British elections and other boredoms
May 01, 2010
FOR the last fortnight I have been in London and there has been a kind of buzz regarding the coming British general elections. All those most involved have tried their best to whip up excitement, aided by the fact that this time round the vote concerns all the three main parties:
By John Nagenda
FOR the last fortnight I have been in London and there has been a kind of buzz regarding the coming British general elections. All those most involved have tried their best to whip up excitement, aided by the fact that this time round the vote concerns all the three main parties:
Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats (what used to be known as the Liberals).
These last, like the poor, have always been with us, but to little real effect, save perhaps in the moral sense, in that they seemed to hold the moral high ground.
But of such ground would not the sinister Josef Stalin have asked, “And how many military divisions does this moral high ground hold?â€
The honest answer would be, as in the case of the Pope, of whom Stalin posed the earlier inquiry: “Hardly any!†And there it would remain, except there that the Liberal Democrats (LDs) have this time round come out of their corner with such intensity that they are being talked about as near-first among those running for Prime Minister.
In Britain, unlike many other places around the Globe, you only become Prime Minister should your party take the most parliamentary seats in the elections.
But there are exceptions to that rule, as might happen this year, should the results end in a hung parliament:
meaning with no party achieving an overall majority. But looked at objectively the LDs, in the winner-take-all system prevailing in the British electoral system, are so relatively thin on the overall ground that it seems impossible they could come close to being the majority party this time.
Their number of votes gained would not be reflected in seats won. They have bewailed this unfair fact for the last 100 years.
It was easy to ignore them when, effectively, they were too small to jostle the Two-Party system. But matters have changed out of all recognition this time. I consider the top personalities leading the three parties to be the main reason for this.
Some would dispute this and talk about the different programmes of the three parties. But their difference is so slight it hardly exists, except in the terms used to try and create it. Of course this is not peculiar to Britain!
Gordon Brown, Labour, and current Premier, has a mountain of Himalayan proportions to climb. The Labour Party has been in power seemingly forever, although for “only†13 years. But if you were a kid of only five at the start of the term, you can vote now.
Unless those in power, and the country at large, are doing brilliantly, nothing the party in charge attempts can give satisfaction and what most then want is to see the back of them.
Also, poor gaffe-ridden Brown is far from an exciter. How is he ever going to energise his flock?
Conservative leader David Cameron is a clean-cut young man with impeccable background. It is wrong to blame him for being educated at elitist Eton.
And there’s sometimes fire in his belly as he has shown in the last days of the hustings, including the Leadership Debates.
But not even those who love him most could say, hand on heart, that he could set the world, or even the UK alone, afire. Some have the electricity and some (so sorry!) not.
Liberal Democrat’s Nick Clegg is on a high but where is the smoke to his fire? (There’s no smoke without fire, but, equally, no fire without smoke.) Nick Clegg is almost a cut-out of David Cameron, and the other way round.
People turned to him because of their tiredness with Brown, and their wondering what to do with Cameron.
Love on the rebound is a weak brew. When either Clegg or Cameron is on the TV you have to raise your head to see which one it is.
However Clegg can, with his Party, do something huge for the LDs. They can achieve representational elections by playing off Labour and Conservatives in a hung parliament.
A change in how seats are allocated in parliament by number of votes won is long overdue, and has proved a worthwhile staple in many countries of the world. Already young Clegg has stated he would not work with Brown: what a silly way to go into battle!
Oh, I nearly forgot the weather, one of the main topics in the temperate zones! Many times I bring excellent weather with me when I travel; not only the glorious sun experienced in London during this visit, but rain when needed on farms back home. (Or is it just coincidence?)
From here we heard that Kajubi had been found innocent of the gruesome witchcraft murder of the young boy.
How close did this come to the doctor found innocent of the brutal killing of his wife in the beautiful setting of Buziga?
I came to London for the Memorial service of my friend Plumbly.
It couldn’t have been better done, especially the service at St Mary’s, Paddington Green (ironically the area’s police station houses the most dangerous felons awaiting court!)The church, with the afternoon sun streaming in, the small choir upstairs sending, especially, Cesar Franck’s Anthem “Panis Angelicus†heavenwards, brought water to the eye.
