Is it that time already?
Gosh, can it really only be 100 days until the election already? The last 1,727 days have just flown by, have they not? It seems only last week Dave n' Nick were consummating the coalition deal in the rose garden, except what if they didn't and it was all just boasting? Perhaps if we end up with much the same result as last time we'll have Tory leader Boris Johnson renouncing the coalition mid-term on the basis Clegg really did have relations with Dave despite his denials. Is that a convoluted enough non-gag that doesn't work referencing Wolf Hall and Tudor history for you? I sure hope so.
We could do with a politician much like Hilary Mantel's depiction of Thomas Cromwell, that's for sure. Ruthless but compassionate, dedicated to his masters yet ferociously independent, against lunatic foreign adventures and depraved and corrupted religious scroungers, what's not to like? Well, you could factor in the real Cromwell almost certainly wasn't as enigmatic as Mantel paints him in her wonderful novels (I must thank a certain someone whose sort of recommendation finally persuaded me to stop my procrastinating and read them), more a brutal cove who introduced the first sort of intelligence service, enabling Henry to become a tyrant, but all the same. He rather puts Dave, Ed, Nick and Nige in a certain perspective, doesn't he? Son of a blacksmith, did a real job abroad before entering law, a man truly out of time.
Anyway, enough wishful thinking and putting off discussing our rather sadder reality. In truth, no one except those paid to be have been remotely interested in the campaigning thus far. This might have something to do with how dismal it's all been. We've had the Tories release their don't vote Labour and drive advert, or whatever it was, which the Lib Dems have since parodied. Without inserting a joke sadly, although some might say, ho ho, they are the joke. Both Labour and the Conservatives are hoping to attract your attention with a set of themes, even though we all know it's going to be NHS, NHS, NHS from Miliband and pals and, economy, economy, economy from Dave and friends. Ed was duly at the site of the first NHS hospital today, while yesterday dearest Cameron was explaining how thanks to them every man, woman and child can look forward to tax cuts, provided they're hard-working men, women and children, naturally. If they aren't, and they're naughty workshy layabouts, the benefit cap will drop 3 grand almost immediately after a Tory victory, while unemployed under-21s will also be denied housing benefit.
The Conservatives are forewarning everyone at least. Any questioning of just what sort of jobs have been created under the coalition is jumped on as being dismissive of "aspiration". Heaven forfend for instance that a business leader of the future might have been able to launch their enterprise sooner if they hadn't been stuck on zero-hours work, saving the little they could, or indeed needed housing benefit to be able to escape a home life from hell. The message from here until May the 7th will be we've sort of stabilised the economy, so just put all the unpleasantness of the past few years at the back of your mind and try not to think of the cuts to come. Cuts which George Osborne in best infuriating fashion succeeded in not outlining in last week's interview with Evan Davis, falling back on the old no one thought we could achieve the cuts we have made argument, so obviously we can hack and slash without anyone suffering in the next 5 years also.
Nor would Labour under Ed Miliband be the party we've come to shake our heads about sadly without an old Blairite figure turning up and dripping poison. Labour is running a "pale imitation of the 1992 campaign", says Alan Milburn, which is just a bit rich considering it was a certain Alan Milburn behind 2005's phenomenal "forward not back" Labour election campaign. His warning of the party being seen as not in favour of reform and just putting in more funding would carry more weight if Labour was promising increased spending, except they aren't. Only the Lib Dems say they'll find the minimum £8 billion NHS head Simon Stevens believes is needed, and they all but needless to say have not given the first indication of where they'll get it from.
Speaking of which, have the Liberal Democrats started campaigning yet? One might assume if they have they're keeping a low profile due to how utterly ashamed they are over the party's strategy: neither "reckless" borrowing or reckless cuts, you can rely on the Lib Dems to keep those wild crazies in Labour and the Conservatives on the straight and narrow. This presumes the public give the party credit for reining in the Tories worst excesses, except they don't, nor has the experience of coalition led many to want the same thing again. Or at least not with the involvement of the Lib Dems, who surely must be getting extremely worried they could end up with fewer seats than the SNP and back in the wilderness years of the 70s prior to the SDP-Liberal alliance. That would be quite the legacy for Nick Clegg, to go down not so much marching towards the sound of gunfire as leading his party off Beachy Head.
One thing Cameron must be given credit for is just how successful his kill the debates gambit has been. As soon as the broadcasters suggested including UKIP, as they simply couldn't resist the prospect of bar room bore Nige shaking things up, they ought to have known every other smaller party would say hang on. Rather than just invite the Greens as Cameron insisted, and say it's daft including the nationalist parties when they don't fricking stand candidates outside of their respective countries we now have the SNP and Plaid Cymru involved. Why not the DUP and Sinn Fein? Why indeed? While we're at it, why not also Mebyon Kernow, Britain First, the Monster Raving Loonies, the Natural Law party or any other gobshite? Does anyone honestly believe a 7-leader or more debate or debates is viable? Of course they don't, just as the "empty chair" threat is precisely that. Without Cameron there aren't going to be debates, and so his terms with minor concessions, probably a couple of debates, one between him and Miliband, one also with Clegg, one before April and one during, will probably win out.
All in all, it's shaping up to be an extraordinarily tedious, long-winded and highly familiar campaign. Much like something something you might add. Except, I wondered, perhaps not. Looking at today's Sun front page, could it be possible the paper had finally, genuinely opened up itself to the views of its readers as suggested? Err, no. Sun readers apparently want the BBC cut down to size, and also think politicians should ignore the Twitter mob, among other priorities that just happen to also be the paper's long-term concerns. Interesting at least the Sun is so exercised about Twitter demanding attention; in the past of course it was the Sun politicians listened to. Not everything remains the same.
