After Eastleigh

[poliphilo]

The Tories got pushed into third place by UKIP which is bad news for Mr Cameron. I don't suppose it's particularly good news for UKIP either because if they can't win in a Southern by-election- with both coalition parties struggling in the polls and being torn apart in the media- where can they win? The Lib Dems hung onto the seat which is good news for Mr Clegg who would have been toast if they'd lost it. But the win isn't attributable to him- he had to be surrounded by a praetorian guard and kept away from the public when he visited the constituency- but a tribute to the strength of the party on the ground. Labour came nowhere- which was expected. Next time they choose a comedian as their candidate let it be a funny one.

I ask myself how much I care about any of this and it isn't much. I no longer believe it makes any great difference which party is notionally running things.  Real power resides elsewhere- with the bankers, with the corporations, with the media barons, with the Brussels bureaucracy, with Washington. I'm interested in democracy out of habit. 

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

If anyone won at Eastleigh it was probably Ed Miliband. There are signs that UKIP may really split the Tory vote at the next election.

I longed for someone to say to John O'Farrell, "I know Beppe Grillo. Beppe Grillo is a friend of mind. You're no Beppe Grillo." I suspect what really did for him was his saying that he wouldn't live in the constituency. I might as well have worn a T-shirt saying "I don't want the job and I don't care about the place (where was it again?) or the people who live there."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

O'Farrell was feeble. I saw him in the studio being interviewed alongside the other candidates and he was just another dim bulb party politician. No jokes. No outrage. If anything the Conservative candidate was livelier.