h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The 2005 General Election hasn't yet officially been called - which, paradoxically, is why I'm still just about allowed to mention it here. But the campaign began in earnest for me yesterday when I spent my Sunday afternoon stuffing campaign literature into envelopes for the Liberal Democrat campaign in Leeds North-West, a sprawling constituency that takes in Otley, Pudsey and a few places in Wharfedale that I'd frankly never heard of until yesterday, despite living in West Yorkshire for half my life.

I met Greg Mulholland, the gentleman we're trying to turn into an MP, and can honestly say that I found him charming and seemingly eminently suited for office. I also found the local Lib Dem team a friendly, diverse and well-informed crew, which is a lot more than I could say for many of the other political activists I've met in my time.

So I'll be back next weekend, and this time I hope to get out on to the streets and start putting our message through some letterboxes. But by then I probably won't be allowed to discuss such things here, because we hear that Tony Blair is going to declare the election officially under way tomorrow (Tuesday).

Personally, I'll be seriously annoyed if he doesn't get things going now that so much effort has been put into ensuring that all is in place for our first big mail-shot of the campaign. We're prepared, and we shall overcome!

Does the " " smiley combination in someway represent your views on the chances that your party have of taking the Leeds North East seat?

A sort of a "snowball in Hell's chance" type of an affair?

Ach, sorry. It's Leeds North West you mentioned.

The Leeds constituency that I've a tangential knowledge of is Leeds North East.

We really, seriously fancy our chances, GD. Leeds NW is a three-way marginal, with less than 6,400 votes separating the three main parties in 2001. The Tory share of the vote in the area has been steadily declining for decades, the sitting Labour MP has retired, and we're fielding a popular local councillor.

No,




is my pictorial representation of what we're going to do to Messrs. Blair and Howard.

OK

Actually this journal of yours has got me looking into the electoral maths of my home constituency, Brighton Pavillion, and to whether a large Green vote at the forthcoming election will deliver a change in the MP.

Results to follow....

my political tastes run to the simple... bakunin said "the urge to destroy is also a constructive urge"... so let's have REVOLUTION!

The Greens are pretty strong in Brighton Pavilion, GD, but a Labour loss there looks fairly unlikely: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/results_constituencies/constituencies/096.stm .

Not as unlikely, though, as the political outcome riotact apparently wants.

I'll be voting Green. The lib dems have much more intergrity than the other two (not difficult though is it? - The average drugs cartel have more moral integrity than the Labour Party and don't start me on the Tories.)
Still, I think the environmental issues have to be paramount because almost every other issue relates back to it on some level. We're sailing, as World Party so elequently put it, with a 'ship of fools', the ship is sinking fast and they're all arguing over what colour it should be.
The parallels with the goglafrinchams and their wheels are too painful for me to cope with. I'm hoping for a hung parliament.
More worrying was the news of Labour election fraud. Looks liek that's why old wubbya and Tone are such good mates. Tony offered him troops in return for a loan of his 'idiot's guide to fixing an election'. Sack fulls of postal votes appear to have been forged. Shameful.

If you want to keep an eye on who's telling fibs about whom, check out this -

http://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/quote.jsp?id=45

C4 have started their own equivalent of the American site factcheck.org - which was the notorious site that Cheney accidently misquoted as supporting him when it didn't - which in turn collapsed temporarily under the pressure of internet hits. They're planning to keep tabs on the legitimacy of political claims. Should be worth a bookmark.

Obviously, I don't agree with your choice of party, kim. Of course the environment is *the* most important issue on earth, since if we don't have a habitable then all else is lost. But we Lib Dems have some pretty strong policies on those issues too - see http://www.libdems.org.uk/environment/ for details. I have a lot of respect for the Greens, but I strongly disagree with their opposition to the European Union. Internationalism is a good thing, and EU regulations have certainly improved the rights of British employees (despite the opt-outs demanded by the Blair administration ).

There is also the pragmatic consideration that you're pretty unlikely to end up with a Green MP. If you want to reduce or remove the Labour majority in Parliament, supporting us might well be your best way of helping to achieve that. (I can't say that for sure because I don't know what constituency you live in.)

Still, we can certainly agree on the outrageousness of that Labour election fraud in Birmingham. The only good thing about is the timing of that very damning verdict.

for that C4 Factcheck site - I've bookmarked it!

Me too

My poorly hand's got me out of envelope stuffing this time around but I think I may well be walking the streets if you know what I mean

Well, Granny, I'll be going into Bradford's red light area on May 5... because that's where my local polling station is!

So where are you campaigning, and for whom, if I may ask?

Incidentally, I've just realised that I got the Tony Blair Smiley wrong. It has to be this one, doesn't it?

I'll be on the knocker in my local area, not for or but for man

I can't hope for a green MP no - but I'm in a labour stronghold, so it doesn't matter who I vote for - so I may as well vote with my heart.
If I were voting for a mainstream party they'd be my choice.

