I dislike the government. I dislike the way it is run, I dislike the whole culture of our 'elected officials' being unrepresentative of the people. I dislike the near-myth of democracy, even more so since watching the excellent Inside The Commons which demonstrated the difficulty MPs have in actually challenging the status quo. There is literally no room for the mildest of radical ideas in Westminster.
I dislike the election bollocks even more. Since parliament dissolved, the media has been awash with claims each party is making. Most of these claims are financially impossible, and therefore probably lies to win votes. I mean, WE KNOW politicians lie. Last election, it was all "no privatisation of the NHS" this and "cut tuition fees" that, and look what's happened in the interim. However, unlike the last election which was very much a two horse race, thrown out by Cleggmania at the last moment, this election is unlikely to have a single party winner, so as well as promising us the impossible, the politicians are also hurling muck at each other.
Take, for example, Scotland. Now, I didn't watch any of the debates. If I want people to lie to me, I will ask my children who ate the last frube. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, came out strong. A lot of people resented the appearance of the SNP and Plaid Cymru at the debates, because England can't vote for them. But if enough people in Scotland vote SNP, we could end up with a Labour/SNP coalition. The operative word is COULD, but considering the SNP are generally left wing, and certainly more left than Labour, this has shit the Conservatives right up.
But you see, this is ALL THE LAST GOVERNMENT'S FAULT. Cast your mind back to August/September 2014. Scotland had a referendum on their independence. This was totally ignored by Westminster until the Scottish polls suddenly indicated that a majority of Scots wanted independence. Westminster mobilised. Half of parliament went to Scotland to persuade the Scots that independence would be a BAD THING. Promises were made. Scotland (narrowly) voted to remain in the United Kingdom. And since then, promises have been broken and Scotland are deeply disillusioned with Westminster and Scottish Labour. So, if they DO all vote for the SNP, you know why.
David Cameron refuses to rule out a UKIP coalition (Grant Shapps does, but he's not exactly known for his honesty, particularly at the moment). It seems likely that the election will result in a coalition government of some type, and I would personally prefer it to be Labour/SNP than Conservative/UKIP, because dear lord God, we're all doomed if Farage gets in. Oh, I know he has a lot of support because of his totally untenable ideas about immigration (seriously, you can't just stop immigration by saying No, it's all tied up with international trading laws, look it up) but his party's attitude to women is disgustingly regressive, and combined with the planned Conservative welfare cuts for families, mothers would be fucked. Fucked, I tell ye.
Now, I live in Peterborough, a town of middling deprivation with a high immigrant population. Let me tell you of our city's political candidates:
Mary Herdman. UKIP. Farage himself has claimed that children don't play outside in Peterborough because IMMIGRANTS (never mind the lack of green space for them to safely play, or that it's a fucking car/lorry filled city: we don't want our children mown down). He's also claimed the M4 is busy because of immigrants. His own wife is an immigrant. Maybe she secretly hunts down the children of Peterborough, and then blocks up the M4 to annoy him. Maybe this is how he knows so much about the perils of immigrants. Or maybe he's just pulling shit out of his hat to entertain the natives. Naturally, being a multicultural city, there's a UKIP candidate standing. I haven't had her (yes, a woman, I nearly fainted) leaflet through the door yet, but I read it online and it's the usual health tourism lies, bigging up the military, protecting the rich, reallocating social housing according to parentage rather than need, and some other fascist ideas masquerading as socialism.
Darren Fower. Liberal Democrats. Darren seems a nice guy - he's the councilor of a neighbouring area - but he's got no chance. The Liberal Democrats as a party have effectively no chance. Poor Nick Clegg: his good intentions at the last election coupled with his total submission crippled his whole party and he must be absolutely dying to escape.
Chris Ash. Liberal. The actual Liberals, of Victorian political fame. His leaflet was the usual lot of crap about difficult decisions, trying to renationalise the railway, and some generalised waffle that leads me to believe he has no real policies or doesn't know how to express them and still come across as a viable candidate. Their website is also very 1998.
Darren Bisby-Boyd. Green. The Green party have been vaunted as a potential coalition force, but I don't see it. Similar to UKIP, they hold very few seats at the moment (one, to be precise) and don't have a great record. Their policies are very appealing, but not exactly workable. This Darren promises us more recycling (this would be welcome, since the Conservative council stopped doing free garden rubbish collection), lower speed limits and more allotments. But nothing much about what else could be done with the city. In fact, ALL the political candidates seem aware that their ability to influence local politics will be shut down by the divided council. Such is life. They could at least pretend.
John Fox. Independent. Not only has failed to send us a leaflet, but has no online presence to tell us what he stands for. So, not a likely winner.
