Apathy in the UK – Handing power back to an unchanged Labour Party…?

Nothing new at the start of 2013… No time to post anything during the latter half of 2012, but it turned out to be a pretty flat year, no significant changes in the overall state of affairs. Certainly no apocalypse, not even a revolution, well not in the West…

A brief review of the year; the Coalition has stumbled along, the UK economy has effectively flat-lined, Europe is still clinging on to its lower regions, the US is still coming to terms with itself, as China appears to continue its rise and the developing world is continues to develop, rapidly… And all the while the Labour Party are still spewing out the same s**t they have been for past two years, well actually the past 20 years.

The Left haven’t changed, they never do, occasionally they grow up, but… Anyway, is the Occupy Movement still going…? ‘UK Uncut’ is still kicking about and some of the UK Left’s hypocrisy and idiosyncrasy were recently exposed within their protests… (The tax avoiding Guardian newspaper giving significant coverage to UK Uncut’s campaign against tax avoidance, “Anarchists” opposed to Government joined in with the protests, demanding a bigger state (though they claimed a means to an end…) and all of this was seen as it turned out that Starbucks were pretty much the biggest tax avoiders of all… Haha!)    

And Argentina is still banging on about a ridiculous claim on the Falklands Islands, no less ridiculous than Britain’s… 

    Obama and Kirchner get close?

    'They're thousands of miles away and it's not like they're hot...'

Like Hawaii.

So yes nothing new, I’ll just pick it up where I left off; the Coalition have had a ‘mid-term review’  

    Cameron leaves Clegg behind?

    'You're a f**king liability Clegg...!'

And Labourites were spouting the same old propaganda at the Fabian Society last weekend, so I will review the relatively unaltered British political landscape; the Coalition are roundly criticised for everything they do, often rightly so, but Labour can say anything they like, with few picking them up on their hypocrisy, (so is the nature of the Liberal-Left…) and they have remained around 10 or more points ahead in the opinion polls. 

How that translates to the ballot box is another thing and that was part of the last post, nothing much has changed since… There were by-elections, a Mayoral election and Police Commissioner (PCC) Elections in November (ridiculous timing) and again the results highlighted how misleading opinions polls can be and how empty Labour’s rhetoric always is, it showed the true state of British politics, quite far removed from Labour’s fantastical proclamations.

There was no way that even Labour could try to spin the PCC results, so they focussed on the low turnout, instead of John Prescott humiliation to a Tory in Humberside, funny that…

I bet there were some aides running for cover when the result was announced...

    John Prescott might get handy?

    'You won't like me when I'm angry...'

His wife would have taken the brunt of it, one way or the other…

    Prescott's finest moment?

    'Who's f**king next?!'

There was an apparent anti-Labour vote in the only Mayoral election in Bristol and they were always going to keep that on the down low… And what resulted from that loss was a reaction from Labour HQ which showed a glimpse of the truly offensive side of Labour’s politics and philosophy, the aspects that we will all suffer if things run their present course; their use of manipulation and their desire to control. But I'll come back to that.

So Labour put their energies into spinning the three by-elections results and cranked up the bullshit production to overdrive. Three safe Labour seats Croydon North, Middlesbrough and Rotherham, so safe that even at their ‘lowest’ in 2010 in the midst of economic crisis with Gordon Brown in power, they still voted Labour in their droves in these constituencies… To put it into context, even at their very lowest in 1983, in Middlesbrough and Rotherham, they still won by some margin. The common phrase for this is they ‘could put up a pig’ and enough numbskulls would still scrawl a cross on the ballot paper, just fortunate enough not to dribble too much and spoil the paper… Ah it sounds harsh, but come on where is the self-respect…?

That’s not to denigrate everyone in these constituencies, far from it, only 25-33% of the electorate turned out to vote; the total percentage of the electorate voting for Labour barely rising above 15%.

Yet Ed Miliband saw fit to translate the results as an endorsement of “One Nation Labour” (the s**t he’d been spouting a few weeks earlier and again at the Fabian Society last weekend)… 15%?!!

One f**king Nation?!! 

    Miliband - A face you'd like to slap?

    Oh, you just could…

All this talk of 'One Nation', almost makes you think Ed might be worried about Scottish Independence...

