A Sad, Sad Day

[lupestripe]

The BNP gain two seats (largely thanks to the media scaremongering actually giving them publicity and thus being counter-productive) whilst UKIP have made significant gains too.

In fact, it has been a great day for Eurosceptics and parties on the far right throughout Europe. This tells me something - either people are widely opposed to the EU or the EU needs a massive overhaul in the way it is governed and administered. From my own point of view, I sincerely hope it's the latter rather than the former (I think if managed correctly, the EU can be a fantastic thing) but sadly, I fear it's not.

To me, the results of this election are merely one more reason to leave the country as I am becoming increasingly disenfranchised with where this country is heading (although, I accept, the local elections couldn't have really gone better really from my own standpoint).

Still, that's the delight of democracy I suppose. I just wish that the media had delivered all of the facts as I certainly did not see balanced reporting or indeed any real discussion or debate on the options that each political party presented forth. People were just too obsessed with the far right. And look at what we got.

In fact, the only articles I read in the Press were about the dangers of the far right - and all that did was give them publicity. Indeed, the BNP's policies were the only ones I didn't have to search for when I was trying to make my mind up on who to vote. In some ways, I wonder whether the rise of the far right is what the media actually wants - indeed the timing of the expenses scandal was certainly interesting regarding these elections.

P.S. I have always believed that every election is important and should not just be used as a "protest vote". I have always believed that not voting for who you truly believe in is counterproductive and damaging to democracy.

Comments

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

"The EU Parliament shouldn't be able to trump laws set in member nations"

And that is why the Conservatives and UKIP won.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

There should be better negotiation between member states and the EU in my view. Indeed, the whole system needs overhauling on who makes laws, when and why.

[blueberrybadger.livejournal.com]

Fact is we have pretty much no say what-so-ever. Heck they even tried to force a constitution on us. It may all very well pretty and rosey, may have good stuff in it ... but the point is the people in the UK get bugger all chance to vote and have a say with what's going on, we will damn well take our opportunity to tell em to piss off whenever it comes around.

Effectively we vote a dictator in every 5 years in this country, and the last one wasn't even elected! I hate it when all this law crap is spouted at me over your voting for the party blah blah blah, in my mind it is obvious you vote for a PM, just as it is obvious you are voting McCain or Obama. We get one say every 5 years then its tough titties. Don't like a law? bugger all you can do about it. Want to replace an MP? Bugger all you can do about it. Makes me sick. They get in, sit in their little castle in Whitehall and make all the decisions for us. You may well believe the system needs overhauling, better negotiation, but what can you actually do about it? Nothing. The politicians lie in their manifesto's (if they didn't we wouldn't have the problem of protest voting) so it's a case of getting rid of whoever the heck is running things now.

There was a famous book written 'How England Works' (By Marr or Clarkson, can't remember which). It says how the UK is supposed to work, then how it *actually* works. Fascinating read.

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

I think referenda are a bad idea because the press has too much sway and the public are never presented with the facts in an unbiased way free from political rhetoric. The fact that oligarchs control the media and promote party lines according to their whims means that I think politicans should have a significant amount of control. The other thing is that the vast majority of people would have no idea on the nuances of the European Constitution and how it would affect them - I have always believe we elect politicans to serve us on such matters. The problem is that, at present, the politicans are serving themselves.

I don't think you should vote on personality, but on policy. It should be irrelevant how well someone orates when it is the substance that should matter. When Brown took over the Labour Party and became PM then there should have been a new election but we all knew that was going to happen when Labour were voted in in 2005.

What irks me most is that the Government lied on Iraq and on tuition fears and little was done beyond a pointless protest in London yet when someone claims too much on a duck pond, the public are up in arms. There should be greater transparency in Government and less lying and sleaze but that's not going to happen as it's not in politicians' interests. The sad fact is that this has happened since the dawn of democracy in the UK (Robert Walpole was notorious) and only now is it being exposed due to greater media investigation.

How England Works is something I will try and read some time as it sounds interesting. I agree that in the UK, like in the EU, we need wholescale political reform but when the politicians are happy in the current situation because it is to their benefit, how likely is that going to happen?