Dem Glib Dems

Or is it...? (Hat-tip: Beau Bo D'or)

I had a quick gander at what the Lib Dems promised. A lot of platitudes and Mum's Apple Pie stuff. The one really good thing was promising to scrap ID cards, but I have a feeling whoever gets in may get rid of them simply due to the cost. The Lib Dems seem to be downplaying  their tradtional support for Proportional Representation, which seems strange when you consider that the opinion polls suggest a groundswell of popular opinion for a hung parliament, with no one party having a majority of seats (as it should be if no-one can get a majority of the votes). I have a feeling democratic principles would be abandoned pretty quickly in negotations with either (or both) main parties if the chance of Cabinet seats fell the way of the Lib Dems' leadership..

Of course, after their shameful sabotaging in Parliament of attempts to get a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, one should not expect much from the Glib Dems. My EU Right Or Wrong, Lib Dems?

Meanwhile, around here in Hampstead and Kilburn, the Lib Dems and Conservatives are both claiming to be the main challenger to Labour. An investigation by a local blogger suggests there is some truth in the claims made on behalf of Ed Fordham that he is only 474 votes away from taking the seat.

However, as the first commenter on the link above suggests, it is a bit more complicated than that. Most of the constituency is in Camden, but there are a few wards which are in Brent and used to be part of the old Brent East constituency, held by Lib Dem Sarah Teather. Now that she is standing in Brent Central, it remains to be seen if any personal vote for her in the Brent East part of Hampstead and Kilburn stays with the Lib Dems or goes elsewhere. Furthermore, the 474 figure above is based on the 2005 General Election. As far as I can make out, figures from the 2008 London (Mayoral and Assembly) Elections and 2009 European Elections suggest the Conservatives are the main challengers here. Throw in the fact we have local council elections on May 6th too and I wouldn't like to predict the result in Hamsptead and Kilburn. Who would be a psephologist?
 

Cameron: 'Power to the People'

At least with Wolfie Smith, you knew he was sincere...

I had a good chortle at the mega-cobblers in the Evening Standard about the Conservative Manifesto. The only real surprise was they didn't decide to put Samantha Cameron on the front with 'VOTE FOR ME!' strewn across it. Instead we got this:

 
My cheque is in the post...

Apparently it costs £4, comes in hardback and is 118 pages of densely written text. It sounds an ideal door stop or something to throw through an appropriate window when it goes all totally Greece/Iceland/Ireland here. Lord Ashcroft must have money to burn by the sounds of it.

Dave promised he would help us all 'Be your own boss'. I don't think he was thinking the 1917 Petrograd Soviets somehow or mass expropriation by the workers of  the companies which employ the 100+ Big Business leaders who don't want to see National Insurance rise. Although the line 'Same as the old boss' from The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again' did implant itself in my brain.

He also said 'We're all in this together.' Some of us more than others, eh Dave?

I have a sudden craving for cornflakes...

 ...all it needs is a cockerel in the foreground.

'Labour will be restless and relentless reformers' says the PM, launching Labour's new range of cereals General Election manifesto. Sounds like all that is solid will melt into air in an alliterative manner. I cannot imagine that this this sort of stuff appeals much to what I imagine is quite a large slice of  the electorate that wants a quiet easy life and just wish things were left alone. A good critque of Labour's use of the R-words can be found here.

Splintered Sunrise examines the General Election in Northern Ireland, and particularly the allies of 'Call Me Dave' over there. Suffice to say, it is not going all hunky-dory for them.

For those of you who despair of the 'dumbing down' of  politics, more evidence of the country going to the dogs is here.

Railing against it all

The Labour Party has plans which it hopes will get rail passengers to vote Labour on May 6th. The big question is: why did they not propose and enact these plans sometime in the last 13 years when they had the chance? This demonstrates why it is so hard to take seriously anything Labour proposes during this campaign. That is, if they are such good ideas, why leave it until now to put them forward?

Hung Out To Dry?

Very quick one for Saturday, courtesy of Marina Hyde.

PS Is there any constituency in the UK where the Lib Dems do not claim they can win there?

Friday Briefs...

At this General Election Michael Caine seems to be 'doing a Sean Connery' and giving his two-penny's worth to the British electorate. The Tory Press are giving the impression that the proposed two months in a residential centre for 16 year olds is the same as the proverbial 'National Service' which is trotted out, along with hanging, as the perennial solution to the country's problems by the saloon bar bores and third-rate Richard Littlejohn impressionists who populate tabloid letter pages and radio phone-ins. People who say 'bring back National Service' tend to forget that in the 1950s there were proper jobs and lots of them for those who had served two years in the army to go into. Now we would only have people highly trained in firearms to join criminal gangs or other sections of the lumpenproletariat.

The other Conservative cunning plan at the moment is to reverse Labour's pledge to increase National Insurance Contributions and to cut public sector 'waste'. With a lot of Big Business backing the Conservatives on NIC New Labour is at sixes and sevens. Its reaction to Big Business deserting it for the Conservatives is like watching a Gangster's Moll watching Her Mister Big going back to his Wife.

However, when it comes to cutting public sector 'waste' the Conservatives seem to be making it up as they go along. A good overview can be found here and a less reverential one here. For those of you wondering what on Earth Big Business has got to moan about, this may be of interest.

Do not expect Gordon or Dave put themselves up for hard questioning in the media during the campaign, let alone go all Stuart Mclennan on us. On the subject of the Media, the Open Rights Group and the Pirate Party give their views on the passing of the Digital Economy Bill, although the ORG does provide a tad more pithy summary:

However, as the Pirate Party say, it is only a battle lost, not the war. The General Election is the same. It is not the end of British politics, thankfully, although it may feel like it more than once in the coming weeks...

I can barely keep up...

...not a lot happening really. I'm working and a bit tired, so I will probably not get into full flow until next week, when the campaign offically starts. However, I did promise to blog a post at least once a day during the campaign and I intend to keep my word.

It seems the big story is a bunch of Big Business types slagging off Labour's plans to increase National Insurance Contributions. The Tories say they'll reverse it. I can see your eyes glazing over as I type. In short, 'New Labour Loses Big Business Vote Shocker.' Truly a case of The Shits Hitting The Fans.

To keep yourself awake and entertained for hours, you could try The Slapometer.

I did pilfer this from the Telegraph website (hence the one-sided nature of the slapping methinks!)

Apparently you are only supposed to use it during the Leaders Debates on the television, but I cannot see the point of limiting yourself to just that! I can also imagine a  Nick Griffin/Nigel Farage/George Galloway version of the Slapometer would probably lead to internet meltdown in the UK!

From The Sublime to the The Ridiculous. After Gordon's Wayne Rooney Ankle = British Economy simile the other day, I thought the bar for Election trivialityy had been set pretty low and it would take something truly dire to get itself below that. However, it's barely taken four days for a new depth to be plunged. Namely this load of cobblers in the Torygraph:

Cameron must give roll-ups the sleeve-ho
By rolling up his sleeves and baring his arms like a vet, David Cameron sends the wrong message - that he’s trying too hard to win us over
By Damian Barr

Read the rest if you want...it's almost as bad as the 'Leader's Wives as General Election Secret Weapons' stuff.