Hung or Balanced

Some journalists and commentators have said that the people of Britain voted for a hung parliament. No they didn't! If they voted for the Tory candidate, they did so because the they wanted a Tory government. Similarly for Labour voters. It may be that Lib Dem voters wanted a hung, or 'balanced' (as Nick Clegg preferred to call it) parliament, but they weren't in the majority.

The general view has been that a balanced parliament is not a good thing. We need a "strong" parliament, so we are told. But do we? A strong parliament means the majority party can push through their nutty right- or left-wing (depending on their colour) policies.

What we have are what I would call 'measured' decisions, to be made by our coalition.

If this coalition works (and that's a big 'if'!), could they change things so I could actually vote for a coalition next time?

Presumably that would be much more likely to happen with a PR system. And that's why, of course, the two main parties don't want it, and the Lib Dems sooooo do!

Money matters - so the markets say

In my blog on 7 May, I mentioned Mariella Frostrup's frustration about why we as a country still seem to be at the mercy of the money markets. I was interested to read yesterday Gary Younge's article in The Guardian entitled, The People have spoken. Don't let the Money Markets shout them down. It included this paragraph:

So the very sector we bailed out with public money, run by incompetent people who are once again paying themselves bonuses, is now threatening to destabilise the next government unless it fires thousands of low-paid workers, cuts their wages and withdraws the services to millions of mostly poor people.

I think that says it all really. Thank you, Gary.

You can read the whole article at

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/10/people-markets-democracy-capitalism

The result of voting?

A lady interviewed by the press was upset. If she voted Lib Dem but didn't get Nick Clegg as Prime Minister she thought it "was a poor sign of our society." She gave an illustration, that if she ordered cheesecake in a restaurant she wouldn't expect to get apple pie !

Presumably she doesn't realise that voting in an election is a little different from ordering a sweet.


On the other hand, say all the customers had a vote on their favourite pudding - the choices were apple pie, cheesecake or ice cream. Then, everybody had to have the sweet that came top!

Unless, of course, there wasn't a clear majority. Then maybe the apple pie could get together with the ice cream. That sounds quite good, actually. Although I'd prefer custard.

Maybe I need to re-write this blog ...

Parliament is Hung Out

So it's a hung parliament. Or a balanced parliament as the minority parties prefer to call it. My view is whichever party runs the country they are going to be in for an extremely rough ride. They are going to have to make cuts, which won't be popular. What is happening on the continent will have its affect here, even though we are not part of the Eurozone.

On the election reporting last night, when it was mentioned that the 'markets' would not respond well to a 'hung parliament', Mariella Frostrup indicated her frustration that even after the banking crisis, we as a country are still at the mercy of the money markets. I'm with her there! Our country seems to sink or swim as a result of the 'markets'. Honestly, what is all that about?

But back to my original point, any party is going to have a rough ride and will soon be pretty unpopular with the voters. So my advice to Gordon Brown is, let David Cameron lead the country. He'll then get all the stick and in a year or so's time when we have another election, you can say your policies would have worked better, and maybe get a swing back to Labour!

Who knows?

Voting or betting?

On one of the BBC Radio News slots this morning, Alan Dedicote reported the high percentage of people who "hadn't yet decided who to back" in the election.

What?? Is tomorrow polling day or a horse race? I thought you voted for the person you thought was best for the country, you didn't back the one you thought would win!

Or have I got it wrong?

Watch out! Election coming!

During two advertisement breaks in A Touch of Frost last night (wasn't it terrible about George, by the way?) we had the newsflash that Gordon Brown was going to see the Queen to begin the process of calling an election. Then, of course, the news after Frost was full of it.

This morning every news bulletin we heard on the radio was about the PM going to Buckingham Palace. Then this evening's news was all about the fact he had been and what the parties were saying.

Do you know, I'm bored with the election already!