Categories: uncategorized
Date: 14 April 2005 21:22:05
So, culinary machinations aside, even I have noticed that we have an election campaign going on here in the UK. The last couple of elections I (like many) have found it increasingly difficult to know who to vote for - I'm a lifelong lefty Labour voter, but disagree with many of New Labour policies (Iraq, ID cards, detention without trial, tuition fees, for example) and am really struggling with my conscience regarding voting.
Pluses for my own constituency (which had a Labour majority of something like 19,000 last time) include that I think our MP is actually rather good, and she voted against the Government on Iraq. I guess I could do a protest vote, as it's such a safe seat, and our Green candidate isn't a total dork, but then if the Tories got back into government I'd never forgive myself. Another big plus (in my opinion) for the current lot is Gordon Brown, particularly his work regarding 3rd world debt. And yet. And yet. I'm feeling more and more alienated from New Labour, and don't know ultimately what I'm going to do. I think this is going to be the most thought-through and agonised-over cross on a piece of paper I've ever had to do.
I must admit I am getting really irritated by politicians (of all stripes) coming up with brand new policies. On the radio today they were talking about Labour's pledge to put a science lab in all schools. Which is great, but why haven't they mentioned that in the last 8 years and just dragged it out 3 weeks before the election? (that's a rhetorical question, and I know the answer). Yesterday I even heard some Tory policy regarding nursery education which I thought sounded like a really good idea, but I'm not daft - in 18 years of Tory government this type of policy never once hit the statutes and the privatisation of so many public services was criminal in my opinion (as well as being one of the main causes for dirty hospitals and MRSA, one of the things Michael Howard keeps banging on about). It's just getting so annoying that all the good ideas are coming out now parliament has been dissolved, but never get discussed in the 4-5 years where they're supposed to be putting into practice the pledges that people voted for.
Not to mention if Michael Howard talks about "hard-working Britons" like they're all one homogenous group (as opposed to lazy good-for-nothing asylum seekers, presumably) one more time, I will lose the will to live. Gah.
Anyway, on a lighter note, over on Ship of Fools there's a thread where a handy site for undecided voters was mentioned: whoshouldyouvotefor.com. As with lots of the Shippies I came out a resounding LibDem, followed by Green, with the Tories last (phew!), and Labour pushed into next to last position by UKIP (eh???????!!!!). I think part of my disillusionment with parties like the Greens and LibDems (a lot of whose policies I quite like the sound of, at least from the headlines having not read the small print) is that they can afford to say the things I like to hear because they're never realistically going to win, so they don't have to work out the finer details of how all these grand ideas would be put into practice.
Gah (again). Wake me up when it's all over.