In a few weeks something that should be of huge significance is happing in the UK – a general election. We have three main parties in this country, Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. There are others, the BNP (pretty much neo Nazi’s) The Green party (who have no chance) and my personal favourites The Monster Raving Looney Party (does what it says on the tin).
The country should be locked in a heated debate as to which party is the best one to lead us out of recession and into a bright new future. We should be getting a repeat of 1997; a government that has been in power for over 10 years should be facing a Party with new ideas and a charismatic leader. The election should be the hot topic on everyone’s lips – after all this decision will shape our country for the next five years, but it isn’t, in fact I bet people are more interested in how the new Dr Who* does than the fate of our nation.
Pretty much every other country in the world seems to take their elections way more seriously than us Brits. There is a huge sense of apathy hanging over the nation; no one really seems to care. That’s actually a pretty scary thing when you think about it, as a nation we don’t care about who runs us. In fact I bet I could stand for parliament on a platform of world domination and as long as I had an exciting TV campaign I would win it.**
One argument is that with all the scandal surrounding our MPs recently people are burnt out on politics but that’s not an excuse it’s a rallying call! We should be champing at the bit to sort our country out not moaning that MP’s are all corrupt so who cares who gets in power. Another I have heard is that we have no viable alternative to Gordon Brown, hell Barak Obama was heard to call the most likely candidate (David Cameron) a few unflattering names when they met. The other argument is that one knows what any party stands for, rubbish! The BBC website is full of information on the upcoming election, or you could go to each party’s website to check them out. Or contact each local candidate office over the phone and ask them, hell if your really lazy wait for the canvassers to knock on your door and talk to them. The point is the information is there and not hard to find.
There is a very real possibility we could have a hung parliament due to voter apathy. I predict a really low turnout to this election and in all probability we will have a Conservative/Lib Dem power sharing alliance. Or worse someone like the BNP will get more power as people will be voting for them out of protest.
I’m not a politically minded person but even I can see that we are in a dangerous time at the moment. So if you’re in the UK and can vote all I ask is that you spend a few minutes looking into what each party has to say. If you still can’t make a decision then soil your ballot paper on Election Day, it’s a statement in itself and much better than doing nothing.
Ok rant over, I promise the next blog will contain 100% less social commentary.
*That’s not to say i’m not, I am, I can’t wait till Saturday.
** Now there is an idea….