It's slightly less than two months to go until the UK general election and I'm already a little obsessed with the ups and downs. It helps that I get to keep track of things for work as well. (If you're interested try www.quakervote.org.uk ) There are several interesting factors about this election. For a start we know the exact date whereas in the past, elections usually happened every 4-5 years, and we wouldn't know the date until the Prime Minister asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament, at which point purdah would begin and the date would be set. In 2011 the Fixed-term Parliament Act provided for fixed-term parliaments of five years in length, unless a vote of no confidence in the government is passed, or the House of Commons votes to hold an election with a two-thirds majority. It'll be interesting to see what the long-term effects of fixing the duration of Parliament will be; it has been suggested that knowing the date of the election has meant that politici