I doubt I have ever been as politicised as I have by the recent UK elections. The voting patterns have generated a perfect storm of possibilities for coalition but unfortunately, in my eyes anyway, after all the horse trading, a much anticipated alignment of progressive centre left parties melted away as the Lib-Dems sold their souls to the voracious promises of a Tory party crazed with a lust for ‘power at all costs’.
Nick Clegg has acted like a giddy schoolgirl mesmerised by a Tory lothario-esque charm offensive; he is promised the world to allow David Cameron et al to get inside his knickers. They do not want to share anything with him; all they seek is the temporary cheap (very cheap) thrill of his undying love until they get what satisfies then most: I hope he has a water tight pre-nuptial because he will need it one day.
(I wonder if, when he ‘went-a-spooning’, Cameron seduced Clegg with romantic poetry? I am willing to wager that he was not moved to recite the words of the poet E. E. Cummings:
“a politician is an arse upon which everyone has sat except a man”)
I know we live in a democracy and we must be prepared to accept defeat graciously but I feel cheated for a number of reasons:
- First there is the Ashcroft question; vastly outspending the other parties with almost profligate amounts of money, the Tories were able to target vulnerable constituencies with junk propaganda (as a resident in a targeted marginal constituency I was on the receiving end of letters from Conservative Head Office on almost a daily basis). Ashcroft is no ‘Ragged Treasured Philanthropist’ and I expect he will receive his ‘pound of flesh’ in due course, courtesy of his puppet in the Home Office. Not democracy.
- Now they have the platform of power they seek to corrupt the electoral system with a five year fixed term parliament immune to votes of no confidence etc. This was in no manifesto or campaign literature I saw during the election, so no matter what protestations are made about this coalition being ‘what the voters chose’, no one chose this partnership!
- Proposed future boundary changes, ostensibly to reduce the size of Parliament, could make a Labour government un-electable in the future. Because of trends in population movement in the UK for people to move out of traditional Labour stronghold in inner city areas into the suburbs, the inner city areas see their populations decline and therefore receive fewer seats at boundary reviews. Tory-voting suburban commuter towns see their populations rise, and therefore receive more seats. These boundary changes will see the creation of 13 new seats (10 Conservative and 3 Liberal Democrat seats) and the abolition of nine seats (6 Labour, 2 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat).
I am frustrated because I see the country reverting to a mentality of indifference. People no longer seem to question events as the once did; they are happy just eat, work (if they are lucky enough to have a job) get pissed, watch shit reality TV and go on holiday. Few seem to notice the erosion of hard won freedoms as we regress to conditions of 100 years ago when we were governed by our ‘betters’.
Scream loud for free better education for all, a free honest press, and a political system representative of ALL the population!