Election coming

This post has been coming for a while and it's born out of frustration at the political scene over here.

For those unitiated in GB politics, we effectively have a 2 party state with the main competition being between Labour and Conservative. It wasn't always that way, before the First World War the Liberals had a chance too. There's a few hangers on too, like the Liberals and the SNP. But it's mostly down to a fight between Tory and Labour. Or should that be Red Tory and Blue Tory, the lines are that blurred.

In a system where the candidates who become MPs are required to vote the way they are told, there's not much leeway in the system. You could even say it's a democratic dictatorship, with the 2 Houses providing a rubber stamp for the wishes of the PM. With that kind of setup, it becomes all about the personalities. We saw this in the 2 elections that Labour lost in 1987 and 1992, where Labour were expected to win but the country couldn't bring itself to vote for Neil Kinnock.

So what have we got to choose from ?

There's Gordon Brown and his cronies in Labour. After all the half truths, broken promises and blatant lies from them over the past decade or so, can't trust 'em. Then we have Cameron and the Tories. These guys are preparing for government, with the polls favouring them over Labour. Trouble is, he's no Obama. A political party stands or falls by the fortunes of its leader and Cameron is making the scales close instead of landslide. Not really sure what the Blue Tory policies are, which could be a symptom of how many of their policies have been stolen by the Red Tory's over the years.

Cameron could be another Kinnock ...

Then there's the Liberals in third. These guys were promising when Charles Kennedy was in charge, he was one of the few politicians I've had any respect for. Since they put the knife in there, they've reverted to some of the worst behaviour possible from a political party. Not much evidence of policy here either, apart from soundbites which they won't have a chance of standing by.

We're also blighted by the BNP, who have a leader who does himself no favours by always being seen with his escorting Heavy Mob. People don't like being threatened and that Heavy Mob is a definite "Don't argue with us" threat. Doesn't work in GB politics.

The political system in the UK is also supposed to be about MPs representing the views of their constituents. You see precious little evidence of this, I've certainly seen nothing through my door asking my view on important upcoming Parliament votes. The MPs are required to vote the way the whips tell them. Is that democracy ?

So - we're facing an election knowing that whatever we choose won't change much in the way the country is run. What will happen over the next 5 years ? We shall see. Not much hope for improvement.

And I've not even mentioned expenses !

Oh yeah, I'm trying to avoid saying who I'm likely to vote for, although I have given an opinion or two. We'll see whether one or the other parties earn my vote over the next month or so. Shame there isn't a "None of the Above" option !