Election Erection: Can They Keep It Up?
MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland
Whilst eating breakfast this morning, with the television news rambling along in the background, I heard a reporter or whatever they call themselves these days, telling of a visit to Glasgow by Jeremy Corbyn.
Nothing particularly unusual about that, as there is an election going on.
What was mildly amusing was that the reporter forgot the name of the Scottish Labour Party leader.
He said “Mr Corbyn arrives, accompanied by the leader of Scottish Labour Party, er er er… Mr Leonard”.
*Richard is his Christian name. Or Dick, as he is more commonly known.*
Such is the anonymity of the man, even the media does not know his name.
Mr Leonard might not know this, but the main job of a political opposition is to oppose the government of the day.
Maybe if Mr Leonard had made a little more effort in opposing the SNP in Hollyrood, more people might know who he is.
I’m not just blaming the Labour Party in Scotland for allowing the SNP to more or less create a dictatorship. The Conservative Party under Ruth Davidson has been almost as useless. She started off promisingly enough, but as time went on, she was only paying lip service to the SNP.
Now that she has resigned, hopefully the Tories will develop some balls and treat Mother Sturgeon in the same offhand manner she treats anyone who doesn’t agree with her.
I haven’t mentioned the Liberal Democrats or the Greens. And I’m not going to….
Back on the national campaign trail, Boris Johnson was visiting the scenes of the current floods and finding himself knee deep in water which was hot and cold.
He was blamed for the floods, which is quite a feat. The main problem with floods is down to many factors and not the fault of one unpopular politician.
Building planning and construction of far too many badly-sited developments have made flooding much worse than ever they have been.
Boris in Coventry and Corbyn in Glasgow…
Spending pledges off the scale by all politicians and parties.
They are treating the electorate as if they are incapable of seeing the truth. No one respects politicians anymore and that’s dangerous.
Today, 15th November, the Labour Party has gone completely mad. They are promising free fibre broadband for every household in the UK.
But apparently, they will have control over what we can see.
When asked to explain what this would cost, because nothing is free, the man who is going to become the next Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, said the cost will be paid out of taxation of the giant tech companies. Yes, seriously.
I don’t think they will hang about to pay more taxes despite not paying enough at the moment.
But worse was the attempt to by him to lay out the actual figures involved. He had his millions mixed up with his billions or perhaps squillions, and was left looking stupid and incompetent.
So no change there.
So, between Labour and the Green Party, we will have a four day week, a universal wage, free high speed fibre broadband and a land flowing with milk and honey. Actually, the last part is far more likely to happen than the rest of the lunatic promises.
These are the latest election pledges from two parties who can afford to say anything, because no one in their right mind is going to vote them into power.
Not that the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats are any better. It’s all pie in the sky bollocks which no sensible human being is going to believe.
Strangely though, it’s Boris Johnson who is being more cautious than the rest. As he is going to be the next Prime Minister, I suppose he has to be slightly more rational than the hopeless also rans.
Back here in Scotland, the SNP are currently embroiled in a medical scandal which in a normal political party of government, who see at least one resignation, but so far none has fallen.
Once again the problems are with the relatively new “super” hospital in Glasgow. There has been numerous issues with hygiene and safety.
Yesterday a whistleblower came forward with the terrible news that due to a water borne infection, a 10 year old cancer patient had died shortly after being told that she was in remission.
As heartbreaking as that is, the family hadn’t been told what had actually caused her death.
The Health Minister knew what had happened since September of this year and had covered up the whole thing to save the SNP the embarrassment of yet another health scandal at this hospital.
The infection came from the water supply being contaminated by pigeon shit, due to the poor quality of construction.
Can you imagine finding out that your 10 year old daughter has died and the facts have been withheld deliberately?
If the Health Minister doesn’t resign, the SNP will be seriously damaged prior to the election and if she doesn’t resign, even more damage will be done. This matter should also be the focus of a police investigation.
Back to the UK election and the ridiculous pledges are still being made by all parties. Trying to appeal to everyone and fooling no one.
The public aren’t as stupid as the politicians imagine. And they don’t believe a single pledge would be honoured after the election by whichever party wins.
The latest news from the courts, who seem to be the refuge of desperate politicians wanting to get their own way, is that the Liberal Democrats and the SNP will not be allowed to be included in the ITV, political leader’s debate.
This debate is solely to be between the leaders of the parties which have a chance of becoming a government.
The Lib/SNP court bid was doomed to failure due to the above reasons.
There will be a wailing and a gnashing of teeth, but their preening, me me me leaders, desperate to be seen as serious politicians, will have to sit and watch from the comfort of their own egos.
More on the ego clashing halfwits next week.
Michael J Blair contributes political analysis to DDA, and he can be reached at: michaelblair43@googlemail.com. His Twitter handle is: @mmjblair
[header photo of Boris Johnson courtesy of OPCW; Wikimedia Commons]
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