Oh dear. I crawled to bed after 4 a.m. this morning after watching the BBC's ongoing coverage of emerging general election results. It was clear by then that Labour had been beaten and that the country had condemned itself to five more years of Cameron, Osborne and the rest of the guffawing Conservative band of Old Etonians, ex-bankers, Oxbridge rowers and a token sprinkling of county ball fillies called Lucinda or Hermione.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Five more years. But how could it have happened? How could Labour have lost it?
From my perspective there are three main reasons:-
1) All the ordinary working people who didn't bother to vote. who couldn't see what the fuss was all about and who cowered behind ignorant defensive slogans like "They are all liars" and "They are all the same". I know several people like that - who imagine that opting out is a wise path to take. It isn't.
2) Ed Miliband. As I have said before in this blog, he was always the wrong party leader. Though clever, he lacked the charisma that might have inspired more ordinary people to put their precious crosses next to the names of Labour candidates.
3) The Scottish Nationalist Party which I shall hitherto refer to as The Tartan Tories. They won nearly all the seats in Scotland, claiming constituencies that had previously been rock solid Labour. Instead of siding with their English and Welsh brothers and sisters south of the border, ordinary working Scots have instead been conned by a nationalist pipe dream and consequently they have let The Tories in. Please excuse me for swearing but they are the bloody Tartan Tories! Cameron and the Tories were swift to use the SNP threat as a kind of bogeyman to frighten English electors.
Here in Sheffield Hallam - Sheffield's most affluent constituency - the Labour candidate didn't do quite enough to defeat Nicholas Clegg who is the sitting MP and the current leader of The Liberal Democrats. Behind the privet hedges and the net curtains of Ecclesall and Dore and Fulwood hundreds of LibDem supporters are still lurking. The logic of why they have voted Clegg back in is beyond me. Perhaps they are blind dimwits.
So that's it. Election 2015. Though it is sunny outside, there's a horrible cloud hanging over Great Britain this morning and the people's famous flag is currently flying at half mast, flapping in a bitter Tory wind.
Sorry about your election results. But I must protest consigning all rowers to being conservatives. John is a rower and is a real "flaming liberal". (And we live in a very conservative area, too.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe in the USA - land of the free - more ordinary people get to row but over here it's something that only seems to happen in private schools and posh universities.
DeleteI don't know anything about your politicians but I felt the way you describe both times George W. Bush was elected.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your disappointment.
If George W. Bush were an animal he would be a gopher, our prime minister David Cameron would be a grey squirrel and President Obama would be a mountain lion, surveying his territory. I am not sure what you would be Jennifer as I have only met you through blogging but I am thinking butterflies and humming birds.
DeletePresident Obama would be a weasel.
DeleteBob Brague would be a,,, (REMOVED BY BLOGGER!)
DeleteI would probably be a common sparrow, but I like the thought of hummingbirds and butterflies! Thank you!
DeleteI think miliband didnt capture trust in this very difficult time
ReplyDeleteYou are right John. Labour deserved a better leader. Someone who could inspire the people.
DeleteI didn't vote. I didn't have anyone to vote for. I could not vote for Miliband. The bloke is a complete misfit. I couldn't vote SNP as I want to keep the union so I am lumbered with Dithery. It was always going to be so, there is no credible opposition. Yes it is a sad day.
ReplyDeleteYes - a sad day. Where are my tissues? (No, not for that! For my tears).
DeleteIt's probably better I zip my lips because I'm a conservative voter...I've never voted for Labor in my life; and I never will. So I don't share your grief, Yorky...but I will give you some tissues if you run out of them! :)
ReplyDeleteIs your surname Thatcher by any chance Lee?
DeleteI'm with you there Lee but I try not to talk politics - especially another country's politics ! - on people's blogs.
DeleteI have not listened to too much Sky News this morning but did yesterday and the consensus with the press in the U.S. (can't trust them, you know, but...) is that the Scottish vote a few months ago was the main thing that killed the more liberal movement. So sorry for you guys but look at the bright side........you have a wonderful, beautiful new princess! There is that!
ReplyDeleteAh yes Princess Charlotte. I wonder if she screams and poops like mortal babies.
DeleteFor the sake of peace in blogland, I have a long time ago resolved that I won't blog about politics, and I refrain from voicing political opinions in my comments on other people's blogs, too.
ReplyDeleteBut I can say that I fully agree with you in that it is not the wise path to opt out of voting.
Sad but most disappointing.
DeleteYes Red, I agree with your verdict on our German friend.
Delete...only kidding Meike.
DeleteI am confused now.
DeleteStanding up for the Scots, even if Labour had won all Scotland they'd still be losing. As one Scottish person said to me, "We've not voted any Tories in [or 1?] and we're still getting blamed for it by the English!" Unsurprising then that many are thinking of going their own way...
ReplyDeleteI wish the Scots had voted "Yes" then we could get rid of the burden that they represent. Under the so-called "Barnet formula" they have received a disproportionate amount of extra funding at the expense of the north of England.
DeleteOur visiting rellies from the UK have been saying the same thing about Scotland. A very strange system where they can vote on English matters but England can't vote on Scottish matters !!!! Needs to be changed. From a distance it seems to me that the UK needs to withdraw from the EU - stop subsidising the health of the whole of Europe for one thing !
DeleteJust think on the bright side, at least you are not lumbered with the same joker that we have leading this country.
ReplyDeleteAnd England hasn't benefited from 'Scottish' oil revenues? Get real YP. I've voted Labour all my life until this election. xYou can't blame the SNP for the failings of the English electorate to follow your wishes and vote in a Labour Government. The Labour Party in Scotland was a complacent and morally and mentally bankrupt 'old school' organisation who took the population it was supposed to represent for granted. England has spoken and voted in the Tories comprehensively and with it, an EU referendum in which England may well vote for removal unless The Leader manages to pull something amazing out of the hat. Scotland has a left-wing party representing it very comprehensively with a stated desire to stay in Europe. The more people voice your opinions YOP the more the people of Scotland will vote for the SNP.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely no idea where that O sprang from by the way!
ReplyDelete