15% of those eligible to vote, this is the anger coursing through our streets…? Oh it’s palpable, in the public sector… It just doesn’t seem to be translating on election days. Because remember the country is on its a**e, so it appears, and this Government is widely despised, so surely it should be more than 15%? 40 plus percent of those polled, and then only 15% of those registered, in Labour Heartlands…

Or is that just the system, it’s a safe seat so why go out in the November rain…?

Whatever, it’s not a f**king endorsement of Miliband or Labour, or any kind of clear signal to anyone, about anything...! But what the f**k, the only result that matters is that Labour gain the seats, that’s First Past the Post…

Some 65-75% of the electorate had enough self respect to abstain, but what happens then? 15% of the electorate hold sway? How on earth can that be ‘fair’? To use a Labourite sound-bite…

This Government is certainly unpopular and many more than 15% do not and would not support them, or are in outright opposition to them, but they don’t necessarily support Labour. Yet that small percentage could see Labour return to power without having to do anything, no reform, no clear and effective policies, just the same old faces and ‘normal service’ resumed.

    The Labour Cabinet - The Usual Suspects?

    The Same Old Muppets...

People are angry at the Coalition Government; they should be incandescent with rage how cheaply power may be given back to Labour! If only they could do something about it… Like vote for a different party…? It doesn’t have to be the Tories.

Do average people even consider how cheaply power is given away in this country full-stop? Even at the height of their power New Labour didn’t get the support of over 30% of the electorate, in 2005 they had a useful majority of seats with only 22% of the electorate voting for them and how many of those voters were in Scotland and Wales…?!

22% and a strong enough Government, stronger than Major’s in 1992, they received the support of 19% of the electorate in 2010. Rock bottom with a hugely unpopular Leader… Only 3% between strong Government and Opposition? How is that right?

Not only that; more and more it’s looking like the same people are voting for Labour, keeping the party’s share of the vote consistent, and very little seems to effect their decision in placing their vote…

In my last post I looked at this situation, from the local elections. Some 15% to 25% of any electorate could easily be made up from local Public Sector workers, students and unionised private sector workers, or even Old Labour, not to mention the odd Liberal Lefty making their weary way in the Private Sector…

    'What do we want? 'Fair Pensions!'

    'When do we want them?' 'Next week if at all possible please...'

It’s an organised, vocal, minority, using their right to vote effectively and with little opposition, getting their way. Ultimately controlling the country; minority rule.

Becoming 40 plus percent when pressed in an opinion poll…

A lot of people don’t like either the Tories or Labour, but forgetting the recent economic records of both parties, it’s in part because of the similarities between them; from cut backs to benefits and pensions to the deregulation and privatisation in the economy.

There is great disillusionment with politics and people feel their votes are irrelevant. I think a lot of apathy does stem from some unrealistic expectations, of Government and in general, but that’s too deep an issue to go into now. Why though would people sit back and watch an unreformed Labour Party walk back into power?

They may not blame Labour completely for the economic crisis and of course the banks were more directly at fault, but Labour shouldn’t be excused and ultimately they will not solve the country’s problems; economic and social.

If they get back in with the support of their minority, with a few floaters, what more do they have to do than appease those supporters…? What more did they ever do???

And why would they change a system that can allow them access to power so easily?

The modern Labour Party is all about control, in almost every possible sense in fact; from controlling MPs and the party line to controlling the population through surveillance. But in order to achieve their objectives they have to maintain power and as I have pointed out the current system allows them easy access to Government. The First Past the Post system is now weighted towards them (though obviously the Tories still do ok…) and in what is supposed to be a “progressive” party, so a large proportion of them want to keep the current and would not consider Proportional Representation (they were divided over the Alternative Vote, which was only a watered down version of FPTP, but possibly the ‘slippery slope’ to PR…). This is the ultimate act of control from a party of progress, retaining the system that can see them hold onto power with the support of a minority.

    Labour's No to AV Campaign - 'What do we want?'

    'Consolidated power...!'

