…and it’s members in vats of acid, with any luck. And, after checking that I really am registered to vote in the Staffordshire Moorlands Constituency - which is, somewhat surprisingly, a relatively solid Labour seat. Now, remembering what it was like growing up there and reading the general description of the place “Rural area, of outstanding natural beauty - one third of the constituency is in the Peak District National Park. Consists of small market towns and villages. Industries include hill-farming, dairies and huge, unsightly theme parks”. It doesn’t sound like your typical Labour stronghold, and in fact it isn’t - it’s one of those places whose charcter has been altered by boundary changes; lose a few commuter villages here, gain a bit of Glom-on-Trent North there, get the Tory vote so disillusioned that they start voting UKIP and Referendum party and voilà, a new Labour seat. A Labour seat in a rural area where the MP votes to ban fox-hunting and generally seems to have a bit of a countryside hatred.
Anyway, I now have my 5 weeks (okay, probably less, postal vote and all) to work out who gets my cross in their box. Whlst I don’t find our Dear Leader too bad in his role as megalomaniac figurehead, the rest of his party (with a few exceptions like, say, Kate Hoey), well I’m sick and tired of their overbearing, pc, holier-than-thou sanctiminousness. The Conservatives? An alternative? Well possibly, until you see whose in charge. Which leaves the LibDems? Well, to quote from the e-mail flyer I just got from Charles Kennedy…
First, we would ask the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers to pay that bit more. Second, we would redirect £5 billion of existing government spending by scrapping wasteful Government programmes like compulsory ID cards and cutting back central government departments.
Hmmm. Okay, I can agree with one of his points. But aren’t the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers exactly the demographic for whom leaving the country (and taking all their wealth with them) to a more tax-friendly regime is by far the easiest and most worthwhile?
Just a thought…. And I can see me flipping lots of coins before I finally make my mind up.
German Word For Today: “Ländliches gegend” - Bus service once per week.
Song playing as this was published: Joy Division “Atmosphere”
