The Leader Debates are now done and – to a great sigh of relief from the PM – over. Bizarre that they held these before manifesto launches, but hey. Miliband seems to have ridden out of them well, the SNP even more so. Cameron, who looks like a man peeved that he’s having to do unpaid overtime, tried to hide behind his podium. All rather disappointing, which I suppose was the point Cameron wanted: knowing full well most viewers would switch off when they heard that Cameron, on live TV, would be mass debating.
The ad-hominem attacks on Milliband continue from the right-wing press and their chums in the Tory party; the Anti-Kinnock playbook being wielded out by that scummy racist Lynton Crosby. Attack the leader as being weak, and then paradoxically then accuse him of being too driven. Quite wonderfully, however, the British public have seen through this. Blame social media, blame the lack of love the public have for politicians using dirty tactics; blame the fact that the Tories just cannot help themselves being the Nasty Party. the more they attack Miliband, the stronger he seems to get. Crivens! Will we have to discuss actual policy now???
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Debates come to Beeston this Monday (13th). The Parish Church is hosting a hustings with all the parties (though Frank Dunne of UKIP can’t make it). That’ll be Soubry, Palmer, Heptinstall, Kirwan and the guy from Justice For Men and Boys Party. It’s open to all, free to go in, and should be interesting.
The previous sets of hustings in 2010 were notable for how little Soubry knew about policy; or indeed, where Broxtowe was; the Lib Dems David Watts in boisterous mood with his claims that the Lib Dems were the second horse in the two-horse race (the actual results on the day suggesting they more closely resembled a retired Skeggy donkey); the Greens confusing the hell out of seasoned husting-watchers by being honest and saying ‘we’re not going to win. I know that, you know that. But read our manifesto, it might give you some ideas for the future’; Chris Cobb out of UKIP being disappointingly polite; and the BNP’s candidate failing to turn up after failing to find anyone to read the invite to him.
This year will be much different: Soubry now with the polls against her, defending a poor record, and fighting for her seat rather than drifting in on an ‘Anyone But Brown’ swing; Palmer’s mild intellectualism against her blustery temper; Stan Heptinstall’s mild intellectualism also against Soubry’s blustery temper; Kirwan (Greens) putting in a much slicker, but perhaps not as admirable performance than his predecessor; and the guy from the party whose name takes an age to type out and won’t get more than a fraction of a percentage point annoying any journalists there who have to go back to their offices and type out his parties incredibly long and convoluted name just to point out the fact that he’ll take a mere fraction of a percentage point and if at the next election he could choose a party which doesn’t have such a long and convoluted name then everyone would be much happier.
Hopefully, the event will be filmed and put on-line. If not, I’ll try and blog live from there, possibly over Twitter. Hope to see you there.
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The petition that’s been set up to demand our next MP vigorously renegotiates the recent Local Government Settlement that left Broxtowe with the worst deal in the whole UK ( https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/renegotiate-broxtowe-s-local-government-settlement-1 ) is coming along well, gathering steam. Already, we’ve had several candidates endorse it: Nick Palmer; Stan Heptinstall and David Kirwan.
Independent Stapleford candidate and tireless campaigner Richard Macrae has put his name to it. UKIP acknowledged awareness of it, and I think they signed: if they’d like to drop an email to confirm I’ll get that mentioned. No response from any Tories, who are probably be put off by me being the ‘enemy’ (on the left of the political spectrum). i’d like to assure them all that this isn’t a party political issue. It’s the future of Beeston (and Broxtowe as a whole) being able to maintain services, keep paying council staff a Living Wage and have money to spend making the town look fit for purpose when the tram rolls in. Put party politics aside, for the sake of Broxtowe, and lets work together, in a civic and civil manner.
If you haven’t signed: do so. While many petitions sometimes seem somewhat ineffective due to being easily ignored, this one is directly demanding something in a marginal seat. If you have signed it, thank you. Now tell your family, your friends, random people who you pass in the street. Candidates from all parties will be knocking on your door like amphetamine-addled Jehovah Witnesses until polling day: ask if they have signed it, and if not, why not?
Put it out on Facebook. Tweet it on Twitter. Share it on other social media sites I’m too old to bother working out how to use. Print out copies and sellotape them to your clothing. Lets get this big.
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A dilemma among many voters on the political left is who to vote for. Many feel that Labour aren’t rejecting austerity and showing it for what it really is: a transference of public ownership assets into private hands; or have various other reasons why they’re uncomfortable. The leaders debate had one bizarre consequence: Sturgeon put in such a solid performance that should she field candidates across the whole UK, not just Scotland, she’d do better than the Lib Dems.
