Wednesday 19 April 2017

And so it begins....

One of the more amusing remarks I have seen since Theresa May announced the general election was the woman who stated "there's too much politics in this country" and was bored of the whole idea already.

Voter "fatigue" has been mentioned in a number of newspapers and discussion in the media as the battle royale begins. There's been a referendum on Europe (that workerd out well), a failed bid for Scottish independence some local elections (with more on the way) and a couple of leadership elections in the Labour Party all of which have dominated the media for well as long as I can recently think back.

And that's without following the US Presidential election and now the French one which could see a stand-off between the far-right Le-Pen and the Maoist Mélenchon. Never ends...

The thing is we are facing several weeks of election campaigning. There will be two sets of party political broadcasts. One for the council elections in May and then we get another set for the main show in June.

Most political broadcasts are dire, occasionally (and unintentionally) funny but let's face it pretty uninteresting and rarely able to persuade voters to change their minds. After all the outcome seems certain doesn't it?

Discussing this with work colleagues it seems everyone believes the Tories will win (and Corbyn is a useless fool) so it's really on a question how big May's majority is.

Only the Liberal Democrats could possibly throw a spanner in the Tories progress it would seem and none of my workmates mentioned voting for them though I have seen a couple on my Facebook push Farrons evangelists. Lots more have abandoned Labour, especially in the Jewish community which given recent controversies is hardly a surprise.

Labour loyalists, even the one who hate Corbyn still abound but cannot hide their despair about the outcome. The ones who vote Tory warn of being overconfident. Those who support Corbyn somehow delude themselves they will be victorious.

Diane Abbott certainly thought so when asked. Labour will win she mused but then when discussing the snap election thought May had only called the election because she knew the Tories could win. Confused? Ms Abbot (as usual) certainly is.

So listen out for that knock on your door, that leaflet drop, having your hand shaken in the street by someone wearing a rosette and return to your television sets. At least they're repeating The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Channel 61 (Freeview) at the moment. That's a welcome distraction.

1 comment:

  1. I suppose Howie(as a somewhat faint hearted Corbynista) this will bring things to a head. Either the electorate will support us or we'll have to change tack and get not a Tony Blair type leader (heaven help us)but possibly a John Smith/Neil Kinnock type leader.

    Just lets hope the Labour Party unites after the General Election, (if the polls are right a landslide for TM looks likely) and so does the Trade Union movement because regarding austerity and public expenditure cuts that the Tories will bring in , in the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive- you ain't seen nothin' yet

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