AV: a failure by any other name would smell as sweet.

I haven't posted on this blog for yonks, and there's a reason: this last year in politics has left me feeling uneasy, out of my depth; lacking in the surety of my previous convictions. If that's what the coalition did to me, then imagine how Nick Clegg must feel.

Joining the Labour Party wasn't a panacea; it was merely me sticking to a rather outmoded view that I simply had to belong to a party. I had to pick a side. By temperament I'm probably more suited to joining the Greens. But the reason I did not do just that, the reason I felt compelled to join an Umbrella party, and not one tailored my actual ideals, is because of First-Past-the-Post.

For the Greens could never succeed with the current electoral system. Nor could, I realised, any third party gain the ascendancy and effectively influence national policy. It's a frustratingly chook-and-egg thing. With FPtP, short of a seismic shock in our society as happened in the 1920s, we're condemned to repeat the foetid metronomic cycles of Tory, Labour, Tory, Labour, and the governance of the country will continue to stagnate, with successive parliaments simply skirting around the edges, pandering to a small "c" conservative demographic in the key marginals.

I've held to this belief for a while. In fact, it was one of the key reasons I aligned myself with the Lib Dems from my teens. As an enthusiastic and hopefully well-informed student of politics, it's my view that in order to make Government more responsive, more radical, more exciting even, then we need electoral reform. The additional member system is my preferred option, but it isn't on the table. What is, the "miserable little compromise", is none-the-less a bold step in the right direction. It would force PPCs to campaign for the majority, not those same lucky swing voters. Voting could become about ideas rather than tactics. So the reactionary charge that this vote is trivial doesn't, in my view, hold up to scrutiny; a "yes" vote has the potential to reshape political discourse for the better, even if the campaign itself has been grubby and embarrassing.

But it's now all academic. The vote will be lost. And still, I don't mind. Holding my polling card in my hand today felt exhilarating. After ten years of wishing for the very chance, here it was. The long road to some sort of opportunity to make the case for progress is at an end, and it still feels satisfying. The whole debacle, the coalition and this compromise, have wrecked the Lib Dems for a generation, but at least they gave us this moment. So thank you, Nick Clegg. It's the last time I'll say it.

How I was wrong...

It's taken a while to work up the courage for this post. I spent a lot of time in the run up to the 2010 General Election trying to convince others to vote for the Lib Dems as a vote for change. And look what happened.

There's an argument that's been whirling around my head that if more people had voted Lib Dem, the current situation would be different. But the swing required would've had to have been enormous. No, there's nothing for it but to apologise for being wrong. For believing that the Liberals were different. All it took was the warm leather whiff of those Ministerial Jaguars, and they were as sordid as the rest.

That's not to say the party is evil, or corrupt, or that its heart is at all in the wrong place. But its leadership has been lead down a very dark path for the sake of "growing up as a party". If growing up means abandoning your principles and breaking your promises, then I - for one - prefer opposition.

Which is why I joined the Labour Party. N'uff said, I suppose.

Alien

The Week in Miscellany: Coalitions and Cabbages

I was so sorely tempted to blog in full about the Coalition last week. So many on the left seemed to be panicking as if, as Charlie Brooker humourously puts it, the Tories were blood-curdling Vampiric sadists. We all know a few Tories who are just that, but much of the party's recent rhetoric seems to be aimed at a more centrist audience. With the Lib Dems on board, I'm confident that there will be some sort of beating socially-centred heart in Government. Immediately they're making pleasant purring noises on civil liberties, the environment, and lifting the poorest out of taxation. I'm not saying we should trust them forever, but we should give the Coalition a fair wind. See where it takes us. At the very least, for now it's a refreshing breeze.

~~~~~~

On the allotment front, I want to tell a cautionary tale about the dangers of May. It's all balmy and lovely for a bit, and your sprightly Runner Beans have been doing well on the patio for a couple of weeks. "Allotment, ho!" you say, and dutifully head off to erect some sort of weird bamboo clambering frame for them. And then it happens. May happens. Duplicitous, frigid May. With its snap frosts and consequently withered Runner Beans. Do not trust it.

Other than the Runners, everything's rather rosy in Xanadu (for that, sadly, is the working title for my little patch... don't worry, the shed's called Dave); my fruit bushes are becoming more bushy with every rainy day, none of the mail-order Artichokes or Asparagus crowns have failed, and there's a gradual feeling that the beastliest of the weeds are being tamed by my stern hoe. In short, it's becoming a garden. And it pleases.

~~~~~~

Now! Word-gripe of the week! This time it's the turn of "progressive", which has become so meaningless in the last few months that even David Cameron dares use it. We'll see on that front, but for me this election campaign was the moment when zeitgeisty "progressive" joined the pile of other meaningless campaign words.

So, that updated list in full: sustainable, fair, change, progressive. It'll doubtless grow...

To the Ballotmobile!

Yikes, boy wonder, it's that time again! Time to venture out of the Batcave and into the wide wide world... Time to fight for decency and justice, time to clean up this sshhhtinking sshhhity, and hopefully not run into any penguins on the way!

Yes, it's election time again. And this time it's proportional. Except... wait... no, it isn't! It's being held - hopefully for the last time - under a grossly unfair system. A system we've been stuck with because - like too many things in this country - it's traditional. It's also rubbish. We could vote like this:

xxxxxxxx----------ooooooooo

But still get this:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------oo

And there's no argument for it. Not even the "strong Government" argument the Tories are peddling. Of course they would. But if First-Past-the-Post really provided strong Government, why are we heading for a hung parliament? And would it be so bad if coalitions were the norm? Isn't consensus better than that terrible old Punch and Judy politics? We need to break out of our shackles. We're now in true multi-party politics, and it's obvious the system's broken.

There's only one way to fix it. There's only one way to properly reconnect the electorate and Parliament, and that's PR. And only a vote for the Lib Dems will secure it. Vote for anyone else and this once-in-a-lifetime chance for real and lasting political change will be lost forever.

So, to the Ballotmobile!

A Vague Similarity

I know this is a very juvenile thing to do, but I noticed something very chilling in David Cameron's face. Can you guess what it is?!

Apologies.

The Current Smear Campain Against Clegg...

... will simply fail. Both the Tories and the right-wing papers look truly desperate and pathetic today.

One thing is utterly surreal though, and that's Lord Mandelson rushing to Clegg's defence on today's The World at One. Wheels within weird wheels...