If you are one of the racist douchebags that voted for the BNP in the European elections then away with you, this is not the post you’re looking for, actually, if you’re one of the asshats that voted for one of the equally as vile, equally as extreme, religious parties then you can get to steppin’ too.
It’s interesting isn’t it, that as much as the majority of the UK professes a dislike for the BNP, a considerable number of people voted for them. It’s also interesting that the major parties allegiances with the previously mentioned extreme religious parties haven’t garnered more criticism over the years, although the fact that they haven’t probably explains why Darth Camerons move to distance the Conservative MEPs from such groups didn’t grab many headlines either.
Don’t fret though dear reader, because down here in the constituency of Brighton Pavilion we managed to make a real difference with our votes, without really making any difference at all. The last time I blogged about the political situation in these parts we had one Green candidate, one Labour candidate and one Conservative candidate, well since the European elections, Darth Cameron has decided that Dr David Bull would be better utilised heading up a Conservative policy review on sexual health and hence Dr Bull has withdrawn himself as a Conservative PPC. Well, that’s what the Tories are saying anyway, the more cynical amongst us might suggest that Dave was a wee bit concerned with the strength of the Green vote and felt that withdrawing one of the more high profile Conservative PPCs to prevent a rather embarrassing defeat was the best course of action. The *really* cynical amongst us might go so far as to suggest that the good Doctor might even reappear in a safer seat, maybe one of the ones vacated by someone committed not to standing next time around. To be honest though, who cares about the Tories, I have always said that I would judge Dave the chameleon once he replaced his no policies policy with some actual policies and guess what, now that he has it turns out that Dave the chameleon isn’t actually Green or Red at all, he’s true blue, which I guess makes him Dave the poisonous toad.
On the really bright side, I no longer have to report on the fact that Dr David Bull is not updating his blog with details of his political plans for Brighton, nope, no more shitty political websites for me… Except that we haven’t just lost a Tory, we’ve also gained a Lib Dem and whilst I can tell you his name, Andrew Falconer, I can’t tell you anything else because he doesn’t exist. No seriously, the official list of candidates as listed on the Liberal Democrats site does not contain his name and I could not find a search box on the site in which to enter his name, I can’t even offer you a link to the relevant web page as everything appears under one URL.
Of the two remaining PPCs, one is Nancy Platts… of Labour, a fact which eliminates her from my thinking completely: I’ve had enough of Labour to last for quite a while. ID cards, renewal of Britain’s nuclear deterent, sending our troops into warzones ill equipped, university fees, Hazel Blears, European treaty sans referendum, quite a list of things to inflict upon the electorate and all the while lining their pockets with our money. Actually, the expenses scandal is another reason for forgetting about all of the traditional parties. On Question Time recently, Lib Dem MP Julia Goldsworthy was asked about a £1000 rocking chair she purchased on her expenses and I couldn’t get past thinking that “poor judgement” just didn’t even begin to explain her situation. Then you’ve got MPs buying expensive plasma screens and stuff like that and again I was left thinking that this just wasn’t reasonable or justifiable. For those of you keeping count, that leaves precisely one candidate and brings me neatly back to my starting point: I took these feelings of political apathy and voted Green at the European elections, a protest vote with only positive consequences.
I think I now fall firmly into the category of recovering Green. ;-)
