Sunday 2 May 2010

Bomb 20's choice.

The last few elections here, the one for Holyrood and the one to send a trougher to the EU, came with voting slips that looked like ancient Roman scrolls. They were huge, and listed all kinds of strange and wonderful options. That EU one, especially, was just mad.

So where are they all now?

My choice for this general election is as follows:

SNP
Lib Dem
Labour
Tory
Green
BNP.

That's it. No independents. No UKIP. There is only one party in there that does not actively despise me simply because I smoke. I cannot campaign for the BNP, I just can't. Yet I cannot support any party that has stated it hates me, and all the rest have made that very clear.

Perhaps I should have thrown my hat in the ring after all. It's a heavy hat and it might have taken down a candidate or two on the way.

The BNP won't win here because there is a general perception that they are an essentially English party and this lot won't vote English. For much the same reason, the Tory candidate is not likely to win. Which is a pity because, via Longrider, I see they might not be a bad option after all. They won't let me have a pub or a club to smoke in but they will make a start on rolling back Labour's Stasi state so there is hope that they might, one day, see sense.

The Greens will still make me smoke outside with one difference. The pub won't be allowed to provide any form of outside heating. The Greens will make things much worse so they can forget it.

Labour... never in a million years. Not going to happen. I would have to cut off my own hand afterwards.

The realistic battle here is between SNP and Lib Dem. It wasn't always so, but this year it certainly looks that way. I don't want either of them to win but can't stop it. The lesser evil is SNP because they will at least support the disposal of ID cards and databases. Yet they hate me, and have put 'no smoking' signs even in one-panel bus shelters in the middle of nowhere. Yes, even though you can't see a house from some of those bus stops and they are open to the elements and the dual-carriageway traffic fumes on three sides, you have to stand out in the rain to smoke. How can I possibly vote for more of that? Then there is their war on drink and their dictation on diet. I don't think I can do it.

Maybe I'll put an X in every box except Labour's. A small message, but it would at least amuse me. I can't just not vote. I'll have to do something.

So, I'll have to look at individual candidates. On party policies, the only option for a smoker here is the BNP and as I said, they won't win here. I know, there are those who say the smoking ban is not an issue and I should concern myself with bigger things - but that ban is most certainly an issue. For a great many people. Real, live people who have been devastated not by smoking but by this evil social control that every one of the main parties support. Don't tell me about 'big issues' when every single one of those parties is happy to destroy the social lives of millions and call it 'progress'.

Just because they don't like the smell. Past comments here have established, beyond doubt, that that is the only reason for this ban and for the continued harassment of people who happen to like a smoke. "I don't like it so you can't have it." Anyone remember the saying 'like a bitch with a bone'? All those old sayings are fading away and yet many of them have never been more relevant.

The economy means little to me because it is totally buggered and whoever gets in is going to have to do some dreadful things to fix it. What matters to me is those little things that affect everyday existence, parts of life that no government has any business controlling but none of them will just leave me alone. There is, to me, no point living in a 'rich' country if I am treated like something a high-and-mighty politician might have stepped in. There is more to life than money. Another of those sayings from my past. Was I the only one there? Sometimes it feels like it.

There is no money for pensions yet they all want us to live longer. Why? Surely if we smokers, drinkers, salties and fatties want to enjoy ourselves to death and save many years of pension costs, it's nobody else's business. Yes, we might die younger but we will at least have enjoyed our short stay. An extra ten years with no smoke, booze, salt or fat is not life. It's a sentence. And at the end of it, what? Lying in a hospital bed, dying of nothing?

I can discount Labour and Green as possible votes. They really, really hate me. I will not vote Lib Dem because that level of indecision is scary - and they hate me too. They might win anyway but I'm not going to help.

That leaves Tory, SNP or BNP. Tories have done well here in the past but haven't won, and since the SNP came on the scene, Oily Al has steadily pushed the Tory vote down. I don't understand it - the SNP is not a natural home for Tories. I can see them stealing most of the Labour vote but not the Tories. Perhaps Tory voters are just not bothering?

The Tory candidate is local, which should appease many of those who think 'Tory' means 'English'. He has a real job in the private sector and has past form of increasing Tory vote share (but not winning) in another constituency. I have no idea how he feels about the smoking ban, whether he cares at all or whether he is happy to watch those local pubs shut down and to treat smokers as filth. I have a few days to find out. The Tories at least offer some respite from the Stasi state even though they don't like me.

The SNP guy once had a real job but is now a career politician. He lives in Edinburgh. That will not go down well here and it looks like a big mistake by Oily Al, who is backing a non-local candidate in an area that is the Scottish version of Royston Vasey. I've lived in various bits of it for over 20 years and I am still not 'local' and never will be. He has no past parliamentary form so I have no idea whether he, personally, despises smokers or whether he can be reasoned with. An unknown, and not likely to convince me.

