A General Election's Coming

In case you either hadn't noticed or don't know, there's a general election in the uk on May 5th, and this is a rant about all the things that are annoying me about politics in our country at the moment, so feel free to skip to the last paragraph (where I've written a bit about my day) if you're not interested in politics (you'll have your own section of rant especially for you later on too) or if you just can't be bothered.

Over the last few days the main parties have been releasing their manifestos and there's been the usual bickering about 'black holes' in the various different budget/tax plans. The usual claim from the tories that they'll be able to do everything that Labour says it'll do and cut tax (which is clearly crap), labour saying that they're going to run a positive campaign just before pointing out that the tory budget doesn't add up and the Liberal democrats saying sensible things but telling people that they'll have to pay for them and no-one really caring what they say anyway.

What's really pissing me off at the moment is the tories and paticularly Michael Howards inistance on continually talking about immigration policy, and more specifically that we should basically stop immigration into the country (a slight exageration, but only slight). Despite the fact that he's being completely hypocritical (his parents are immigrants), he's also being completely naive if he doesn't realise that by airing the ideas he has, he is actually inciting racial hatred. What pisses me off even more is the fact that the reason he's doing this is that polls show that this is one area that the tories are actually polling well in. What does that say about our country? At best it says that we're worried about housing and population growth in (lets face it) a small country. At worst it says that we're not willing in any way, shape or form to help out anyone that needs it, or give anyone a chance for a better life. What worries me most is that when people (and I include the tories in this) think and say these things, they're not talking about all the Australians, Kiwis, Europeans, Canadians etc that have settled here, but about people of different colour. I hope that's not what they mean, but I fear it is. What do we do if that is the attitude of our country? Other than emigrate ourselves, I really don't know.

Tony Blair.
What can I say about the guy. In 1997 he was a hero. I'm sure it's no coincidence, but that year was the first time I voted, and it was the first time since I was born that Labour took power. I thought he was going to turn all the crap that the tories had dumped on us over the previous 18 years around and to a certain extent, he has. But what was the first thing I can actually remember him doing? After going on about "education, education, education" for the whole of the election, he got rid of student grants and brought in tuition fees. I only mention this because it was the first time he dissapointed me. Since then though, I actually think he's done a good job. He's certainly not left wing enough for my tastes, but he has certainly improved schools, the nhs, the police, the economy (although I figure Gordon Brown who I like much more should get most of the credit for that) and pretty much any other area that governments are supposed to be good at. There's definitely still a lot more improvement needed in all those areas and maybe the last few years haven't been as impressive and things have moved a lot slower than in labours first term, but I think we're generally moving forward (if very slowly). Sure he's had failures (the Lords reform being one that paticularly annoys me) and he made a huge mess of the war. [We should never have allowed ourselves to be bullied into that by the vile dictator George W Bush. But at the same time, I can't help thinking (and Bill Clinton apprently agrees with me here) that by being alongside the states we did slow down and temper the US response. I don't think that justifies it, but I do think that Tony Blair did what he honestly believed to be right, even if I disagree with him.] Would I rather him not be prime minister, actually yes. I think he's become a caricature of himself and that it's time (infact probably past time) that he stepped aside for someone else (Gordon Brown!). Does that mean I can't vote Labour? of course not! I still think that of all the current leaders (Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy) that Tony Blair is the best choice. And even if I didn't think that, Labour are the only viable option for government at the moment no matter who's in charge (with the excemption of Mandleson). Sure, I like lots of the things that the Lib Dems have to say, and at times they appear more left wing than labour, but, and it's a big but, I don't actually know what they stand for. They have yet to convince me that they can govern and Charles Kennedy is not a leader, despite being a nice guy.

And a quick final rant. There's too many people saying that either they don't care about politics or that they're not going to vote. Whether you like it or not, politics controls much of the lives we live and more importantly the way we interact with each other, care for each other, interact with other countries, make poverty history and pretty much anything else you can think of. So, despite the fact that it's mostly talked about by pompous old men, take an intrest, even if its just fleeting, for the next few weeks.
Deep breath.
Rant Over

Today's been fine. Lie in, luch meeting in town, kids club in the evening (I didn't kill any of the kids so that was successful). Listened to U2 alot. Got home. Spoke to some friends on the phone and on MSN. Read todays paper, got annoyed, wrote my Blog, went to bed and watched an episode (possibly 2) of the West Wing.