The Blatant Absurdity Of It

Apologies for the absence of postings but I have been doing a lot of painting, that's decorating not artistic, and floor laying... still got a load to do.

But this was just too good to pass up.

The local election results were just as many expected - New Labour took a hammering at the hands of the Tories. Whilst the media might like to portray this as a massive swing to the Right I don't think that is the case. The turnout was 37% for the council elections so the just-over-a-third of the eligible population that cared enough to express a preference marked the box that appeared to be the only alternative that would both hurt Labour and actually be able to deliver something. (Probably also worth mentioning that segment of the population who don't even bother to register to vote)

Truly this is democracy in action for all the "well if you don't vote then you can't moan" brigade. Nearly two thirds of the people expressed the preference that they would rather not vote for any party and yet we live in a "democracy". Rather than see this as a largescale desire for change, it is portrayed as lazy or disengagement and the increasingly farcical nature of our polls go on.

Of those that did vote, the 2, or 3 in some ares, party system registered a protest Tory vote. Way to go democracy! A complete rejection of the encumbent government, which insists "I won't walk away", flavoured with apathy and protest. We live in a system where the dedicated voters will vote for whichever party is least unpopular. Nothing to do with presentation or telling people what they want to hear you understand, oh no - it's all about the policies. Of course it is.

Politician's popularity, believability, trustworthiness, whatever you want to call it has sunk to its lowest level and yet we carry on regardless with "our" democracy. It must be painfully obvious to all but the most staunch upholder of our great British tradition that "our" democracy has never belonged to us and never will while we persist in this state sponsored charade.