Blog 7

In April and May 2005 Blog 7 was a blog about Politics

dept of poetic outcomes (eu division)

i. is it really actually true that not so long ago, chirac went on TV w. a purple balloon labelled “plan b” and popped it w. a pin??!?
ii. noting placing of france in eurovision song contest – ie LAST – can we expect relegation or similar? the provisional EU = mitteleuropa; the continuity EU = france; the Real EU = the uk!!
iii. is blog 7 still about politics?

(i enjoy how half the responses – ie to all france’s NON – have been “this is a calamity! but actually it won’t make much difference to anything” on which case, BEST CALAMITY EVER!! )

After The Ambulances Go

There are still political posters, all over town. I’ve not seen any in windows – but then I didn’t before the election. But on poster sites, yes. Labour’s “if you vote for it, value it” near Tooting station, a stern reminder. The Tories’ “This is your last chance to tell him what you think”, next to it, an impotent yelp. The Lib Dems, “We Oppose – We Propose”, on the way to Colliers Wood tube, more of a blog post than ever.

How long will they last? The most likely survivors are Unison’s “How can ’35 million cuts IMPROVE public services?”, because they’re all over the Unison building and so nobody can buy the space. The others? Not long now. At first I thought, oh, why don’t they take them down, naively imagining you could un-utter these statements as easily as they were made.

take the money! open the box! everybody’s on t-o-o-op of the pOpS

the intriguing thing abt my post-punk pal mark k-punk is that his “don’t vote it only encourages em” hippyoid disenchantment combines with slightly rear-view morleyism (objects in mirror appear closer than they are!!) and EXCELLENT old-skool pol-analysis um skeez

however – despite noting the big-brotherisation the parliamentary contest – even k-punk is in denial in ref my brilliant theory of “portillo’s long game” (which is of course to re-enter politics as its saviour via a post lab-con MASTERY of reality-TV era media at all levels) (= the desedimentation of the immanent politics of big brother/wife swapping/the apprentice/hell’s cabinet etc etc)

best result ever (solo division)

h’angus to wed!!

our melting pot (and theirs)

as a (actually serious) follow-through to this post, here is what Baer says abt Galloway’s win, concluding “As [James] Forsythe [in the New Republic] goes on to explain, a Galloway win could spark a backlash against Muslims as: ‘It could lead many Britons to conclude that Muslims threaten the country’s liberal political culture.’ Galloway?s win is a loss for us all.” Galloway is a dick among dicks but this is deeply silly (and I think demonstrates how little Baer *does* understand Brit politics): GG received death-threats from anti-democratic militants; the votes he got from Muslims, however alienated from the consensus – not that there IS a consensus on the war in the UK – represent support for the UK’s parliamentary culture. Given that there well-organised alternatives, the fact that these people VOTED is a VOTE FOR VOTING. As a coalition between what Baer vaguely deems the “far far far left”* and “Islamists”, RESPECT represents both a domestication and a compromise, which together entirely draw such anti-parliamentary sting as any of the disparate elements might secretly imagine they can still call on.

*And if Gorgeous G is a Stalinist at heart, the SWP – another major partner in RESPECT – have of course been witheringly anti-Stalinist lo! these 70-odd years…

worst result ever (solo division)

this was mentioned in passing by pundits last night*: someone in a Welsh constituency polled just a single vote – apparently the lowest prior to this being a surprisingly roomy 13

(ie this hopeful not only persuaded no one on policy, but their family hate em and they have no friends!)

*(disclaimer: it wz at abt 4:30 so i may not be remembering the details accurately)

UPDATE:
here she is: CARDIFF NORTH Catherine Taylor-Dawson Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket 1 vote!!

however someone of the same name also stood in several other cardiff constituencies (i didn’t know you were even allowed to do this) and polled several hundred votes in toto :(

FURTHER UPDATE:
here is where you realise that dystopian sci-fi visions of the electronic future of politics (and the hypersexualised environment generally) are laughably off the money

WHAT A SHOWER

Tory “runners and riders” post-Howard: is this the best they can do? Answer: yes. Ghastly mixed feelings for the left-leaner – Tory leaders getting more and more ridiculous as the gene pool shrinks, but electoral pass the parcel means that one of them sooner or later will be holding the keys to No.10 when the Labour music stops. Ulp.

So….what?

To slip into the football argot so curiously beloved of Blair this campaign, “I’d have taken that result before the game”. Labour majority bad for Blair, usable for Brown. Tories make a few gains in (mostly) seats you’d expect to be Tory anyway, but national share of the vote at 33% DESPITE the incredibly bad 36% share for the winning party. The Tories are gaining about 1% per election: this is atrocious given how much Blair has alienated his own supporters. Lib Dems – vote share edging back to Alliance levels, modest seat gains but I’d been pessimistically telling Isabel I thought they’d lose seats overall so shows what I know. Lesson for ’09: commited Independents willing to get local (or nasty) can take almost any seat. Show pony demagogues a la Kilroy Silk still don’t play well in Britain but I still think there’s a lot of wiggle room for populist politics.

Reasons to vote Official Monster Raving Loony

Reasons to vote Official Monster Raving Loony

Knigel Knapp (Knight of the Unknown) is standing in Hackney North. If elected he will:

Ban the bendy bus (they’re too big and too bendy)
Install Stocks instead of Asbos

The rest of it is silly, but I don’t see Diane Abbott sticking up for Routemasters. He also says these promises may be fibs.