For a clear illustration of the more despicable aspects of Labour’s desire to control, we should return to look at what happened in Bristol following the election of George Ferguson as Mayor. Labour HQ put a stop to Local Labour Councillors joining in coalition with the new Mayor, apparently due to some petty grievances, and this shows a clear example of both their centralised control and their apparent aversion to consensus.

The confrontational politics of the British Parliament are archaic, yet Labour wants to keep it like that. PR would be a consensus inducing mechanism, to bring about a new political culture, true representation and a system fairer to every voter, but Labour wants FPTP to allow them to rule alone…

    One Electoral System To Rule Them All...?

    Labour delegates leave the conference...

The move by Central Labour was quite significant and a deliberate signal. The people of Bristol should be concerned, if Labour Councillors are to act along the lines of the national political system by deliberately opposing any actions of the Mayor, whether or not they will be on any benefit to the city. The Mayor becomes a failure and Labour can regain power…? It’s really not good…

But most people don’t notice these things and Labour get away with it, time and again. For some it seems it’s almost become a case of ‘better the Devil you know’, perhaps recalling the days before the current downturn and cutbacks, of course we don’t know what would have happened if Labour had won the last election…

A lot of people must think they’ll be better off under Labour, even if only in the short term; while Labour gives with one hand and takes away with the other.

An example of this was raised again last week, as the Tories removed Child Benefit from high earners, this was one of Labour’s master-strokes giving a little back to everyone, including millionaires…! How very fair of them, they taxed you more over £35k, but they gave you a few quid back if you had kids and that’s always nice. You’ll remember that come election time… They froze the personal allowance so hurting lower paid workers, but they kept shelling out child benefit to millionaires.

Labour has decried the changes but they haven’t said they’ll reverse it…

Miliband believes in “Universal benefits”, so every family is dependent on, or feels indebted to, a Labour Government and low paid single workers can help pay for it without a break (even if you’re saving to start a family, but how could Labour legislate for that in the tax system and still make them dependent on a handout…?)      

Labour criticism has in part focussed on the application of the changes and it does seem a bit of an odd set up by the Tories, but Miliband is happy to keep shelling out to millionaires to save on back office functions? Never bothered them before… A few extra public sector pen pushers or hand outs to millionaires?? (They’ve changed…?)

But Labour do have more specific plans to take away with the other hand from higher tax rate payers (>£150k), announcing a policy that would reduce their pension tax relief. 

Give with benefit, take away tax relief, but who will remember their pension while they get a couple of extra quid in the pocket now; it might win a few rich votes, but the key is apparent ‘fairness’ of benefits for all, while also taxing the rich. It’s the middle income votes he wants; the “squeezed middle”. So this is great, screw the top and bottom…!

Miliband has claimed there aren’t many millionaires as part of his justification for universal benefits, but it’s everyone up to, you f***ing kn*bhead… And part of it is the principle, normally Labour and the Left are very particular about their principles…

    A pair of Pragmatic Idealists?

    More commonly referred to as a pair of useless c**ts...

Labour are so transparent, it’s astounding. Almost as astounding as a family earning 50k+ making out they are being hard done by… Depends how many kids you’ve got I suppose...? 

The ‘all caring’, standing up for the working man or whoever the f**k is relevant at the time, is what the New New Labour party are all about. This is the angle they will take on issues like benefits, often emotive, talking about ‘hard-working families’, patronising and contradictory, when they also talk about taxing high earners. The ‘squeezed middle’ or ‘the rich’, whichever is the appropriate sound-bite at the time…

As I have said it is easier for Labour in opposition, they can say anything they like because they don’t have to back anything up, yet…

For various reasons and in these caring times…, Labour and the Left have found it easier to control the prevailing political agenda in recent times and push their point of view to the forefront of public consciousness, as seen with the tax avoidance issue, where the Left (and Labour are happy to join in) have tried to turn tax into a moral issue. As I remember from childhood, the tax man was the one of the most hated in the land; Inland Revenue employees roundly jeered on the likes of Bull’s Eye…

Who wants to pay more tax than they have to? When an ISA is tax free savings and the self employed actively work to reduce their tax payments; at what point does avoiding tax become ‘immoral’?

Labour did nothing about tax avoidance in power, all of the situations brought to light recently, from Starbucks to Vodafone, occurred under Labour. Yet they have happily jumped on the moralising band wagon and few look back at their record.   