The dilemma deepens due to our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system. Broxtowe is a ‘crucial marginal’; where a swing of less than 200 people can change the national score on who runs the country. As the polls show an incredibly tight race, this is a weirdly distortion of power. In 2001, I was working in Tunbridge Wells at the time fo election. A hugely safe Tory seat, a vote there is effectively useless: I was working at the BBC at the time and had booked our radio interviews in with the winners (including a very bad-tempered Anne Widdecombe) well before the votes had been counted.
Such power puts those who want to show support to anyone but the only two real contenders in a pickle. How can they vote for, say, Green, without inadvertently ushering in another five years of brutal austerity and Soubry ruling the roost?
That’s why this ingenious idea comes in: http://voteswap.org/seat/i65849 . It’s a tool where you simply find someone in a seat like Tunbridge Wells, whose vote will be a waste at a constituency level, who is willing to swop with you and therefore ensure your support for your chosen party still gets included in the national vote share, but doesn’t accidentally usher in the Tories, or worse. It’s a ridiculously simple and elegant idea: and until we see sense and bring in proportional representation, the best solution to the dilemma.
Beestonia 
The best sentence in your piece is the last one and really the only justification for my comment. Otherwise, I was on the brink of no longer reading your blog.
The ad hominem treatment of present and past candidates is just what is putting people of sensible debate. You even complain about it yourself, in respect of Tory smears on Cameron. You are increasingly partisan!
Unlike yourself, Mike, I’m not a member of any party. I never claim to be ‘non-partisan’ (who truly is?) but I am independent of any political party or organisation. Being accused of Ad-hominen attacks from a Lib Dem, whose local members are up to their elbows in smears, rumours and outright lies is pretty – no pun intended -rich.
Perhaps it was the impression you were trying to give in the past with remarks such as:
“I still have a piece apparently incoming from Beeston LibDem Steve Carr, which, as always, I shall print in full. Beestonia is, after all, a sounding board.”
and
“The fact Beeston has TWO independent local publications is pretty incredible, and symptomatic of a healthy town that likes debate.”
or maybe it was something I read in your printed version. You may be independent, but perhaps you should admit your partisanship in your banner header: “Beestonian, the voice of the Labour Party in Beeston”. I am independent and not ashamed to be a member of the LibDems, having previously been a member of a once principled Labour Party for 20 years.
As for your pun, I first heard such infantile remarks where they were to be expected, in primary school. I have since heard them in public only from poor taste journalists and Labour councillors attempting to intimidate me.
Category error, Michael. I write this blog alone (with the odd guest post). The Beestonian I merely edit. It’s a magazine made up of around 30 loose contributors from all walks of life, and apart from a similar name, not connected otherwise. We actively avoid politics as it best fits the positive ethos of the mag. Most decisions are committee: I merely commission and edit content there. I also work on several other projects, paid and voluntary, which similarly are nothing to do with this. Should I perhaps rename the Cafe Roya Film Club the Cafe Roya and Workers Commune Film Club?
Never joined a political party, never will. That really seems to confuse people like yourself who are stuck in a mental whipping on every issue, much as they claim independence and free will. Dull, dull, dull.
Also, perhaps write this out a few times: ‘ NEUTRAL AND INDEPENDENT ARE NOT THE SAME THING’. Reread it. Then again. And then again and again. Eventually, it might sink in. Or perhaps many years of indoctrination have killed off that area of the mind.
Steve Carr, since you mention it, is a guy who sent my wife unsolicited threatening emails. He thinks it fine to hang out with neo-nazis as long as they hate his opponents. He tells me that he is ‘as left wing as the Lib Dems allow me’ then publicly state that ‘Teenagers should have ESA withdrawn as I saw some eating pizza’. A nasty, ridiculous petulant human. Of all the parties I’ve had the displeasure to look at over the last few years, the Lib Dems are by far the most dishonest, loose-principled, desperate for power and ideologically empty bunch of the lot. Glad the British public have seen that and will gleefully have you all wiped out come May.
Calm down dear! In the words of Freddie Mercury “Nothing really Matt -ers!”
Sorry, I meant to say, Tory smears on Miliband. Typing in anger is not good at my age!
Just signed the petition and shared the voteswap web address. Nick Palmer doesn’t seem to want to oppose TTIP, but voting Green here would only help Soubry.