Sunday 11 April 2010

We're in this together - We don't have much choice...

It’s Sunday evening and I’ve got to get up for work early tomorrow, but the election campaign has already been running for a few days now, so I have to get something down for my ‘Election Blog’.
So this is rushed, but what does it matter? Like a lot of people I feel frustrated by politics and all the b**locks that is spouted, especially in recent times, and I would like to have my say. Even if no-one is listening (reading)...
This may turn out to be the electronic equivalent of a drunk shouting at the sky, waving a fist at the moon. Except it has been recorded and it will potentially be available to see forever…

You can say what you like on here, and even though it won’t necessarily change anything, that is something great. I will try to be objective and not to be patronising (and I'm getting older so if I find myself verging on the edge of Daily Maildom, I will claw my way back). There is no need to lie because unlike politicians I am not trying to be all things to all men (and women)… That is the common thread of modern politics and one reason this election, though one of the most eagerly awaited for a long time, is not going to involve particularly engaging campaigns. The expenses scandal could swing voter apathy either way, but the inane bulls**t and slanging matches won’t see the parties connecting with the voters.
In times gone by when there were ideological differences, there were fundamental disagreements; between politicians and between politicians and particular sections of the electorate. Now everyone is fair game and they’re trying to please every single one of us. Since the Tories joined the rest in the middle ground, the last thing you would hear a mainstream politician say is that there are losers in this society and that’s one reason you’ll never get a straight answer from any of the main parties (except maybe the Liberal Democrats, but we all know every one of them would p*ss their pants if a miracle occurred and they were voted into power on May 6th).
If politicians disagree on an issue, they will doubt each others’ understanding and intellect, but if a member of the public were to offer the same opinion, then watch the patronising and/or squirming begin…

With the internet and digital technology this is going to be the most talked about election ever and it is also going to be one of the most uncertain. The Conservatives and Labour have both had a good long go at Government in recent times, neither with particularly satisfactory outcomes, so for a lot of reasons this one will go down to the wire.
The kind of euphoria and hope that surrounded the Labour victory in 1997, will not be present no matter what happens (though that LibDem win would create a new and bizarre atmosphere…). That was during the halcyon days of my youth and after the Tories reign, there was a lot of naïve optimism flying around. Those times have gone but new times abound, partly helped by the access we now have to politics, this election is going to be interesting…

Well I wasn’t going to write this much, but I’ve got to comment on at least one election issue from this weekend. Probably against the grain of a lot of what I have planned to mention (Labour are the incumbent Government so have the current record to attack…), I have to say I can scarcely believe the Conservatives’ marriage tax break. They’ve been going on about it for months, but now the figures have been produced I can’t work out why they built it up so much!?!
£150 a year is going to help mend “Broken Britain”?! £150 to parents who can already afford to have one of them not in work. I won’t go into why this is unfair in the first place and they’ve just managed to come across as the same as the moralising Tory party of old and handed some very easy ground to Labour.
Gordon Brown was ready with Labour's "fair" response. His words were compassionate and they were delivered in hushed tones. He almost seemed like a normal human being...!

Thank you

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