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I read yesterday that likely this will be the most “polled” General Election of all time with up to 70 more being done between now and May 6^th, however the author suggested that they will have no impact on the outcome and the results will mainly only serve to confuse further.

In many ways it already seems like a very odd election and my gut feeling is that the more the Media tries to ‘hype it up’, the more bored people will become with it. Over the “MPs Expenses Scandal”, the common wisdom was that MPs were out of touch with the public, by the same token, I think the Media are generally out of touch with their customers.

A Media Fest

Although I may be proved wrong, I am not convinced that the TV Debates will have much or any impact on the result plus, I think that they are inappropriate anyway. In the United States which is a huge Country geographically, they are absolutely crucial plus, physical distance apart, the American system can throw up Presidential Candidates who are totally unknown outside their own State, hardly a problem we have in these small islands with our Party based Parliamentary system.

As one browses through the ‘quality’ (?) newspapers, there is a distinct air of reporters and commentators try to “make the weather” on this election. The only fun thing I’ve come across on the BBC web site is a do it yourself Swing O Meter – truly excellent stuff ! Brown is so unlucky that the campaign could well come alive due to some awful gaff or really bad economic news but otherwise, I rather suspect we are in for a snooze campaign.

What Happened to the Deficit ?

Andrew Grice wrote a very good piece in the Independent in which he points out that both the Labour and Conservative campaign teams seem to be deliberately avoiding the “Deficit and its solution…” issue on the grounds that it doesn’t play well with the public who seem to want an upbeat message. Well worth a read. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/andrew-grice/andrew-grice-nobody-will-use-the-d-word-1938693.html

My response to That…

Unfortunately I think that the party strategists have got it right (Labour and Conservative), over these past few years the British public have become increasingly infantile, they don’t want the truth and to be fair, 167Bn is an unimaginable amount of money to you, me and most people. The over-complex system of “tax credits” that are being paid even to muddle class people who could afford to do without them, is more real to the average punter than the equivalent calculation of distance to the next Galaxy in our Universe.

This corrosive dependency that has mushroomed under Labour and Gordon Brown in particular, has destroyed the backbone and moral fibre of far too many in this Country and a good example was the MPs Expenses nonsense which has led to a wank fest and no proper solution, in future years only those of independent means or being sponsored by vested interests will be able to afford to become MPs which is hardly a desirable result.

The solution was obvious: Take the gross cost per MP which is likely over 250,000 pa, pay it to them on a self employed basis and them answerable to the Tax Inspector, the same as the rest of us. Failure to make tax returns and payments on time = banishment from the House of Commons and a by-election. However, all the politicians backed away, none grasped the nettle in the face of public hostility, the deficit is the same, the public want to bury their heads in the sand.

As a friend said yesterday, possibly the best result would be for Labour to win just so they have to confront the mess they made then as they wriggle, squirm and cut jobs whilst raising taxes, perhaps the public will finally wake up and there will be a second election in a year with a Tory landslide.

If you think back, when Thatcher came to power 30 years ago or when Blair swept into Downing Street in 1997, the public voted for change because they knew that what existed, just wasn’t working. The problem today is that Gordon Brown has steadfastly refused to acknowledge his failure and despite the obvious fact that he is a liar, the public are clinging to the ‘vague hope’ that this Leopard has changed his spots and somehow it will be all right on the night – fat chance !

The Beatles did a track early on with the line, “…please don’t wake me, I’m only dreaming…” I guess that is where we are at right now.