    Convicted MPs - Labour taking the moral high ground?

    Well it's not like they were cheating their taxes...!

The recent benefits cap is no surprising benefit to Labour, but another example this week which plays well into the hands of Labour is news such as high street chain Jessops going into administration. It’s incredible the number of people who directly blame this Government, apparently ignoring competition from the internet and supermarkets, the prevalence of camera phones and all the other factors involved in a particular business model failing.

HMV followed Jessops, but that has been coming for a long time and well documented, the whole music industry has been in turmoil for years. And it turns out Blockbuster have quickly followed HMV, but who knew they were still kicking about...?  

There is an underlying feeling that the situation would be better if Labour was in power throwing some money around and perhaps more concerning it seems to be a belief that the Government should somehow support such companies, to save their businesses and therefore the jobs. How is that ‘fair’? Forget the banks being ‘bailed out’ for a moment; it would be unfair to the bailed out company’s competitors, whether big or more strikingly, small; the independent traders, who will never get such Government support.

If someone thinks Government is there to simply preserve the high street and everything else as they remember it from childhood, then that is a worrying outlook…

    Newport's empty shops after the economic downturn.

    Actually it was pretty much the same before the downturn...

The feeling is underlying in Britain and there are a lot of expectations, but there’s a subject to tackle another time, on too large a scale, one which I’ve baulked at for most of last year…

At the next election many voters will be swayed by a feeling that things could be better under Labour and Labour are very could at propaganda, they learnt the tricks up to 1997 and they have not laid off since. The rest of the electorate will just stay at home; because they hate the Tories, might feel betrayed by the Liberal Democrats and maybe see Labour as the patronising bunch of c***s they are. Perhaps…

    Cameron, Miliband and Clegg, all having a laugh?

    What a choice...

There are other parties and people should vote for them. Obviously UKIP are polling well at the moment, but the way that is panning out and with a poor turnout, a higher proportion of the vote for UKIP will simply hand power to Labour, without a struggle.

I wouldn’t really advocate voting UKIP (certainly not in the current circumstances) and definitely do not recommend voting for the BNP, although far more people voted for these parties in the last election than the Green Party and the Greens got most of their votes in one constituency, to get themselves one voice in Parliament.

There are always other parties in every constituency and I would still advocate voting for the LibDems, despite their decision to go into Coalition, which was a mistake. But then it could be said that they have tempered the Tory Government, who knows what it would have been like had the Tories won a majority in 2010, raising the tax threshold was one of the LibDems’ flagship policies, and Labour having regained power doesn’t even bear thinking about…

    Brown reflects.

    'It should've been me...' 

A broad spread of votes with perhaps a few unusual MPs and completely disproportionate numbers of seats in Parliament would have to give weight to the argument for Proportional Representation. I’m not writing now specifically to make the argument for it, I did bring it up in posts around the last election and I will make a case for it again. The fact is it would put an end to minority rule and parties only concentrating on swing seats, MPs only have to actually promote the views of certain vested interests.  

We don’t need and shouldn’t have compulsory voting, but not voting in the next election is not an option, it would be throwing power away, giving it back too cheaply to the same old New Labour Party.

    Miliband has tried to move Labour forward?

    The past is never far away...

    Brown and Kinnock catch up...?

    'And the stupid f**kwit will do anything we say!'

The Fall Out, from 30 years of political incompetence

Perhaps not complete incompetence, but after some 30 plus years of experimentation with social democracy, we had a further 30 years that witnessed two consecutive versions of the state alongside the free market, here we are. Political limbo it seems, with no clear direction out of it.

I was going to mention on Wednesday that I'm glad it's over, but the fall out is looking joyful and it could be a long one, that could well end in an election. Great...

More of this?



Does anyone want that? Including them?!
Well Cameron and Brown anyway...

More of this lot?





God help us, we've had 13 years of what is produced from this sort of meeting of minds.

Mandelson's malevolent presence seeping into every scene...

The hung parliament was long predicted by the polls but this whole state of affairs has also been a long time coming, the uncertainty in political life reflects the uncertainty in society. There has been increased engagement in the election in general, but certainly in terms of the many floating voters, there is little connection with the parties, people are unsure about what they stand for and can offer.

