Saturday 8 May 2010

Tribal voting

There has been a lot of chatter since the election non-result was revealed. Some has used rhetoric based on "left" or "right-wing" policies but there seems to be a wilful ignorance of recent history.

The Blair/Brown government have introduced laws which would have made Thatcher blush; imprisonment without charge or trial, allowing the police to declare any demonstration illegal and arrest people reading the names of the recently fallen while standing next to the Cenotaph in Whitehall. They've allowed a foreign power to extradite British citizens without evidence and they've stood idly by while aware that British and other citizens have been kidnapped, held without trial and subjected to waterboarding and other tortures. We are still participating in illegal wars and British servicemen and women are still dying because they've not been given adequate equipment. The last 13 years has seen a doubling of the number of women in prison and an increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty in this country. More than 3,500 new laws, we're subject to more surveillance than any other country  and we allow the state to keep DNA records on almost anyone they chose.

By all means bang on about whether the will of the electorate is being acknowledged by a coalition of Tories and LibDems but please don't pretend that the current administration has kept to the radical liberal principles of the Labour party I grew up with. Before trying to protect Brown please consider how much you wish to collude with the things listed above.

blog comments powered by Disqus