Cold still going strong, and I've run out of tissues, so I'm delighted that a bunch of leaflets from bonkers fringe parties have just popped through my letterbox, giving me something to blow my nose on.
First up, the good old BNP, current slogan: "Because *we've* earned the right". Not you, you horrible brown-coloured lot. WE. So bugger off to your own crappy countries. (What gurkhas?) Anyway, I'm particularly enjoying the BNP evoking the spirit of the Blitz to garner votes. "The NEW Battle for Britain", it trumpets, next to a picture of a Spitfire. "Trafalgar, The Somme, Dunkirk, D-Day, The Falklands" - entirely fought by the white, don't you know. And what better way to evoke that wartime cameraderie than borrowing all your policies off the Nazis? You know where the Nazis went wrong? By being German. If only they'd been British, we wouldn't have had to kill them. Such a missed opportunity.
Next up, UKIP. Sad when all you have going for you is that you're less evil than the BNP. Their message: the EU sucks. And: nothing else. Their choice of illustration: Winston Churchill. Basically, nothing worthwhile has occurred in this country since 1945, so vote for us and it will be as if the last fifty years never happened. Hurrah!
Offering stiff competition to UKIP is the snappily-named 'No2EU: Yes to Democracy' party. Otherwise known as UKIP for lefties. No pictures of Churchill or any other WW2 icons, no nasty embarrassment of having to align yourself with Robert Kilroy-Silk, no racism, but lots of cheap black and white photocopying, several detailed paragraphs of policy and one small photograph of Bob Crow. It's quite charmingly old-fashioned but someone should probably have a chat with them about marketing. I find myself actually slightly convinced by their propaganda, which is a surprise, and instantly makes me suspicious.
Lastly: the grammatically confusing 'We Can Europe' (Verb! Verb!) which claims not to be a political party but "a movement which believes that political parties have become part of the problem", but is nevertheless fielding a bunch of candidates. Hmm. Images used: shaky building sites, splatty-looking pictures of politicians. First flick through the leaflet - hang on, it's not a leaflet, apparently it's a "multi-media experience", cunningly disguised as a leaflet - fails to reveal whether they are for Europe or against it (Verb! *Please*!) Closer reading leaves me no wiser. Very flashy, lots of new-speak ("WE CAN EUROPE is about starting the process of developing new forms of participation and communication in order to change politics"), lots of marketing, but content utterly baffling. Appears mainly to be advocating use of websites. Strongly feel that We Can Europe and No2EU : Yes To Democracy should consider doing some skill-sharing.
Meanwhile, it's two weeks to the election and I am yet to hear a word from anything that could be defined as a normal party. Either they have totally given up, or they have spent all their money on flatscreen TVs for their second homes and can no longer afford to pay for leaflets.
Employee gets laid off due to extreme body odor: ‘I genuinely felt bad for
him. He had only just started the job and hadn’t really had the chance to
show what he could contribute. You could tell he felt embarrassed and
ashamed’
-
To pass the smell test
I felt really identified with this story because I've had to deal with this
issue multiple times in my life. I don't mean with my bo...
2 hours ago
Posts
12 comments:
BNP and logic really don't mix, do they? Trafalgar - the battle where Nelson's flagship was crewed by, among others, Irish, Americans and, yes, French people opposed to the tyranny of Napoleon. The English on board had been mostly pressganged into service. So exactly what quintessential Britishness was on display there?
And so on. But, fundamentally, it's the BNP - they're not going for the smart vote really, are they?
I have a distant cousin on Facebook (whom I suspect of being a little...loopy) who keeps posting stuff about the English Democrats Party and asking me to sign petitions. As a Canadian, I think this would be really inappropriate, but I wanted to ask someone who appears to be reasonably sane (that is you, isn't it?); what on earth is he going on about? I'm to chicken to follow his links...
They look like a purer version of the BNP, who have clearly sullied their focus by allowing the Welsh and Scots to be members.
Steer clear of them Persephone! They're wacky!
Not as wacky as the Christian Party mind who have a poster up locally saying "The Greens and Liberal Democrats have failed, so vote Christian".
I meant "too chicken, of course, as I neither neither "chicken" nor "Europe" as verbs....
And, of course, I meant "use neither". Sorry, I appear to have tilted my head to the left and my brains slid right out my ear. I hate it when that happens.
I saw an telly advert for the Christian Alliance, and was utterly unclear about where they where on any issue. Other than having GOD-FEARING PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT. That's where we've gone wrong!
They did have a brillant moment where a man sat and talked at us, in front of a big statue of an elephant. "Is that an elephant?" we asked, after several minutes had gone by. Then he suddenly said, "Of course, we can address the elephant in the room," at which point we were stunned by their genius. GENIUS. The elephant in the room is the BNP and racism. Which they are against. On the other hand I'm not sure they understood how proportional representation worked. (A vote for us can count for FOUR TIMES as much as a vote for the BNP or anyone else. Um, really?)
The Green Party sent us a newsletter, which I think we get throughout the year anyway, but was quite cheery. I think we got a Conservative leaflet, which had big graphics emphasing that this was a Labour vs Tory BATTLE. DO YOU WANT THE LABOUR PARTY IN POWER? DO YOU??
Oh now I feel cheated. I haven't had any wacky leaflets through the door yet, and I get to vote not once but twice, cos we have county elections. I do wish someone would check out what local councillors can claim on expenses too, because that is probably the only way we can get rid of our ineachotherspockets allegedly independent, really conservative with a small c bunch. They've been running our council since it's inception 60 years ago and apparently it's their godgiven right (and just realised I can't vote them out this year as they've got another year to go. Damn.)
I have never understood the logic of the BNP, Rob, given that this country has a long and varied history of welcoming (or perhaps not always welcoming, but certainly incorporating) immigrants in our midst, so scratch the surface and no one here can really claim to have true English blood. (My children are: part English/German on their dad's side, part English/Polish/Irish/possibly Scottish at a push in mine. I think they are fairly typical myself.) Wasn't there some programme where they checked a whole load of people's DNA and told a BNP supporter he was black or something?
Worry with the BNP/looney fringes is that thanks to all the shenanigans of the main bunch of crooks the disenfranchised are more likely to vote on the margins, which cannot be a good thing.
Christian Alliance sounds ghastly. V for Vendetta anyone?
I have not seen it, but am given to understand the geniuses at the BNP have, on their leaflet extolling anti-immigrationary policies and such-like, used a picture of a Spitfire from a Polish squadron. Which says pretty mauch all you need to know about a. their competence and b. their arguments.
Have had a sudden flash of inspiration: maybe the BNP is trying to reform and is using pictures from Trafalgar, the Somme, the Battle of Britain, etc, to demonstrate that (apparently) extremely British characteristic – being able to work in harmony with people of other races and nations.
How heart-warming.
The Christian Party had an election broadcast yesterday. I can't remember any of their policies though, because I was weeping loudly.
I got the same BNP leaflet today. Apparently the smiling, white, non-threatening family pictured on the front are actually American. So much for jobs for British workers...
Just got a Conservative party leaflet with my name on it. Apparently they defend British traditions, like being able to buy fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces (and badger baiting, rolling cheeses down hills, etc), and enable us all to work more than 48 hours a week, ensuring junior doctors are barely conscious when they treat us. Marvellous. That'll be a vote for them, I guess...
Post a Comment