Lisa Forbes. Labour. Labour are obviously the main challengers to the Conservative government. Lisa Forbes is a lovely lady, who gave my autistic son her last rosette, so yay for her. She is the only one of the candidates I have actually met - nobody else seems particularly interested in doorstepping our area. From a political standpoint, Labour are probably not going to be much better than the Conservatives in practice, but their ethics tend to the more socially conscientious. And the fact is that Lisa Forbes is the only realistic challenger to the nemesis...
And that nemesis is Stewart Jackson. Conservative. Now, even if I was a Tory (which isn't likely to happen, unless I become rich - I understand that's usually the way) I wouldn't vote for the horrible man. He doesn't agree with gay marriage. He voted against it. He really, emphatically, does not believe in it or the "mischievous, disingenuous, mealy-mouthed, patronising leftie drivel – typical middle-class, tofu-munching Labour nonsense" people who put it through. Surely the imperative as an MP is to vote for your constituents, not yourself? Well, as Stewart Jackson made abundantly clear, he really doesn't like homosexuals and doesn't give a shit if they are his constituents. He later justified his views by saying he wasn't an MP anymore and therefore didn't have to defend his constituents. Parliament had been dissolved THAT DAY, so I'm not wholly buying his backtrack.
So, Stewart Jackson, odious homophobe, sent me (actually my husband: apparently I don't need a leaflet) his manifesto and I read it chuckling with joy. You see, on the one hand he promises more jobs, more nurses, more homes, tax cuts and living wage. And on the very next page, he announces that the COALITION OF CHAOS (I'm not making this up) cannot afford to do the er...very same things he promises because Britain's got no money. Well, that's wonderful. I'm sold.
In addition to this, the Conservative party is presented as a homogenous group (no, not homosexual Mr Jackson, sit down) while the SNP (represented by Alex Salmond because reprinting is expensive), UKIP, Lib Dem and Labour are presented as...you've guessed it...THE COALITION OF CHAOS. Now, I'm not sure the Conservatives realise they have been in a coalition government for the past five years, because they've generally steamrollered the Lib Dems into submission, but they're really not SELLING the strength of the last government (headed by them) in this leaflet.
Also, they have used a variety of press headlines to illustrate how magnificent the Conservatives are compared to the Coalition of Chaos. It is telling that the 'yay Tories!' headlines are from the Express, Daily Mail and Telegraph, whereas the 'DOOMED' headlines are from almost all from Murdoch publications. I didn't need an AS level in English Language to tell me their sources are biased.
Back to Mr Jackson and his particularly special form of caring about Peterborough. Well, he wants English Votes for English Laws, so I'm sorry Wales, N.Ireland and Scotland, your votes no longer count. He's also very disparaging because Lisa Forbes was put in Peterborough by the Labour party, ignoring that he was put in Peterborough as a representative in 2001, by the Conservatives. And then we get to my favourite bit of the whole document. All About Stewart Jackson. And, with due copyright accorded to Peterborough Conservatives, I quote:
"As your MP, Stewart Jackson has helped thousands of constituents each year."
Just not the gay ones.
"Before election, he gained two degrees and was an HR manager, working with small businesses."
He's got a BA, an MA and a CIPD. He was the president of his university's union, but lost his seat due to a vote of no-confidence. In addition to being a small business helper, he seems to have forgotten that he worked as a bank manager for nine years. He's worked for the government in some form since 1997. I mean, does he not know we can look this up on wikipedia and check how much of a man of the people he actually is?
"He uses local public services and shops as well as commuting to work in Parliament."
Well, why does he need a house in Ealing then? His Peterborough house is designated his second home (more on that later). In addition, for those who don't know, Peterborough is a main stop on the East Coast Mainline - commuting to London is not just easy, it's something many Peterborough residents do every day.
"Not a career politician. He resigned from Government to fight for an EU referendum"
He's been working in politics since 1997. He didn't resign from government - he resigned as a goverment aide because he wanted an EU referendum and the party whips did not. He still hasn't got his EU referendum. He remained an MP for the rest of his tenure.
"Principled, not afraid to stand up for what's right - making a citizen's arrest in 2012"
Actually, that should read that he TRIED to make a citizen's arrest, FAILED, and then the police actually turned up and did their job. But he tried, so that's something.
"Stewart is a local candidate with a track record of putting Peterborough first."
Well, first, if you're interested have a read of his voting record. Look at him, your voice in Westminster, tirelessly voting for the needs of Peterborough! Oh no wait...no equal pay...raise in tuition fees...bedroom tax... no disability benefit...against the educational maintenance allowance...no gay marriage (duh)...no to human rights. The man doesn't seem to really like voting for anything that might make people happy or their lives easier. And then there's his financial history in making Peterborough better. You see, he has managed to make ONE HOUSE in Peterborough substantially better using government funds. His own.
He's just not my cup of tea.
"He's just not my cup of tea"
ReplyDeleteMildly put lol