... and it's all just a little bit of history repeating
Posted: 25 May 2008, 01:34
Looking at the front pages of the papers yesterday, many are sounding the death knell for the Gordon Brown Party by extrapolating from the Crewe by-election result. You can feel them getting all excited about the Gordon Brown crew being trounced by the David Cameron Party sweeping to power at the next General Election.
Except that a few elections ago we had a Conservative government, and then everyone got so excited because Tony Blair moved into number 10 (with Cherie of course) and we were told that "Things can only get better". It was all going to be fresh, radical, new and exciting.
Memories are so short. The media get excited about someone getting kicked out and then someone new arriving. It's like getting a new TV, or a new car, or a new house or a new anything. It's just better isn't it, because it's new and that old, tired, useless one can just go into landfill. And people will vote, and probably the David Cameron Party will get in and then we'll have more calls for more police, and tightening the law on terror, and maybe ID cards aren't so bad, and we need more roads, and the aviation industry is a vital part of the UK's economic renaissance and so we must support it and build more roads, and bring down taxes and have more nurses and doctors.
At the moment the 'quality' papers may be interested in PO, and environmental issues, and Climate Change and food prices and running front page articles on these important issues and perhaps even giving the Green Party the passing nod in the odd article. But, when the chips are down and election time approaches, such frippery will have to be cast aside and the serious politicians will take centre stage - the Gordon Brown Party and the David Cameron Party will be the only show in town. The yellowy-orange party may be mentioned in passing and of course the Greens will be way too far off the scale for any serious analysis. Let's face it, we need people at the helm who know what they're doing and we know what that means. Yes, more of what you and I have had for almost as long as we can remember.
And then, after the election, the dust settles and the view clears. And the media will start asking again about the rising cost of fuel, and the overcrowding on the trains, and pointing out (in front page articles) the state of our food supplies, and the increase in floods and rising CO2 levels, clone town Britain, and what actually is the government's sustainable energy policy? Do they really expect nuclear to offer what was proposed at the price we were promised - with no taxpayer involvement? And after several years of the David Cameron Party running the show there will be a feeling that they're mishandling the economy - fuel poverty is rising, hauliers protesting, food prices rising, no decrease in crime figures, growth stalling, the trade gap growing. Questions may be raised about his ability to deliver the brave new world. Disquiet grows and then there's a by-election and the Gordon Brown(?) party has a huge swing delivering the people's verdict on their incompetence. Maybe a General Election ...
Or, is there a chance, that just maybe, the British population might wake up from this Gordon Cameron Groundhog Day and dare to do something different?
Except that a few elections ago we had a Conservative government, and then everyone got so excited because Tony Blair moved into number 10 (with Cherie of course) and we were told that "Things can only get better". It was all going to be fresh, radical, new and exciting.
Memories are so short. The media get excited about someone getting kicked out and then someone new arriving. It's like getting a new TV, or a new car, or a new house or a new anything. It's just better isn't it, because it's new and that old, tired, useless one can just go into landfill. And people will vote, and probably the David Cameron Party will get in and then we'll have more calls for more police, and tightening the law on terror, and maybe ID cards aren't so bad, and we need more roads, and the aviation industry is a vital part of the UK's economic renaissance and so we must support it and build more roads, and bring down taxes and have more nurses and doctors.
At the moment the 'quality' papers may be interested in PO, and environmental issues, and Climate Change and food prices and running front page articles on these important issues and perhaps even giving the Green Party the passing nod in the odd article. But, when the chips are down and election time approaches, such frippery will have to be cast aside and the serious politicians will take centre stage - the Gordon Brown Party and the David Cameron Party will be the only show in town. The yellowy-orange party may be mentioned in passing and of course the Greens will be way too far off the scale for any serious analysis. Let's face it, we need people at the helm who know what they're doing and we know what that means. Yes, more of what you and I have had for almost as long as we can remember.
And then, after the election, the dust settles and the view clears. And the media will start asking again about the rising cost of fuel, and the overcrowding on the trains, and pointing out (in front page articles) the state of our food supplies, and the increase in floods and rising CO2 levels, clone town Britain, and what actually is the government's sustainable energy policy? Do they really expect nuclear to offer what was proposed at the price we were promised - with no taxpayer involvement? And after several years of the David Cameron Party running the show there will be a feeling that they're mishandling the economy - fuel poverty is rising, hauliers protesting, food prices rising, no decrease in crime figures, growth stalling, the trade gap growing. Questions may be raised about his ability to deliver the brave new world. Disquiet grows and then there's a by-election and the Gordon Brown(?) party has a huge swing delivering the people's verdict on their incompetence. Maybe a General Election ...
Or, is there a chance, that just maybe, the British population might wake up from this Gordon Cameron Groundhog Day and dare to do something different?