Dear old friend, gone forever, but present!
FOR the last fortnight I have been in London and there has been a kind of buzz regarding the coming British general elections. All those most involved have tried their best to whip up excitement, aided by the fact that this time round the vote concerns all the three main parties:
Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats (what used to be known as the Liberals).
These last, like the poor, have always been with us, but to little real effect, save perhaps in the moral sense, in that they seemed to hold the moral high ground.
But of such ground would not the sinister Josef Stalin have asked, “And how many military divisions does this moral high ground hold?â€
The honest answer would be, as in the case of the Pope, of whom Stalin posed the earlier inquiry: “Hardly any!†And there it would remain, except there that the Liberal Democrats (LDs) have this time round come out of their corner with such intensity that they are being talked about as near-first among those running for Prime Minister.
In Britain, unlike many other places around the Globe, you only become Prime Minister should your party take the most parliamentary seats in the elections.
But there are exceptions to that rule, as might happen this year, should the results end in a hung parliament:
meaning with no party achieving an overall majority. But looked at objectively the LDs, in the winner-take-all system prevailing in the British electoral system, are so relatively thin on the overall ground that it seems impossible they could come close to being the majority party this time.
Their number of votes gained would not be reflected in seats won. They have bewailed this unfair fact for the last 100 years.
It was easy to ignore them when, effectively, they were too small to jostle the Two-Party system. But matters have changed out of all recognition this time. I consider the top personalities leading the three parties to be the main reason for this.
Some would dispute this and talk about the different programmes of the three parties. But their difference is so slight it hardly exists, except in the terms used to try and create it. Of course this is not peculiar to Britain!
Gordon Brown, Labour, and current Premier, has a mountain of Himalayan proportions to climb. The Labour Party has been in power seemingly forever, although for “only†13 years. But if you were a kid of only five at the start of the term, you can vote now.
Unless those in power, and the country at large, are doing brilliantly, nothing the party in charge attempts can give satisfaction and what most then want is to see the back of them.
Also, poor gaffe-ridden Brown is far from an exciter. How is he ever going to energise his flock?
Conservative leader David Cameron is a clean-cut young man with impeccable background. It is wrong to blame him for being educated at elitist Eton.
And there’s sometimes fire in his belly as he has shown in the last days of the hustings, including the Leadership Debates.
But not even those who love him most could say, hand on heart, that he could set the world, or even the UK alone, afire. Some have the electricity and some (so sorry!) not.
Liberal Democrat’s Nick Clegg is on a high but where is the smoke to his fire? (There’s no smoke without fire, but, equally, no fire without smoke.) Nick Clegg is almost a cut-out of David Cameron, and the other way round.
People turned to him because of their tiredness with Brown, and their wondering what to do with Cameron.
Love on the rebound is a weak brew. When either Clegg or Cameron is on the TV you have to raise your head to see which one it is.
However Clegg can, with his Party, do something huge for the LDs. They can achieve representational elections by playing off Labour and Conservatives in a hung parliament.
A change in how seats are allocated in parliament by number of votes won is long overdue, and has proved a worthwhile staple in many countries of the world. Already young Clegg has stated he would not work with Brown: what a silly way to go into battle!
Oh, I nearly forgot the weather, one of the main topics in the temperate zones! Many times I bring excellent weather with me when I travel; not only the glorious sun experienced in London during this visit, but rain when needed on farms back home. (Or is it just coincidence?)
From here we heard that Kajubi had been found innocent of the gruesome witchcraft murder of the young boy.
How close did this come to the doctor found innocent of the brutal killing of his wife in the beautiful setting of Buziga?
I came to London for the Memorial service of my friend Plumbly.
It couldn’t have been better done, especially the service at St Mary’s, Paddington Green (ironically the area’s police station houses the most dangerous felons awaiting court!)The church, with the afternoon sun streaming in, the small choir upstairs sending, especially, Cesar Franck’s Anthem “Panis Angelicus†heavenwards, brought water to the eye.
Dear old friend, gone forever, but present!