We could do with a politician much like Hilary Mantel's depiction of Thomas Cromwell, that's for sure. Ruthless but compassionate, dedicated to his masters yet ferociously independent, against lunatic foreign adventures and depraved and corrupted religious scroungers, what's not to like? Well, you could factor in the real Cromwell almost certainly wasn't as enigmatic as Mantel paints him in her wonderful novels (I must thank a certain someone whose sort of recommendation finally persuaded me to stop my procrastinating and read them), more a brutal cove who introduced the first sort of intelligence service, enabling Henry to become a tyrant, but all the same. He rather puts Dave, Ed, Nick and Nige in a certain perspective, doesn't he? Son of a blacksmith, did a real job abroad before entering law, a man truly out of time.
Anyway, enough wishful thinking and putting off discussing our rather sadder reality. In truth, no one except those paid to be have been remotely interested in the campaigning thus far. This might have something to do with how dismal it's all been. We've had the Tories release their don't vote Labour and drive advert, or whatever it was, which the Lib Dems have since parodied. Without inserting a joke sadly, although some might say, ho ho, they are the joke. Both Labour and the Conservatives are hoping to attract your attention with a set of themes, even though we all know it's going to be NHS, NHS, NHS from Miliband and pals and, economy, economy, economy from Dave and friends. Ed was duly at the site of the first NHS hospital today, while yesterday dearest Cameron was explaining how thanks to them every man, woman and child can look forward to tax cuts, provided they're hard-working men, women and children, naturally. If they aren't, and they're naughty workshy layabouts, the benefit cap will drop 3 grand almost immediately after a Tory victory, while unemployed under-21s will also be denied housing benefit.
The Conservatives are forewarning everyone at least. Any questioning of just what sort of jobs have been created under the coalition is jumped on as being dismissive of "aspiration". Heaven forfend for instance that a business leader of the future might have been able to launch their enterprise sooner if they hadn't been stuck on zero-hours work, saving the little they could, or indeed needed housing benefit to be able to escape a home life from hell. The message from here until May the 7th will be we've sort of stabilised the economy, so just put all the unpleasantness of the past few years at the back of your mind and try not to think of the cuts to come. Cuts which George Osborne in best infuriating fashion succeeded in not outlining in last week's interview with Evan Davis, falling back on the old no one thought we could achieve the cuts we have made argument, so obviously we can hack and slash without anyone suffering in the next 5 years also.
Nor would Labour under Ed Miliband be the party we've come to shake our heads about sadly without an old Blairite figure turning up and dripping poison. Labour is running a "pale imitation of the 1992 campaign", says Alan Milburn, which is just a bit rich considering it was a certain Alan Milburn behind 2005's phenomenal "forward not back" Labour election campaign. His warning of the party being seen as not in favour of reform and just putting in more funding would carry more weight if Labour was promising increased spending, except they aren't. Only the Lib Dems say they'll find the minimum £8 billion NHS head Simon Stevens believes is needed, and they all but needless to say have not given the first indication of where they'll get it from.
Speaking of which, have the Liberal Democrats started campaigning yet? One might assume if they have they're keeping a low profile due to how utterly ashamed they are over the party's strategy: neither "reckless" borrowing or reckless cuts, you can rely on the Lib Dems to keep those wild crazies in Labour and the Conservatives on the straight and narrow. This presumes the public give the party credit for reining in the Tories worst excesses, except they don't, nor has the experience of coalition led many to want the same thing again. Or at least not with the involvement of the Lib Dems, who surely must be getting extremely worried they could end up with fewer seats than the SNP and back in the wilderness years of the 70s prior to the SDP-Liberal alliance. That would be quite the legacy for Nick Clegg, to go down not so much marching towards the sound of gunfire as leading his party off Beachy Head.
One thing Cameron must be given credit for is just how successful his kill the debates gambit has been. As soon as the broadcasters suggested including UKIP, as they simply couldn't resist the prospect of bar room bore Nige shaking things up, they ought to have known every other smaller party would say hang on. Rather than just invite the Greens as Cameron insisted, and say it's daft including the nationalist parties when they don't fricking stand candidates outside of their respective countries we now have the SNP and Plaid Cymru involved. Why not the DUP and Sinn Fein? Why indeed? While we're at it, why not also Mebyon Kernow, Britain First, the Monster Raving Loonies, the Natural Law party or any other gobshite? Does anyone honestly believe a 7-leader or more debate or debates is viable? Of course they don't, just as the "empty chair" threat is precisely that. Without Cameron there aren't going to be debates, and so his terms with minor concessions, probably a couple of debates, one between him and Miliband, one also with Clegg, one before April and one during, will probably win out.
All in all, it's shaping up to be an extraordinarily tedious, long-winded and highly familiar campaign. Much like something something you might add. Except, I wondered, perhaps not. Looking at today's Sun front page, could it be possible the paper had finally, genuinely opened up itself to the views of its readers as suggested? Err, no. Sun readers apparently want the BBC cut down to size, and also think politicians should ignore the Twitter mob, among other priorities that just happen to also be the paper's long-term concerns. Interesting at least the Sun is so exercised about Twitter demanding attention; in the past of course it was the Sun politicians listened to. Not everything remains the same.
Labels: Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, election 2015, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, politics
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