Have you noticed that the latest London government catch phrase is “in the national interest”? In recent interviews Nick Clegg said it, Cameron said it, Tess May hardly said anything else, Danny Alexander and Michael Moore said it.... I suppose they are trying to tell their supporters that they don’t like each other at all, but they are biting the bullet and tolerating each other “in the national interest”. And maybe they even think that we, or at least some of us, will believe it... instead of believing that they stay together out of sheer naked ambition and fear of humiliation should they be the shortest-lived government since...well, forever, I should think.
The “No” campaign has been telling us how awful AV would be and how we would be stuck forever with weak and unwanted coalitions, whilst FPTP, would ensure strong firm government with sizable majorities. So, something must have gone wrong. After all the London coalition is about as popular as a cornucopia of slugs at the Chelsea Flower Show (yes that is the collective noun for slugs) and it was elected by.....? Whereas the Scottish government, which has a majority of 10 (sizeable given the number of members) was elected by ....oh remind me... how was it elected again?
I was reminded on Thursday night after seeing Paul Air Miles Martin of what a graceless little man he is. A bad looser, he just couldn’t bring himself to congratulate the SNP on their victory. He kept on in an aggressive tone that Labour would hold them to account for every single promise they made in their manifesto. The irony seems to escape him that that is exactly the job of an opposition party...to hold the government to account. I’m surprised he didn’t think they did that in the last parliament. It was certainly what we paid them for. As a son of a baron (chuckle: even one that the House of Lords didn’t want) the unlovely Paul is entitled to the style “The Honourable” before his name. Well... how about that?
I once met Margaret Curren, and in fairness I thought she was not a bad Minister for Social Justice. She and I travelled to a site in Dundee together for her to meet people my organisation had helped to find work there. She seemed a competent woman, on top of the job and furthermore she was good company. So I was disappointed to see the shrill, angry, inarticulate version of Margaret on the election coverage on STV. You used to be much nicer Margaret.
Talking of the TV election coverage...and I can only really speak for STV’s which I thought was excellent (I can’t bear to watch Dumblebum on the BBC)... why is it that they invite MPs in to talk about what’s going on in OUR parliament? I mean they don’t get MSPs or AMs in to comment when they’re electing the English/UK parliament. And in any case isn’t it a bit of a waste of time? All they say that it is “too early to draw any firm conclusions”, and that so and so, “fought an excellent campaign on the doorstep” and was “an exceptional candidate”. What I did enjoy, though, was Bernard Ponsonby’s knowledgeable comments and those of the professor of politics who analysed the results, and trends.
Nick Clegg and Cameron have agreed that we will hear no more about electoral reform now, the AV referendum having been run and any change well and truly trounced. So, I’d agree, the public made it clear they didn’t want AV, not surprisingly seeing as how many babies it would seemingly kill, but we still haven’t had any say on whether we want proportional representation. Have we?
