Been off the pace with the blog of late, so here's a quick note to stop it getting any worse.

The AV vote is getting devilishly close. I went into this whole thing as a neutral. I've listened hard (even more so than usual ;;) to both campaigns and have, at different points, both agreed and disagreed with each side. But I'm still none the wiser.

It's one of those issues that just doesn't bite at you. True, there are many of those. But this is one that is supposed to matter. Yet when you hear the argument from one side, you find yourself agreeing with it - even though you did the same when you heard the other side's a moment earlier.

As a Labour member I'm hastened to toe the party line. Sorry, Ed's line. But it's a referendum, which means party shouldn't matter. There lies the dilemma: you want to put your own stamp on it, but if you haven't got the ink, you can't write owt.

The solution is a difficult one. Whilst abstaining is the obvious choice, it's a lazy one. The question, then, is how best to make your vote count. If the answer to that is, “go with the guy you like or against the guy you don't”, then Cameron's 'No' will win; no matter how much you try, everyone remembers that Clegg is behind AV.

Maybe the answer should be: well, think harder - if you're poor at taking a stance on voting reform, then think about what it is you do want. Then, figure out how you can use the referendum as a buy-in to getting that - and not just by going with the side your party's leader is supporting, but by seeing the more intricate consequences of each outcome and what they mean to you.

This is the advice I will be giving myself (loner) before I vote. If I still can't decide, then I'll admit patheticness.

Meanwhile, I'll be campaigning (online, obviously) for a Labour victory in Leicester on the same day. If I end up voting 'No' on AV, this'll be the compromise for me going against Ed.

Happy Easter.