At Last !

I haven't been inspired during the election campaign. I care about the outcome, mainly because the idea of another five years of Gordon Brown fills me with nothing short of despair. But no one has grabbed me and instilled enthusiasm in me.

If there was a Libertarian Party candidate in my area, I'd vote for them. I do think they're a bit wacky, and I haven't quite reconciled myself to the abolition of gun control or even the decriminisalisation of all drugs. But I believe the country needs a wholesale reversal of the assualt on liberty that 13 years of scoailism has inflicted upon us. And until now, I haven't seen anyone else who really "gets it". Until now, perhaps ?

But this story did get hold of me. Any party which launches an attack on the "Big Brother State" will do for me. I simply love the idea of a "Great Repeal Bill", in which the worst excesses of ZaNu Labour's nanny, intrusive, "thou shalt not", DNA-retaining, free-speech hating, ever-spying Stasi are rolled back in one go. No ID cards, no HIPs, more limited power of entry of the State into your house. What a truly fantastic thing. If it happens.

Cameron has, at times, touched on civil liberties and just suggested, from time-to-time, that he hates what Labour have done in government and is genuinley concerned by the extenstions in State power at the expense of the individual. But never, as far as I'm aware, has he articulated something as concrete as a single Act of Parliament as a means of starting the fightback.

The best thing about this is that it really should survive a hung parliament. The Liberals, if they are as good as their word (yeah, OK, point taken) really should back it to the hilt. It ought to be the easiest single bill for Cameron to push through. And that being the case, Dave shouldn't stop at HIPs and ID cards. He should carry on, and deal too with imprisonment without trial, restrictions on free speech, the outrageous smoking bans, the rise of the Food Police, the need to carry out CRB checks on all and sundry, child curfews, the increased likelihood of arrest if you take a photograph in the street, the right to run round town in one's underpants, the exponential rise in the number of CCTV cameras, attacks on peple trying to practice Christianity, right through to the practice of teachers to impound our children's Mars Bars.

That should be enough for him to be going on with.

The Womble's No Show

I've been doing a bit of agonising over who to vote for tomorrow.

I still consider myself a Conservative by instinct but I've long since come to the conclusion that when it comes down to rolling back the State's frontiers which have enveloped our very existence since 1997, they are not up to the job. Dave may slow the growth of State power, he will not reverse it.

I could never, under any circumstances, bring myself to vote Liberal, and Labour and the BNP (one and the same thing) are completely off limits. UKIP, especially in the context of European Elections, have appealed to me in the past but they just seem a bit wacky to me, and they lack discipline. Nigel Farage is an utterly inspiring leader, and the expenses-grabbing conduct of some of their MEPs suggests to me that they're no better than the rest.

If there were a Libertarian Party candidate, I'd vote for them, but they're not playing out tomorrow. That basically leaves the English Democrats. I like these guys, and I voted for them last time round. But they keep a low profile, they've put nothing through my door and the level of support for them last time was pretty pitiful.

In the end, the words my Dad so loved from a non-voting friend of his hold sway. This friend never voted for politicians because "voting only encourages them". Whether it's my age, cynicism or just the expenses thing, I've decided not to "encourage" anyone tomorrow. Let's face it, if there's anyone we shouldn't be humouring, it's the EU. I bet those tax-grabbing, money-squandering, self-interested federalists in Brussels would love a high turnout; it would feed their egos and help them to self-justify their existence.



So the Womble will "stay at home". But abstaining doesn't mean apathy. On Friday and Sunday I'll be hoping to see New Labour in carnage. And if I see it, boy, will I enjoy it !

How To Make An Idiot Of Yourself In < 140 Characters

Via Guido and Tory Bear. This can't mean what everyone thinks it means, can it ?

Election in early autumn, anyone ?

Interestingly, Nick Brown now appears to have blocked his Twittter page, which can only add weight to the consensus that this message went far wider than it was meant to.

On the other hand, if you knew the election date and didn't want the world to know, would you tell Austin Mitchell ?

One Down, 645 To Go

It looks as if Michael Martin has finally got the message; I wonder who gave it to him. Whilst there seems some doubt about the exact timing, he will stand down before the next General Election.

I can't say I'm sorry. I hate to see anyone lose their job but he lost any lingering respect I had in him (and I've been more patient than most) through his reaction to the expenses fiasco. He'd clearly lost the plot last week when he had a go at Kate Hoey, and his statement to the House yesterday was lamentable; no evidence of clear thinking about the way ahead, no roadmap, no obvious vision. He is not the man to lead the Commons out of this minefield.