It's not surprising after the two long periods of government, the events of the last two or three years have been a culmination of the huge economic and social changes that have occurred over the last 30 years, combined with the final unmasking of a corrupt and unjust political system.

Apart from the electoral and political reform that I will continue to demand, I can't see how this one can be resolved satisfactorily.

Electoral reform will be central condition on which the LibDems will want to base a coalition with the Tories. And of course the Tories' ideas of electoral reform are quite different from everyone else's.

On the news tonight I saw Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP who is clearly on the right of the party, but possibly representative of a more honest face of the party (famous for slating the NHS for the benefit of US media, as well as attacking Brown in the European parliament. Part of the honest face Cameron tries to keep more deeply hidden...).


Daniel Hannan - An honest right wing nutter

He said that though they should consider reform, he didn't think the time was right after the political scandal because the public would not be happy with systems that favour different parties. So he was focusing on the benefit to parties, not the voters. FPTP benefits particularly the Conservatives but also Labour, a PR system may have a LibDem Labour leaning but that simply represents the choices of the public.

Not that there is anything to discuss or explain there, but that illustrates an aspect of the Tory perspective. Offering a cross party review, the Conservatives did not entertain the thought of PR during the campaign so it'll be interesting to see how that pans out...

Daniel Hannan did advocate a referendum, but not sure he is very representative of many Tories there.

Liam Fox (Tory Defence)was on the BBC news saying that he did not meet one person while campaigning who said that the electoral system was their main concern, it was unemployment, economy, etc.

First of all, he has a safe Conservative seat so most of those in his constituency wouldn't see it as an issue and I don't think any politician walks into confrontations with their political opposites wherever they are. Secondly in that unusual situation of meeting an MP, first and foremost might not be the system itself, but the general state of the country. A lot of people by their own admission don't fully understand the political system, many don't know what a hung parliament means, I came across that yesterday. Reform might not be the first subject broached, but in venting any feelings about the issues, they want to have their voice heard and no-one was happy with the expenses scandal even if the issue was largely over-shadowed during the campaign

This attitude from the Tories just illustrates the problem, a minority (all polls show there is no majority position in this country) ignoring the interests of a separate significant minority. There is one majority in this country, the majority that believes in proper representation. That transcends most political understanding.


There is some common ground between the two, on public spending for instance, but surely more differences than similarities. Their stances on the environment and civil liberties (ID cards) have been mentioned as having some harmony. But i think the Liberals can forget scrapping Trident and I'm not sure how they would compromise their differences on Europe and also immigration.

Perhaps lowering the voting age will be dropped. I hope Clegg has already dropped the 'old enough to die for you country, old enough to vote' 'argument'. I've heard it a few times. It isn't true, you have to be 18 to serve on the frontline. I don't think it's even worth looking at the ways in which someone could technicality die in the service of your country before the age of 18.

This morning Cameron and Clegg stood side by side during the VE day anniversary, they're looking like right muckers now. That's British politics for you, slagging each other off for years, let alone a month, now they're on the phone every night...

A problem of any coalition, but particularly this one, is that ideologically throughout the parties, there are chasms. From the parliamentary parties to the grassroots supporters. So how long could it last?

The one key demand that I think the majority of the population want to see delivered is Gordon Brown's resignation. Arguments have been proposed that a Lib/Lab pact has over 50% of the popular support and therefore Brown has the right to carry on. Oh that rankles slightly... Not in terms of a Lib/Lab government, but in terms of Brown as PM. So to set out my view and I would hope a common view; he has absolutely no mandate for power. Obviously the 23/24% who voted Liberal Democrat were not voting for him and even within the Labour vote not everyone supports his Leadership. Firstly, they voted for their local MP, the nature of the system, one vote cannot be counted as a vote for the leader. Secondly, as I have not had time to analyse in this blog, Labour still have a strong core support and a guaranteed vote, people would not consider a different party no matter who the Labour leader is (Wales seems to be a reasonable example of that).

They cannot spin this election into an endorsement of his Premiership, not in any way. Fortunately I haven't yet seen them try. Twitter has gone quite, it's eerie...