The BNP have a local wench, same age as me but better looking (it's not difficult). She has worked in real jobs, both public and private sector. The quandary I have is that the BNP have a central policy of removing the smoking ban but they also have a central policy of removing a lot of other things too, including some people I count as friends. They are not 'local' either. It takes generations to be 'local' in these parts but a matter of days to be 'accepted'. In fact, thinking about it, the local people actually implement BNP policy already! They are happy for we 'guffies' to stay but they won't let us be 'locals'.

So. Tories and BNP have local candidates with real life experience but have little hope of winning the seat. SNP have a career politico from Edinburgh and would probably have walked it if it had been a local candidate, but they might just win anyway.

Only the BNP promise any respite for smokers, escape from the EU money-draining machine and pulling our troops out wars we shouldn't be in. However, they will not win here and they still, for me, link to skinheads and racism. It might be unfair but I'm of the age that recalls the skinhead gangs very clearly and I don't want them back.

The Tories offer some removal of the Stasi state but not, so far, enough. I hope they are saving the good stuff until the closing rounds. They are very unlikely to win because their main voters seem to have given up here. Labour have filled the area with benefit-trapped chavs and Entitled wasters but that is going to work better for the SNP than for Labour this time. They can have their benefits and still kick the Gorgon in the teeth. Hey, Gorgon, they are your creation. Didn't you read 'Frankenstein'?

My choice then, is between a party that will remove the smoking ban but also some of my friends, which is a very high price to pay, or a party that won't help me out but will at least cut back the databases.

So, like Bomb 20, I have to consider the matter further. Then, most likely, explode.





By the way, take a look at what Sgt. Pinback is doing in the control room of a very expensive deep-space spaceship.

Nowadays he'd have to float around outside.

21 comments:

subrosa said...

Yer an awfy man. Yer called an 'incomer' and that's a compliment. I'm an 'incomer' too here, same as I was in Wales, Somerset, Hampshire etc.

You say the SNP is not the natural home for tories. It is in the east of Scotland when the tories have 'career' candidates. Here too was a tory stronghold until, in the 90s, the SNP took over and John Swinney's been gradually building his majority since. Of course he's now an MSP and we have Pete Wishart who, with a bit of luck, will hold on.

Perth too was always a tory stronghold and when I arrived in this area the SNP were hardly seen in elections. People will vote SNP because they're not keen on what Cameron's done to the party.

So change does happen, although it's slow.

Leg-iron said...

Subrosa - I'd have thought the SNP were too socialist for Tories, but given that their other options are the Lib Dems or Soviet Labour, I can see why they might find the SNP a better last resort.

When the SNP first won Holyrood, I waited a few months to see what would happen. Nothing happened. Which was as it should be - they got on with doing government things and left the rest of us alone. If they had stuck to that I'd be voting for them.

It's a pity they couldn't resist the levers of control.

Matt said...

I'm am in two minds about the BNP myself. Their policies seem alright but there's something not quite right about them. Griffins body guards are enough to make you doubt. Wander what they do when they're not looking after nick? Maybe a bit of loan shark debt recovery.

Saying that, I'd say theyre a lesser evil when compared to labour and their murderous campaigns in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Isn't their policy voluntary repatriation? Which would at least mean they wouldn't forcibly remove anyone.

I think Sean Gabb from the Libertarian Alliance has a point. As far as their manifesto goes, maybe they have changed from the bad ol' days.

Anonymous said...

@ Matt
"Griffins body guards are enough to make you doubt."

At least Griffins bodyguards look like bodyguards, so you get what it says on the box. They aren't disguised as skinny women wearing red cardigans.

You did see the heckler being thrown out of Brown's little talk to the faithful on Friday
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1270254/Heckler-thrown-shouting-Brown.html

Billy The Fish said...

The main reason I'll be voting BNP is because all the others seem so animated and passionate that I shouldn't.
Simples!

JuliaM said...

Ah, I loved that film! :)

"By the way, take a look at what Sgt. Pinback is doing in the control room of a very expensive deep-space spaceship.

Nowadays he'd have to float around outside. "


Was rather surprised that in 'Avatar', Sigourney Weaver's character's first action on exiting the pod where drivers interface with their avatars was to holler for a cigarette.

Even more surprised when she turned out not to be the villain of the film!

Anonymous said...

DARK STAR!!
I love that movie, I need to watch it again now.

Catinthehat

Lord T said...

The BNP are not a party you want in power and don't worry because they won't be. However, we do want to upset the applecart. The BNP could be that if enough people vote for them where they stand.

We both now that even if all the BNP standing got in they would never have enough votes to overide the smoking ban and the moral minority never mind getting rid of your chums. It's going to take violence and the BNP are going to provide the start we need.

