As I dare say everyone is aware, it's election time in the UK. Thankfully the entire process takes a month, from when Gordy rang Lizzie and popped up for a cuppa (Lizzie was away and had to come back, spoiling her break somewhat).
I'd like to say at that point, all hell broke loose. But in British fashion, it didn't. It's been quite civil and understated, with the big excitement being the leaders debates live on TV. TV coverage, at least on the news, has been the blanket approach. Initially focussing on Labour and the Tories, but with Nick Clegg's good showing in the first leaders debate, it appeared to newspapers that the LibDem's were created roughly two weeks before the election, but are now a contender.
From my perspective, all Nick said was "I'm not them, look I'm different", queue hordes of screaming nickettes. He's been quite vague on policy, or how he's paying for policy he has announced. But as he keeps pointing out, he's not Gordy or Dave.
Actually it's quite interesting sitting here in a FPP system, and watching them grapple with the fact that winning the vote, doesn't lead to winning the most seats in parliament. Normally this isn't a huge issue, but with the resurgence of the LibDem's, the likelihood of a hung parliament has increased. And most polls are picking one. For my money, I'm not so sure. I'm basing this on very little outside of office conversations and web reading, but suspect the LibDem's are not going to get as many votes as the polls indicate. Conservatism tends to come back in on voting day, if following NZ elections is a guide for UK ones. I'd be interested in seeing some proportional representation here.
The highlight has been the comedy shows. HIGNFY, Friday Night comedy (radio 4), etc have been having a field day with the campaign. I see Rory Bremner has a few shows on from Sunday, and Channel 4 will have Jimmy Carr (meh), David Mitchell, and Charlie Brooker hosting an alternative election night special. That sounds good to me.
Living in a BNP stronghold, I've had a number of pamphlets through the door. All credit to them for at least getting the message out, but possibly their money would be better spent on hiring a decent graphic designer. They continue to link Nick Griffin with Winston Churchill, well both were fat. The family on the flyer were, in the words of an officemate, 'mouth breathers', and two of the family were cross eyed. All in all, a decent reflection of the core constituency of the BNP.
Most of the majors have at least dumped crap through the door, so people are out (or subcontracting to mail deliveries) campaigning. Obviously I'm never home during the day so have no idea what door knocking has been done.
Gordon's gaffe was the headline yesterday. Although given the preponderance of people in this country who feel foreigners (usually Europeans) are taking all their jobs and using up resources, and don't stop to consider the number of brits doing the same overseas (for example, we had 5-10 of them in my department in my last role), I suspect I'd have said the same, if not stronger, as Gordon. It seemed to be the first open and honest thing I've heard all election, I liked it.
As in most elections, it's quite hard to actually find out the policies, although it's a bit more substance over style than some elections. There's been a focus from most of the parties to exclude negative campaigning, which in general has worked. Although I found the Tories posters saying 'I made XXX many people unemployed, let me do it again' and a picture of Gordon quite offensive.
There has also been a concerted effort to divide the nation over Europe. The Tories appear keen to fence the UK off, Labour has a 'I hope they play nice with us', and the LibDem's want to run into the EU fully. I'll leave you to work out where the BNP stand. All in all, reminds me of Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers. Personally, I'm in favour of immigration, although with the current financial problems in Europe (Greece and Spain in particular) I do wonder if a stronger financial policy, as suggested by the Germans (by far the strongest economy in Europe) would be required.
The more I think about it, the more I don't think I'd be a very good politician. I used to keep quiet about stuff, but decided a few years ago it wasn't doing me any favours healthwise. Dealing with the half-wits that come out to political rallies would drive me fucking nuts.
Speaking of which, I still don't understand why news organisations feel the need to ask the person in the street for their snap opinion on something. I'd much rather have some indepth analysis rather than some coffin dodger claiming oohhh he shouldn't have said that, or oohhh he seems a nice young man.
So yeah, I'm over it, but it's also refreshing to have only 1 month of campaigning.
After that, here's some PG to cheer everyone up.
Me
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