I would hope that Nick Clegg would have Brown's resignation as a condition, though that of course could get complicated, as any alternative Leader would not have a mandate. Miliband seems to be the most prominent name for that circumstance. But the prospect of an election will loom large if the Tories cannot agree with the Lib Dems, whether now or during the next few months.

And so be it. As long as Brown goes. And if he doesn't leave, if he continues to squat at Number 10, I will be going down there. F*** it I'd quit work just to go down there and heckle the **** (this is not personal, honestly...). And I don't think I'd be alone in that feeling, I might have to make a rallying call.

There have been 'Fair Votes Now' demonstrations in London today, but of course it's not so easy for people in the sticks to get down there to join in. As time goes on and if there are no satisfactory results we could see more activity and more involvement. I would hope so anyway.

The news today has mentioned a late night conversation between Brown and Clegg that wasn't particularly amicable (though the official line is that is was amicable).

Well just imagine what Brown must be like after a few whiskies.



I bet poor Sarah was trying to wrest the phone from his grasp.

"No, I'm going to speak to the f**ker, f***ing 'Kingmaker'! Fucking c***! Fucking c**tmaker! Ha! There's one for Campbell. The c***!"
"No Gordon, let's get you some cocoa and get you into bed. You've had too much."
"Ho Clegg, now you listen to me! I'm the f***ing King! You prance around on the telly, smiling and winking at the camera, all la-dee-f***ing-da! I'm gonna tell you how it's going to be! You think you understand all those bigots better than me?! You f***ing toff! You and f***ing Cameron!"
"Gordon stop it! Gordon..."
"Get off...!"
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppp

This morning


"F***! I could do with some time off, but some f***er'll move into my house. Still Prime Minister...!"

Later this morning


"Oh f***, what did I say?"


So what to the Liberal Democrat vote? What happened to a vote for political and electoral reform?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/

The Liberal vote would have struggled, as it always has, under the current system. Many floating voters would still have felt that their vote was simply wasted in Labour and Conservative dominated seats. Of course it wouldn't be wasted as such, because they are all counted and if the percentage had increased then weight would have been given to the Liberal's position.

A lot wavering Labour voters may have wanted to keep the Tories out and something similar may have happened with wavering Tories.

Generally it seems that the polls during the campaign indicated some sort of desire to do something different and at least nod towards a protest, as often happens with local and European elections, but then when it came down to it, many couldn't go through with it. The general election perhaps being seen as too important.

On the Channel 4 alternative election night programme they mentioned, with some international commentators, a possible inherent inability to change in this country, or unwillingness to. We talked the talk but at the business end shied away from it...

Any vote for party other than the main two could have been seen as a protest vote or a vote for change. The combined UKIP and BNP vote was five times that of the Green party. Not very progressive, especially in these times of highlighted environmental problems. Just one prominent example being the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the other main headline during the election week. And these are the two parties who clearly deny any climate change problem.

A vote for LibDem, Green, Plaid, SNP, etc, would be looking for some sort of electoral reform. The vote for the other two would have very different priorities.

In fact the vote for these two parties nearly doubled from 2005.

Neither got a foothold, but there was this increase in support, UKIP's almost as big as the LibDems. So the media couldn't really use Nigel Farage's plane crash as a metaphor, even though he didn't beat John Bercow.

The BNP didn't come out particularly well from this election; fights, problems with marmite... And apparently they lost out in the local elections.

But if you look at the figures and the maps on the BBC link, something is becoming quite clear. Their combined vote is approximately 1.5 million (5% - ironically the cut off line for representation in the German Bundestag, in part designed to marginalise the extreme parties in their PR system), that is significant and though this has been mentioned from 2005 if you look at the figures just for England, then the overall picture changes. Labour's support drops and the right wing parties take around 45% of the vote.

It has long been identified that a Labour government in London is propped up by support in Scotland and Wales and more than one paradox is presented. Labour have devolved power to the regions, but if they allowed full independence they would be in trouble in England. Whereas the Tories who have been most against devolution, would gain the most.

The main BBC map shows swathes of blue through England and though the proportional view accentuates the red urban areas, the figures show the true picture.