And all perfectly legal.

Vote BNP at least you are sticking to your principles.

Tcheuchter said...

"Maybe I'll put an X in every box except Labour's. A small message, but it would at least amuse me. I can't just not vote. I'll have to do something."

From my experience at various counts, in that case it would be agreed at the huddle of candidates & agents checking spoilt ballots that it was a vote for Labour. Be warned!

Back in the early 70s the SNP were often referred to as "Tories in kilts".

Matt said...

"Griffins body guards are enough to make you doubt."

@Anonymous
"At least Griffins bodyguards look like bodyguards, so you get what it says on the box. They aren't disguised as skinny women wearing red cardigans."

Yep, good point. Must have had a touch of the old anti bnp fever last night. Amazing what the dark indoctrinating forces of BBC News can do.

Anonymous said...

Leggy

As you can't vote for a Libertarian or UKIP candidate then I would strongly recommend you vote BNP.

The BNP candidate would certainly not get elected, so there would be no chance of harm to your friends. At the same time, any increase in the BNP vote would enhance the possibility for political realisation that angry smokers and opponents of the EU are out there with a voting presence. This may influence politico thinking for the next election, particularly relevant in this case where a hung parliament seems likely. Any other vote would ensure the continued perception that the EU and smoking issues are politically inconsequential concerns.

As an expat Brit living in Canada, I have deliberately not voted in either country for many years. Due to time lived outside the UK, I am now unable to qualify for a UK electoral vote. If this were not the case, then I would certainly be voting in this election to eject Labour.

Thanks for your excellent blogging commentaries Leggy.

Cynical Expat from Canada.

Unknown said...

That clip reminded me of Amerika by rammstein, here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5j2V_TWkco

Dioclese said...

There is only one winner in this coming election - me!

And that's only because I am getting paid to sit up half the night counting the bloody votes...

The witch from Essex said...

I wasn't too impressed with the skinheads, but they have mostly grown up now and are in their 40's or 50's and most would not now dream of being involved in the things that they did 30 years ago.
However the newest crowd of thugs are the jobsworths and Environmental health officers etc. Unfortunately these thugs will never grow out of their evil ways.
The BNP have my vote. This is a protest vote as they will not get enough votes to change things.
We have three parties that could get brilliant figures if they toned down their extreme policies:
BNP should stop hating black folk, The English Democrats should stop hating Scottish folk and UKIP should accept being Europeans but reject the EU.
They would then have similar policies to get a lot of support.

Leg-iron said...

I haven't ruled out a BNP vote although in this neck of the woods, Tory is also a protest vote. Neither will win but a surge for either (or both) would certainly sting.

Personally I'd rather go for Tory but then they come up with something utterly stupid like this. Worrying about obesity when we're all about to run out of cash? Those layers of fat are likely to be a powerful survival tool in the coming years. I'd better start piling some on while I still can!

If there is no Libertarian party candidate here for the next election (which might even be in September) I'm going to join and put my name forward.

I doubt I'd win but I'd do my best to scare the buggers.

Anonymous said...

Surely, Leggy, you’ve got to vote for either the BNP or the Greens after all your own very persuasive and extremely well-reasoned previous posts about voting for the small parties – any small parties – just to give the big guys a boot in the backside?? As others on here have said, the chances of them actually winning is pretty remote, so it’s unlikely that much damage could be done by either but a large increase in the number of votes going to “anyone but you lot” might at least make the Big Three stop and think for a minute …….?

Leg-iron said...

Anon, the Greens want me dead even more than the rest of them. They are not a minority party, they are evil fundamentalists.

The BNP would, at least, let me have electricity.

Greens are right off my radar.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Leg-iron

If this is your preferred choice, write 'UKIP' on the ballot paper and put your cross next to that.

You will have voted as you wished and it will count as a vote against all the other parties albeit in the category 'spoilt papers'.

DP

Stewart Cowan said...

Democracy, is it?

And yet there's nobody we really want to vote for.

It's a scam.

Good film clip. I haven't seen it before.

Leg-iron said...

Anon- that's a good idea, but I would prefer to vote for an actual candidate. they're all just so... wrong, though. If only there was a Monster Raving Loony or a Church of the Militant Elvis here.

Stewart - you haven't seen Dark Star? You must be the only one. Worth getting hold of and it's family-safe too. If you haven't seen their low-budget alien, you've missed a real treat.

Young Mr. Brown said...

If there is no Libertarian party candidate here for the next election (which might even be in September) I'm going to join and put my name forward.

That's quite a promise. I look forward to it.

I'm sorry you have even less choice than we do. Up where I am, we at least have a completely loopy independent. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably have to do the unthinkable, and vote SNP!

opinions powered by SendLove.to