Diddy politics

So last week we had our council elections. Woo.

Now, I feel people should vote, especially women, as other people* worked rather hard in the past to ensure that we can. So I always vote regardless of the election's importance.

*Mr Pankhurst especially. Yes. Much more than his wife or daughters.

And so, on such a day as last Thursday, I find myself at the polling station. Sadly this time with not one clue what I'm voting for. I'm not sure why, I do normally find out. I think this may be due to not caring much because councils are pretty much useless regardless.

Outside polling stations there are usually candidates seeking your vote. This time there were two. So I told these two young men outside that I didn't know what I was voting for and that they had one minute to convince me.

They spoke. I listened. I asked idiotic questions. They answered. The SNP chap gave me a card with his name on and told me to copy it, which impressed me more than the non-answers they gave me.

Bloke two was the second Labour candidate, he had no card and so made less impression. But in light of the other parties being respectively hateful and hated, those are the two parties that don't hurt.

Results were good, even if nice SNP bloke didn't get in, his SNP colleague did. Bye bye 94 LibDems in Scotland, including one in my area. We don't forgive easily.

Which reminds me, I must buy the local paper so I can get a simplistic explanation of the implications.

And the result is... pending.

How disappointing. The people of England voted for the smug one. Presumably they're either bigots at heart or swayed completely by the media.

The people of Scotland did not. One Tory seat in Scotland. One. Which actually makes me proud to be Scottish, and newly open to the idea of independence.

I had a moment of over excitement at 1am and trotted off to the college at which the Kirkcaldy result would be declared. And stood outside for a while, got fed up, came home, and watched as Gordon Brown overwhelmingly held on to his seat. It looked promising for a while, as the seats that were always going to be Labour came in as Labour holds. But this morning, the news was bleak. Admittedly less bleak than it might have been, given the media annihilation of Brown/Labour, the people didn't actually all vote Tory. So there is a streak of independent thought throughout the electorate. Conservative do not have the majority, Smug Cameron isn't PM and there isn't a result yet.

Nick Clegg is the man of the moment. Who probably should/would be PM if we had a fair voting system and a less mogul controlled media.

Initial shock as Clegg stated that Cameron should have the first opportunity to form a government, spent some time feeling let down and appalled that he could even consider any co operation with the Tories. It seemed that anyone that had voted Liberal Democrat had in fact voted for a Conservative government. How disappointing to discover that the hero who championed what I believe in (mostly, but it's nice not to be a freak that thinks differently from the entire population on all issues) had sold out in the name of having power.

But then it dawned (admittedly probably NOT "today") that he may in fact be the ultimate hero. He could in fact be the key to the party who received the most seats getting to form the government, which is after all "fair" under the current system, but be in a position to get them to rethink some of their policies.
Except, Smug's comment on Electoral reform stated quite categorically that they don't want Proportional Representation.

PR seems to be the issue most people (that aren't Tory) care about. I am certainly furious that voting for what I believe in is akin to not voting, because the vote would count for nothing in the constituency of the PM.

So, it remains to be seen. The only "fair" outcome would be for the Smugs to govern, but fingers are crossed in fervent hope that a Tory government is avoided. Alex Salmond has stated firmly that a) they support Labour and will do anything to help Labour remain in power and b) that Scotland will not willingly support a Tory government.

If Nick Clegg gets a Tory government that backs down on some issues, he will be a hero after all. And he will allow the Tories to be the most unpopular government in history (again) and thus safeguard against any future Tory rule. Much as I hate to admit it, I think that would be the fairest and most logical solution. A Labour government that so many people voted against would have no chance against the media and public opinion would swiftly fail to support them. Which isn't exactly healthy, even if it keeps the b'tards out.

Why am I writing this? One thing I have learned this week is that nobody fully agrees with anyone else on political matters, and nobody should talk about politics. I think that may be it.

Ha!

Dangerous topic

I have learned not to ever express any opinion whatsoever on the topic of politics. People never agree, whatever you say, always decide your loyalties lie somewhere iffy and it's all generally more hassle than it's worth.

So. Here goes. Misunderstand at will.

This upcoming election. Where I live, which so happens to be Gordon Brown's constituency, is pretty much Labour's safest seat. So the result here is a given, unless the people that never vote get off their ample posteriors and vote, in which case a glorious victory for Liberal/SNP would knock the world off its axis.

But as to most other places, the dedicated media hatred for Mr Brown would seem to have stamped home a message that it would not be A Good Thing if Labour were to stay in.
Which generally means the other guys get in. The other guys in this case being the Tories and *we* would bag ourselves a Tory government, who would presumably implement Tory policies.

Tory may not all be "Tory", and all Tories don't share the same views (bigoted, in other words) but they're still Tory, so they'll be Tory. No? They're not secretly Tory, they're perfectly willing to admit they're Tory, they are presenting themselves as the Tory Party.

Which all appears to be stating the obvious, and displaying excessive usage of the word "Tory" (Conservative way too long to type 56 times) but to be frank, it's a bit tedious that the shouty types don't occasionally think of the future, rather than shouting a lot about what's in existence, voting it out and shouting equally about its replacement. After the joyous ejection of the current hated ones and the deification of the incomers, the faults of the new guys - generally being what they are and doing what they are expected to do - just goes round and round in one boring circle and the beloved get the blame (for whatever happens at the time that whoever is in charge just bumble their way through) and become the devil's minions.

So, having grown up hearing all the shouty types shouting about the "terrible, terrible, awful pure dead evil" things that the previous Tory government did, it's a bit galling to look forward to the shouty types shouting about how much they hate any future Tory policies that would be unleashed on the public that appear poised to vote them in.

But what do I know? I've never been effectively brainwashed.