The truth is the Tories could potentially benefit in a PR system, when you look at that right wing vote. Granted in a PR system it is actually difficult to predict all of the variations that could occur. Some of the BNP vote is disaffected white working class and the Lib Dem vote is likely to strengthen, possibly from the right as well. But devolution could be a bit of a catch 22 for the Tories, if PR were to come about.

Scotland is hugely important to that situation and the region closet to independence. I'm not going to claim to know a great deal about Scottish politics, so I can't explain the Labour increase and Lib Dem loss, but it does show how important Scotland is to Labour's cause.

So what happened to the vote in Wales? There was a swing to the Tories, but under FPTP Labour held the seats and the LibDems will have lost out because of it.

There is a genuine fear of a Tory government, the feeling is that the cuts threatened would be worse under the Tories and this would have maintained Labour support. And rightly or wrongly, there is still a fundamental loyalty to Labour. This can be seen in the red block in the map of South Wales.

There are understandable roots to both the loyalty and fear, Wales suffered heavily under Thatcher's government. However, under Labour Cardiff has done well, partly because of devolution and there has been public sector expansion, but there hasn't been comprehensive development throughout Wales. Similar to many of the regions of the UK. The concern is that if the Tories come in Wales will lose out because of funding cuts and this wouldn't be replaced by any focus on development.

So the LibDems will have suffered from the anti-Tory vote, but I have not looked at any of the analysis about Plaid Cymru, their overall vote actually dropped. That has to be seen as a very good opportunity missed, in terms of gaining disaffected Labour votes.

The complaint I heard during the campaign was that they did not have an equal footing, being excluded from the national TV debate, but as has been shown that didn't actually end up affecting the LibDems overall share. Plaid may have suffered from the same problems as the Lib Dems in Wales, without the fluctuation that the Liberals enjoyed. But looking at that share drop there could be deeper problems involved.

It'll be interesting to see which way the debate goes on further devolved power if there is Tory or Tory/Lib government. It would also be interesting to see how the Liberals and Plaid fair if there was a national PR system.


Paddy Ashdown said after the election that the 'country had spoken, we just don't know what they've said...' And I've heard and read plenty of comments about the country being undecided, also uncertain and indecisive. To be fair we're not 'The Borg'. The population is not one huge entity, it is asked a simple question and one month later produces a report "The Nation is not sure. Please ask again later".

We're not one, it is because there is a nationally based media that there is always talk of what "we" are doing, etc, etc. From the way in which "we" live our lives to how "we" felt about Princess Diana death. The USA for instance have a national sense of identity but I think they are more acceptant of their diversity.

Over here the media and politicians will then change focus when it suits and champion our diverse and multi-cultural nation. And it is, so that is why we need proportional representation. The nation is diverse, it is also disparate and divided, the only fair system is one that allows everyone to be represented properly, a system can also have a local aspect.

The changes that are needed are just superficial, it's not only about the electoral system. It is also about political culture, the confrontational style of our parliament would have to change and the need for coalition government and consensus will have to accepted, by everyone. Diversity requires compromise.

I'm not a complete idealist, I know that not every voice can be heard nor can every whim be catered to, but at least PR would be better than a system set up to allow a minority to rule and openly mock everyone else. They do it each week in parliament, jeering and waving their papers like a bunch of morons. It's been a right laugh for them but it has to end.


Finally, I'm not sure that the problems that occurred in polling stations around the country will have much fall out for the result of the election. It seems there could be some actions resulting from it, so we'll see if that develops, but it should be quite embarrassing for the local authorities.

We have an apparently simple registration system, so simple that it is open to fraud, and the voting forms are hardly complicated, but during an election where turnout was expected to be high many polling stations could not cope. I suppose some people might have traipsed along at all hours, these first time voters...! They just didn't prepare for it particularly well, all they need is enough bodies.

But it's the exact kind of area where they'll get by on as little as possible and also where cut-backs will occur. So perhaps the cuts are well under way already.

It's just another sign of a very poor system. We've got disenfranchised voters, fraud and an unrepresentative parliament. And our Leaders poor scorn on countries all over the world for those reasons. How does that make us look to the rest of the world...?



Chaos...