With a little over two weeks until the general election, Iâm feeling a real mix of excitement and worry.
Iâm excited at the very real chance that the Tories will be decimated and kept out of office for the foreseeable. Iâm worried that indifference and overconfidence will keep many away from the ballot box, making all this a pipe dream.
Fourteen years of mismanagement, chaos, underinvestment and culture wars have left the UK reeling from crisis to crisis. Schools literally falling apart, an NHS on its knees, isolation from Europe and a carnival of idiots taking turns occupying the most important roles in government. Itâs been an absolute shambles and the Tories have most definitely put their party before the country.
A clear choice
Labour arenât offering us the answers to all the problems, nor are they promising to pay for everything people want. Theyâre dealing with the mess they anticipate finding on day one. And while I donât live and breathe what they claim to stand for, Iâd take them in a heartbeat over the clowns running the show right now.
The Tories have had fourteen years to show us what they stand for, and theyâve done it with impressive regularity. They stand for rules for others, not them. They stand for making a profit from every possible opportunity. They stand for punching down on the most deprived, while leaving the most wealthy and advantaged free of any taxation burden whatsoever.
Pardon me my schadenfreude, but Iâve booked July 5th off work, so I can stay up all night to watch the results. While some of the biggest cowards (Gove, Leadsome et al) have already indicated they wonât stand, depriving us of the joy of watching them lose their seats, there are enough Tories left to be made unemployed that my night wonât be without some highlights of joy.
What next?
But once the excitement of election night is over, Labour will have a mountain to climb. How to address the underinvestment? How to repair relations with the EU? How can they do something about the appalling infrastructure and the state of public transport? Their to do list is incredibly long.
I donât envy them.
Some of the Tories are already warning against a Labour âsuper-majorityâ - which is in itself a nonsense, as the concept doesnât exist in the UK system of government. But if Labour win a landslide, I hope they get more ambitious with their plans, to speed up turning the ship around and addressing the core issues like child poverty, crime and healthcare.
Weâve had enough culture war nonsense, enough âexcitementâ and enough emphasis on personality.
Iâd opt for stable and boring, morning, noon and night.
Bring on July 4th.