Oh Om, sorry I forgot to pick up on your point about the EU and I don't wish you to think I am glossing over it without thought - because actually my green politics include that stance.
Whilst I agree than internationalism and cultural diversity is a good thing and am in favour of a European community. I do not agree with common currency and common agricultural policies. Much of what has gone wrong with farming in ths country can be tied to pointless beauocracy from Europe, aimed at farming communities that differ widely from our own. Also, I think that the further away from the population core a government is, the more likely it is to get things wrong. The Eu is too tied into prohibitive trading agreements which never do the consumer any good. It is important for Europe to co-operate but I am strongly against common currency - it puts too much power into the hands of the world bank and the IMF and destroys individual country's abilities to govern their own economic policy. I really think that's a bad idea.
I can recommend 'The best democracy money can buy' by Greg Palast if you want the dirt on the IMF amongst others. Powerful and witty reading.
His website is full of stuff too.

All h2g2 election discussion is now supposed to be taking place at A3772974 , but perhaps I can say this:

1) Good for you, Granny! Which constituency is your 'local area' in?

2) kim: my knowledge of agriculture and rural affairs can accurately be estimated from the fact that I have spent my life living in Bradford, London and Birmingham.


However, what I do know is this: in my last long-term full-time job, I started to get paid holidays because EU regulations forced my employers to give them to me. And most mainland EU countries look after their poorer citizens far better than the UK does in terms of welfare benefits, pensions and social provision. I'd like some more of that influence coming this way, please.


I have been meaning to read Greg Palast's for a while, and hopefully I can get around to it this summer. I do think, though, that one good thing about the euro is that it means that there is another currency with a chance of competing against the almighty US dollar.

Anyway, over at A3772974 , I've been involved in a lively debate about whether or not a Lib Dem vote is a wasted vote. Perhaps you could start a similar one there about the case for a Green vote? I think it'd make a really interesting discussion.

Must go now - my cute little animated Peter Snow has just arrived on my screen with some election news! See the BBC Vote 2005 page if you'd like one too!

cool will do that. I understand the notion of the 'wasted vote' - I take the stance that if you're in a stronghold area you should vote for your 'heart's desire' as it were because you're vote won't matter anyway. If I were in a marginal, I would vote tactically. I'm genuinly hoping for a hung parliament because I don't think the libs will actually win - they are my mainstream faves though and they will hold the balance of power in the case of a hung parliament - hence my hope. If we had PR - which I favour - no vote would ever be wasted. The first past the post sytem sucks.
I strongly recommend the Greg Palast book. I agree totally about the working conditions etc Maternity pay for instance would be my bug-bear.
I work & my hubby is a stay at home parent, so we almost starved while I was on leave because the pay levels are so bad.The government keeps going on about having extended maternity pay but they've only extended SMP - the maternity equivalent of Statuary Sick Pay. The assumption is still clearly that a woman's salary is secondary to a man's and therefore can be reduced to £100 a week (or £75 as it was when I was on leave last time - £50 the time before that!). It's only embarassment at the difference that is pushing forward change. However - we haven't actually signed up for most of the changes as legal absolutes - most of the legislation is still a avoluntary code. Check out the DTI website for employers - your rights are still almost as close to all as they ever were - EEC members or not.
I think the EU in principle is great as a community. But what I don't agree with is centralisation of legislation and finance. I appreciate your point about something to take on the dollar but the truth is that the mighty dollar is not that mighty and it's not that flexible. It was the Greg Palast book that really changed my thinking with regards to the EU which is why I mentioned it. The amount of waste and beaurocracy within the EU belies belief. It's easier to retain control of small, locally administrated pockets of people than it is to govern huge ones. The needs even of people in the South of England differ from the needs of those in the North - or of Scotland, or Wales. Large beaurocracies usually try a'one size fits all' approach to legislation which doesn't work.
Better to retain control at a local level. If we peg our currency to the EU, we will lose the ability to control interest rates and therefore inflation - the things that most guard our economic stability. We will be attaching ourselves to economies with which we share little in common and we will not be able to respond to our own needs.
Then there's the likes of GATS - you really need to know about GATS - I still lose the plot when I try and get my head around America demanding that we treat bananas as a service so that GATS would apply - I kid you not. Make time and read the book - it may well prove an eye opener.

Worsley, the one Terry Lewis is retiring from



I had a look at that little pop up Ormy, it wanted me to accept something from Skinkers? are they reputable? I only ask because my firewall keeps telling me they are trying to connect to the net

I my little animated Peter Snow. He pops up every evening to tell me he's got something for me, and it's always interesting. I particularly like the way he waves his arms when you move him across the screen.

Almost forgot - in Worsley, Granny!

Well, now, here's an interesting fact about Leeds North West, courtesy of the BBC Vote 2005 site: 'Leeds North West has the biggest percentage of students in the country at 27.2%'.

So I'm glad that I'm working for a party pledged to abolish tuition fees and top-up fees. What else could we do to appeal to my fellow students, I wonder?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/359.stm



A fantastic result - the Lib Dems leap from third place to first in Leeds North West! So all my leg-wearying efforts delivering leaflets over the past few weeks have been worthwhile. I think with particular satisfaction of the Tory leaflets I saw yesterday morning that told the voters 'Lib Dems can't win here'. Yeah, right... enjoy third place, guys!

My only concern is that when I said goodbye to the man who is now Greg Mulholland MP yesterday, I promised I'd see him for his re-election campaign somewhere around 2009. Well, the Lib Dem vote has increased so much in Bradford that I may be needed closer to home - Bradford North in particular now looks like a Labour-Lib Dem marginal! But that is a dilemma that I am very, very happy to live with.