Thoughts from an immigrant.
That was fun!
I have to admit a sad fact: I still get a small thrill when I vote in an election. I love it. I’m a junkie for it. I was at my polling station at precisely 07:00 this morning and must have been one of the first in my area to vote.
This has been a fun election. It’s been shaken up. We’ve had ‘presidential debates’ and ‘bigot gaffes’ and one thing seems sure – most of the population is sick to death of all of them.
Having said that, I think there are some interesting things to observe:
The Liberal Democrats are still third-class
It seems pretty clear that the public really took to Nick Clegg during the debates. It was hard not to. He seemed measured and balanced, and was the most personable of the three of them. This election seems to show that whilst everyone seems pretty happy with Clegg, they are still not convinced about the LibDems. I really don’t think this is surprising (no matter how much I was hoping it would be different). The problem isn’t the LibDem leadership – it’s that they have no deep bench. My constituency is a good case and point. I’m based in Edinburgh North & Leith. Our local LibDem candidate is uninspiring at best. He’s not someone that you want to vote for. He’s not someone that I wanted to vote for and, in principle, I tend to lead towards the LibDems.
If the LibDems want to be a serious party, they have to look at what candidates they are putting up. The top shelf is good. Nick Clegg is OK and Vince Cable is great. but it sort of ends there. They aren’t going to be able to compete without making a change.
This isn’t the Landslide the Tories wanted
Yes, the Conservatives are going to have the most seats. They can still get a government as I write this note (unlikely, but could happen). I really don’t think that this is the landslide I expected about a year ago.
Look at the situation. You’re looking at a Labour government that has spent 13 years in power. They presided over one of the biggest financial meltdowns of the modern world (and a lot of people blame some of it on Mr Brown). They started two major wars that have been hugely unpopular, including one which they were shown to lie about the reasons to go to war in the first place. They have faced sleaze and scandal. They have one of the worst leaders I’ve ever seen as their PM (not a bad guy, but unsuited to lead). They were due to get a hammering at the polls. I expected David Cameron’s party to do really well.
And they didn’t. I think this says a lot. There is still a huge backlash against the Tories across the UK. Look at the map – Scotland, Wales and the North are still shying away from the Conservatives. This is still a hangover from the old tory ghosts. It also says something about how uninspiring David Cameron has proven to be. Will all of those factors in his favour, he couldn’t inspire his party to victory. Astonishing.
British people whine a lot.
Jesus I laughed every time I saw that grumpy woman on TV bitching about not getting to vote. Her civil rights have obviously been hideously violated and she’s not backing down! In truth, I have a limited amount of sympathy. Do I think everyone should be able to vote? Yes. Should all votes be counted? Yes. But the truth is polling stations were open since 07:00. Are you seriously telling me you couldn’t get to the polls until 21:59? Come on.
I didn’t get home until 02:00 last night, and I was up at 07:00 this morning. I’m off to make coffee and prepare for a meeting.
But that was fun!
-j
