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

With the rise of the BNP and new right theory what happened to the left wing of politics? has socialism simply gone out of fashion in England and if not who represents them these days?

personally I think the closest to a mainstream left party (ever likely to get even 1 mp) is the greens sure it used to be labour but perhaps that's a thing of the past now

In Europe things seem a little more balanced there is representation of both left and right wings of the political spectrum even Scotland has one left of centre party...

I think the political left, left.

The rise of the BNP? Where?

It rose by minus two seats, of course, an increase of minus 100% over their previous result.

ukip... not the bnp

not enough sleep gotten last night obviously

I think it's a people/personality thing above all else.

Difficult to speak for the rest of Europe, but the UK has some very weak leaders - devoid of ideology, gravitas, inspiration, oratory. They've simply been unable to articulate on the one hand a good case for the austerity policies they have followed and on the other a good case against them. Cameron ceded moral leadership to Clegg, who in turn made the howling error of trusting his coalition partners and now, shunned on all sides, is sliding rapidly into obscurity. Both Cameron and Milliband come across poorly in comparison to Salmond and Farage.

I voted Green. At least I knew what they stood for.

It's not easy being green.


The trouble with actually being in power is that you take a huge pounding. The people who put you in power get disappointed that you can't fulfill your campaign promises, and the people who are out of power can hammer you without having to produce results.

The trouble with present day political parties is that they mostly seem to want to stand in exactly the same spot on the political see-saw.It's very confusing for the electorate who are actually further to the right or to the left.

Mind considering that two thirds of the population are now disinclined to vote at all maybe it doesn't matter that ideologically there isn't a shoehorn space between right and left.

tbh the political left has moved to the centre, and from the outside seems not to be that different from the political right / centre-right.

And the Greens, who seem to me to be the party that a traditional labour voter should be interested in, just don't seem to have much of a media presence. And if they do it's immediately subsumed with "oh but they're rubbish at running Brighton" as if they could really do anything about the austerity being imposed on them.

its all turned into media circuses and who has the best 'personality' at the front of the party which one looks real out of these cardboard cut-out politicians

In the USA socialism seems to be a "dirty" word like "communism", "fascism" and "evil-doer".

I am not sure whether "UKIP" is also to be considered a dirty word. The main parties and certain large sections in the British media appear to treat it as a dirty word, and those that vote for it are "dirty" or misguided in some way by association.

Re: press view of UKIP. I'm not sure if 'dirty' is the right word there. I'm drawn more to the phrase 'clowns, fruitcakes and closet racists' (I think) that someone once applied to them.

Having said that, the amount of media exposure they got, especially on the BBC, would have been counterproductive to any anti-UKIP stance the organisations would have had. For reasons I don't really understand, they chose Farage's agenda to plan out their political coverage of this election.

By "dirty" I mean "negative association". "Dirty and clean", "black and white" ... have often been used to attribute negative or positive associations with words and ideas.

Interesting use of word, I had to give a lift to a family member who was potential UKIP voter to the polls, I nearly couldn't do it, I felt angry and betrayed and afterwards pretty dirty.

I also felt that they somehow had soiled on what was something special to our family, namely Hiccups first vote.

They didn't spoil it but we went separately to avoid the taint.

So while I am not sure they should be seen as a 'dirty word' or whatever, it is how they made me feel and those are my feelings, a personal post rather than a political one

Dr Anthea's somnolent slip that turned "UKIP" into "BNP" in her original post got me thinking about such negative associations.

I think regarding people as "dirty" or "soiled" because of their choice of vote in a democracy is another step towards demonising freedom of expression.

I agree with swl. I don't like UKIP's policies. I don't like the BNP's policies. I will assume that if you vote for them, you've been misled (especially BNP) or misinformed.

But I won't demonise people for using their democratic right to vote. I've more of a problem with those who can't be arsed voting at all than those who vote for parties I dislike.

If you don't want to vote for anyone, spoil your damned ballot. If 73% of ballots were spoiled as opposed to ignored, you can bet your right buttock that politicians would be a damn sight more invested in the "silent" majority.

Regarding people as soiled or dirty for what they voted, let alone any demonising would just be wrong.

I don't personally regard people that way, despite that snapshot of feelings

We can only vote so on the basis of, past performance, propaganda, lies and false promises.

Is it surprising that such a large nopumber of our fellow countrymen and women are so apathetic that they have lost interest.

If you think about it what noticable difference dose a change of government actually make.