I am now so bored of the run up to the UK Election, that I am wishing it was 7th May already. The last ten days have shown us what a shabby process we have for selecting who leads the country under an archaic, arthritic electoral system whereby the losing party can still potentially end up with the greatest number of seats (MPs). How is that fair, exactly?
I am unsurprised by the ‘bigotgate’ or ‘Duffygate’ faux pas of Gordon Brown – his ill humour and bad temper are well known (wasn’t he accused of lobbing telephones at aides at one point, or was that Naomi Campbell?). I even have some sympathy for David Cameron, cornered by a dad about school choices for special needs children. Mr Cameron managed to hold his cool and repeatedly state that his party’s manifesto was all about offering parents a choice rather than restricting anyone. Nick Clegg has been embroiled in some saga over monies paid into his personal account by party donors. To his credit, Clegg immediately published his bank statements to show that the money was used to pay for researchers and aides. Kudos to the man for publishing his bank statements – personally I can barely bear to look at mine, let alone publishing them for the world to see.
This election has been a grubby affair: protests outside venues where TV debates were being held, relentless media attention on wives, partners and endless commentary from pundits, gurus and nobodies on just about everything. Am I “any the wiser”? No! The situation is so grim that I’ve forgotten the parties that politicians represent, candidates are all blurring into a singular, uniform mass of oneness.
Still, it could be worse! A recent debate in the Ukraine Parliament about a treaty with Russia on the latter’s ships in the Black Sea resulted in a hail of raw eggs, smoke bombs and a right royal punch-up leaving one parliamentarian nursing a bloodied nose. Shocking!
8 days to the election
So, I am still rooting for change. And I’m going to be voting for the one person who, for me, represents an agent for change and that’s Nick Clegg. [Note to self: look up who my local LibDem candidate is and pray that he doesn’t wear socks with sandals!]