Apparently his resignation means that there'll be a by-election in his Glasgow North East seat; if that's the case I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it being won by a "Clean up politics" independent candidate.

I've been wondering over recent days whether there shouldn't be a General Election anyway. You have to be careful not to over-react at times like this of media fever, but have not our MPs lost, in the public's eyes, their moral authority to govern us ? Is there not now such a generally held contempt for MPs that they should have to put the case before the electorate again, and let us make the call ?

Glenrothes - It Stinks

Via Guido and Political Betting comes news of a quite staggering data loss north of that border which isn't really a border even though I wish it was.

The record of people who voted in the Glenrothes by election in November has gone missing.

Here's how things are supposed to happen in elections. In the beginning the authorities are supposed to hold a list of who is eligible to vote. And then when people do vote, the authorities are supposed to cross their names off. To make sure that no one votes who isn't entitled to do so, to stop people voting twice...that kind of thing; you know, to stop this country being compared to Zimbabwe and the like. And, at the end of the process, the list of everyone who has voted should be kept. In a safe place. Not difficult, you'd have thought.

After the election, candidates and their agents are entitled to see the list. They have to pay a fee of some sort, but many political parties ask for a copy so that they can find out which of their supporters turned out. Whether it should be like this is a matter for debate - personally I regard whether I vote or not as no one else's business, but the law doesn't see it like that, so I guess I just have to live with it.

Except in Glenrothes, it really is no one else's business. That is, if the list really has gone missing, and hasn't been nicked, hidden or destroyed by somebody or somebodies with something to hide. All this in a by-election where the stakes were massive, the result a big surprise and the increase in the number of postal votes was colossal.

As far as I know, the list of voters has never "gone missing" after a Parliamentary election. Yet after this one, one of the most significant for years, it has done just that.

Sniff, sniff...I smell ZaNu Labour.

Democracy When It Suits

I see that certain people in the Labour Party are getting nervous about direct elections for members of local police authorities. They're worrried that the BNP might win some seats, and have been lobbying the government to abandon the idea.

The theory behind the elections is that they would help increase police acccountability and bring about the kind of policing people actually want, and it strikes me as being worth a try.

But Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour chair of the Local Government Association, says that direct elections could open the door to extremists and that "the process is open to populism". Oh, Heaven deliver us from populism !

It's fascinating how these guys proclaim to support democracy until they're faced with the prospect of a result they don't like, at which point they immediately try and rein it in. I reckon Beecham should have more faith in the people he serves to make sensible decisions. It will be interesting to see if Jacqui Smith has the courage of her convictions or caves in.

By the way, it seems to be the norm for bloggers who mention the BNP to feel they must distance themselves from them. Well, I'm not going to bother. Regular visitors to this blog will know how I feel about a powerful State and the coercion that comes with it. They'll know my faith in the free market and they'll know how I long for the break-up of the United Kingdom. Now have a look at the BNP's polices and draw your own conclusions.

The Lost Bottle That Will Blow Over

Much glee on Conservative blogs about GB calling the election off. They sense a major propaganda victory, and are revelling in it. I felt they were going overboard. I wondered whether how their joy contrasted with the reaction on the Left, so I went in search of commentary from Labour Party supporters.

It took me a while to find any. Many Labour blogs, regularly updated, are strangely lacking any critique on the biggest political story since Blair resigned. That it itself says something. When I eventually found a blog that was covering it (Labour Home) it was clear that there's a good deal of anger in the red section of the political spectrum. Brown himself escapes much of the criticism; blame generally is laid at the doors of "advisers". Words such as "embarrassing", "mess" and "shambles" do indeed abound. Beneath it though, there there are some who hold a more prosaic view that this, like many a past storm, will blow over, and I think they're right.

For those of us who find politics interesting, it's been gripping stuff for the last fortnight. But most people are not like us. They don't follow the events hour-by-hour, or even every day. Sure, some will think that Brown has bottled it and some of them may even let it affect their voting intentions - for a while. But when Brown does finally name the date, in 2009 or 2010, no one's going to remember or care about the election that never was.

BBC Saying Brown's Bottled It

The BBC is reporting that Gordon Brown is just about to issue a statement ruling out an autumn election, roughly 48 hours after I'd predicted that we'd be having one on 8th November.

Shows what I know.