There is an interesting piece in the LA Times (reg required) on the British general election from an American point of view. Is there a quantum of nastiness in an election campaign – and do we Brits outsource it to Paxman and Humphrys? Perhaps that’s why (with some exceptions, Mr Michael Howard) the political debate is on a slightly more polite level. Or it could just be that we’re in-bred Europeans, after all.
And so to vote.
Is it just me, or do the hordes of supporters following Charles Kennedy with orange banners look rather like earnest Hare Krishnas?
It surprises me to say it, but the UKIP’s party political broadcast was rather good. It opened with a fun riff on War of the Worlds, before moving on to the usual extravagant promises about what could be done if only we left the EU. Much of it was bunk, of course, but at least it was optimistic bunk – a stark contrast to the Tory election strategy of the last week or so. And Nigel Farage reminded us all that he’s the only prominent UKIPper with whom you might want to have a pint.
Apparently, the breakup of the USSR was the greatest geo-political catastrophe of the 20th century – something of a surprise on Anzac Day, 60 years after the liberation of the concentration camps. In an entirely related point, he’s also said that Russia “will decide for itself the pace, terms and conditions of moving towards democracy”, which has strong echoes of Pervez Musharraf (and every other political strongman in history).
From pub bore politics to twitchy paranoia.
I had thought that the Daily Mail was a private grief, but apparently not. So, not content with poisoning our national debate, they now trash our record in the eyes of the foreign press.
A welcome intervention from the CBI. Sir Digby Jones – a natural Tory if ever there was one – has attacked the Conservative Party’s immigration policy.
Remember Rodney Hylton-Potts, the racist nutter who won ITV’s woeful “Vote for Me” a while back? Despite the overblown PR puff that preceded the programme, it was a ghastly, ghastly failure, shoved into a graveyard slot, and ‘starring’ seven would-be politicians who made my district councillor look like Gladstone. On a tiny vote (140,000), the most extreme voice won, which gave great pleasure to the fascists.
Despite the obvious flaws in the programme, Kelvin McKenzie said that any of the candidates would make better MPs than those (at that time) in the Commons. Well, perhaps, Kelvin.
Mr Hylton-Potts is standing for Parliament in Folkestone and Hythe for a party called Get Britain Back. In a recent delighted press release, Mr Hylton-Potts announced that the BNP candidate in Folkestone was withdrawing, and that all the people who voted for him on Vote for Me should vote BNP. Another triumph for the popular will!
Somehow, I don’t see Vote for Me II being on our screens any time soon.
Lynton Crosby, the anti-immigrant’s immigrant is not popular in New Zealand.
A speed trap near Falmer, well-marked and in a clearly visible location has taken £750,000 in a year. Naturally, Volks^H^H^H^H^Hthe Daily Express is outraged.
Oddly, in a similar vein, the RAC complain that speed cameras are only effective in their immediate area. Well, indeed, but surely the correct response to that is to hide them – which I would have thought the RAC would oppose…
