Electoral Theory, II

Let's have one more go, and then put this surprising election and spate of politics to one side. It was a massive surprise for an election to be declared, and so the self-imposed embargo on politics was broken. Then, for twenty-four hours, all anyone in the hysterical media could say was that ghoulish made up term for leaving the European Union, which grotesque word will never be written in this weblog, which was almost unbearable even all these months after those backbreaking referendum campaigns of supreme negativity. It was monotonous, like a clanging bell on a distant dreary lighthouse. The prospect of more weeks of that tedium was, to say the least, unedifying. To say the most, it was the beginning of a possible assault on the group sanity of the whole country!

Now, after the initial clamour has died down, it seems like we could have a very interesting election. It's not as cut and dried as you might think with a twenty point lead in the polls for the rich people's party, and odd forebodings are swirling around in the atmosphere. It could actually be... interesting. An interesting election would be quite the novelty! Don't expect much more than that general idea here, though, as this will never be a political weblog. How interesting it is to have two main parties with significantly different ideas, though, which might actually lead to differences in policy. How unusual it is to have a major political party not deeply in thrall to corporate interests. How interesting to have an obvious contrast!

The blunt pencil tied to the wall awaits, but in the coming weeks there are bound to be all kinds of implications and answers to fascinating questions. Will Scotland's future still be a question after the election / birthday? Who exactly is going to be picking up the pickled pieces of defeat? Why will the Palace of Westminster be replaced by a giant candied replica? Who exactly is Edmund Blackadder? Will Teresa May still be jabbering on about grammar schools? It could well be a pipe dream to imagine that we will get a substantial set of campaigns, with some points being raised for the first time in generations, but it's a well meaning dream. In a way, it doesn't entirely matter who wins, as long as a pattern is set for a future wherein we can actually talk about the things which concern us all, and not be sneered at or ignored by people who take the status quo for granted. If we can't even talk about the evils of the past, for example, how can we hope to avoid repeating them?

Maybe nothing will change, but the suspicion here at Quirky Muffin Base is that things won't ever be quite the same again. This can only be good, because it has been pretty awful for a long, long time. Normal service is now resumed until election results day.

<resets mode>

Good grief, Steve Austin has been captured by crooks using remote control sharks to hijack a nuclear submarine? 'The Six Million Dollar Man' can be very, very hokey at times...

O.