Elections worry me. They're popularity contests, generally won by the party that appears more competent, not necessarily the party that is. Don't bother to engage with the big questions, just decide which party leader you'd rather invite round for dinner.
Politics worries me. It ought to be based on policies, but too often it's based on personality. He's nice, she looks like a cow, I don't like the way his eyebrows meet in the middle, she's a bit posh. Cross-party debate too often descends into a bitter slanging match, more destructive than constructive, and the fundamentals are overlooked. It's important to engage, but this is all terribly superficial.
Campaigns worry me. They're targeted at the lowest common denominator, reducing key concepts to mere soundbites. Dripfeed some vague promises, smear your opponent's reputation, but never commit your party to anything that might prove awkward later. The key aim appears to be to say absolutely nothing wrong, rather than attempting to put forward policies that are right.
Voters worry me. Much of the electorate has only the haziest idea about what politicians have pledged to do, except what their over-simplified newspaper has spoonfed them. Voters will put their cross next to anyone if they look clean and trustworthy, without a thought to the longer-term consequences for their future finances and freedom. Some people are so easily led.
Public opinion worries me. The voice of the majority isn't always the voice of common sense, especially when there's an emotive issue afoot. See that MP, she must be a criminal she must, well she's an MP, stands to reason. Put the electorate in charge of the country and you'd soon end up with a Minister of Repatriation And Hanging. The mob mentality in full effect is a very scary thing.
European Elections worry me. People are going out to vote today on things that affect all our futures, most of them without the slightest understanding of what they're voting for. All they're interested in are national issues and giving national figures a bloody nose, rather than considering the broader continental dimension. The ballot box can be so very parochial.
European Election results worry me. The MEPs elected this week will be deciding legislation until 2013, but we're picking them whilst obsessed by petty 2009 irregularities. As a result the UK risks sending bigots, zealots and racists to Brussels, and so allowing these fanatics a platform for their offensive views. And that's why I'm off to my local polling station on the way into work, to ensure that it's not my fault if they get in.
Elections worry me. They're popularity contests, generally won by the party that appears more competent, not necessarily the party that is. Don't bother to engage with the big questions, just decide which party leader you'd rather invite round for dinner.
