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale.

16 constituencies have a comma, but (disappointingly) not Oxford West And Abingdon

Oxford, West and Abingdon?

Seems like it'd be a pretty big constituency to me.

[Grumble]

When it comes to the number of vowels in the name as a proportion of the total number of letters - Poole comes top at 60% with Clwyd North bottom with just 10%.

Only true if you’re thinking of vowels in English, but Clwyd is not written in English. I think Clwyd has 2 vowels.

[bob sterman]

North Cornwall is the most southerly constituency with "North" in its name while Aberdeen South is the most northerly constituency with "South" in its name.

Southampton Test is the constituency most likely to make you think that you're looking at a beta version of a constituency map

[lpm]

Caerphilly is the constituency most likely to make you think of cheese.

[dyqik]

Caerphilly is the constituency most likely to make you think of cheese.

And to cause a run of cheese puns.

(ETA: This is a warning of the wrath of EPD, not an invitation)

[Sciolus]

Caerphilly is the constituency most likely to make you think of cheese.

And to cause a run of cheese puns.

(ETA: This is a warning of the wrath of EPD, not an invitation)

So anyone thinking of making a pun had better think very cautiously.

Anyway, there seems to have been a change in fashion in naming constituencies with compass directions in: the old "Crudworthy North" style seems to be being replaced with "North Crudworthy". This is confusing some people (e.g. Electoral Calculus) who keep using old style even on brand-new seats ("Somerset North East and Hanham" does not and never has existed).

[IvanV]

Na h-Eileanan an Iar is one of two constituencies that would require an act of parliament before their extent can be changed (the other being Orkney and Shetland)
ETA - am checking this, as Ynys Mon may also be protected VAR check over

Checked again; a 2020 act amended the 1986 act to make Ynys Mon protected.

There are five protected seats in all, which do not have to comply with the population rules in the boundary adjustments. In addition to the three you mention, the other two are the two seats of the Isle of Wight.

[Gfamily]

Na h-Eileanan an Iar is one of two constituencies that would require an act of parliament before their extent can be changed (the other being Orkney and Shetland)
ETA - am checking this, as Ynys Mon may also be protected VAR check over

Checked again; a 2020 act amended the 1986 act to make Ynys Mon protected.

There are five protected seats in all, which do not have to comply with the population rules in the boundary adjustments. In addition to the three you mention, the other two are the two seats of the Isle of Wight.

Technically true, but I think what's protected is that there will be two seats for the Isle of Wight. I don't think the boundary between them is necessarily fixed, so there could be some adjustment if the split of electors between the two changed.

[JQH]

There's no particular reason for a constituency to have transport or economic connections between the main places. All that matters is it's not gerrymandered...

Transport links between the bits are useful for constituents who want to see their MP at constituency office.

[lpm]

There's no particular reason for a constituency to have transport or economic connections between the main places. All that matters is it's not gerrymandered...

Transport links between the bits are useful for constituents who want to see their MP at constituency office.

If they have a car they can drive. If they don't have a car they probably don't vote either, so f.ck 'em, as practiced by all Tory MPs since time immemorial.

[Allo V Psycho]

There's Grimup North and Softdown South, but I can't now remember if I invented these or read them in The Cloggies.

I couldn't resist having an East South West Norfolk, if I were a boundary commission.

[dyqik]

There's Grimup North and Softdown South, but I can't now remember if I invented these or read them in The Cloggies.

I couldn't resist having an East South West Norfolk, if I were a boundary commission.

Southwest Norfolk East, Northeast Suffolk West, Southeast Northhamptonshire West, etc.

[geejaytee]

You can play this game with other counties too:

North West Essex, East West Sussex and West East Sussex, and the unwieldy North East South Yorkshire and North West Lincs - this one actually exists, but the Boundary Commision went with the name Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme for some reason.