The Artist – Charlie Uzzel-Edwards
Well, I voted. I then wrote about it several times. My views on compulsory voting (with musings on enfranchisement and the Chartists) tend to take me off message).
So do my thoughts on Police Commissioners and why we don’t need such as elected law enforcement personnel and no win-no fee lawyers. I deleted them.
So, I will treat this as third time lucky and try to stick to the results. The Green party seems to be doing well. Reform is doing even better. To me that means that people are more concerned with illegal immigration than they are with climate change.
OK, fourth time, as the third time was a bit dull.
The local Green candidate won. We also got an extra Green councillor in Peterborough, meaning we now have six. . So far, so good. There are 8 Peterborough First councillors and 9 Independents, plus Conservative, Reform, Labour and LibDem. It is a very fragmented council and nobody has overall control. At one time, according to newspaper article last year 25% of sitting councillors had been elected for a party that was different to the one they were currently claiming to be in. That often happens where you have Greens, Independents and someone in a party with a town name and “First” after it.
Nationally the Greens did quite well, despite the fact we are supposedly anti-semitic and Reform did even better because they are riding a wave of populism.
And that is a summary of politics in England today – the big winner is a party led by a man who accepted a £5,000,000 gift from a businessman who wants nothing in return, is a friend of Donald Trump and has, several times, been caught out for using anti-semitic and racist language.
In Wales Reform is going to be the second biggest party but in Scotland they did not prosper. The Greens won two seats in each country, which is a start.
Counting is still proceeding.
However, despite the shifts in power I don’t expect much will change, because they never do, The political climate will probably become less compassionate towards refugees, and to those with immigrant backgrounds, parties which promise a lot in opposition often fail to life up to the rhetoric when they come into contact with reality.
Our system is designed so that no party should be able to get an absolute majority. Unfortunately, the other parties were so feeble that the SNP did manage to get an absolute majority, but not last time or this time. This means that they will have to negotiate with other parties which is as it should be. However, after their experience in the last term, they probably won’t be talking to the Greens.
I’m currently watching all the declarations that they won’t deal with Reform. Time, and necessity may well change that.
Not a decision I endorse. The SNP needs to accept that they are not the only party wanting Independence. They are actually losing support because of this but and it eould be,a disaster for Scotland if they were the people to negotiate a leaving settlement or design a New Consitution for an Independent country. Historically, the people of Scotland are sovereign so we should all have a voice.
A host of things here to worry about, including water out here in the west.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/54-2/indigenous-affairs-water-tribal-nations-are-locked-inside-the-u-s-water-regime/
I fear we will start to see wars over water soon. Believe it or not, we have problems with water too, despite all the rain.
Indigenous peoples should always be consulted and listened to as they are the ones best at knowing how to conserving natural resources and live,sustainably
Unfortunately we are living in times where many people would kill the planet than live without avocados, or throwaway fashion.
Glad to read about the Green victory. But Reform is your far right? If so, darn. Not that I can say much coming from the United States. Sigh.
Farage of Reform has been seen sucking up to trump and to Musk, so yes, far right and a failed experiment in making a human being. 🙁
So true!
Nice to see the Greens doing well, but that’s because I like to see the underdog succeed, unless it’s Reform, who were an underdog but now seem to be a force. You’re right there, nothing will change. I no longer blame the politicians, after years of observing voting patterns I blame the public. One day they’re cooing with delight, the next they’re stood outside No10 like the mob in the Frankenstein movies. I’m not sure we are actually cut out for democracy 😂
“it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”
Quote from Churchill, though it traces back to Plato.
I see the perennial favourite game of “Throwing the Leader Under the Bus” is about to kick off. 🙂
Yup, the peasants are gathering outside the castle 😂
🙂
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Trump and Farage – the stuff of nightmares
They both seem to have the same sort of smile. They look like humans but grin like crocodiles.
Alas!
Great post! I became quite bored with politics a long time ago. Some people seem to have no common sense, although they may be well educated. Many don’t seem to care about the good of the country, just that they don’t want members of the other party to get their way even though they may have a better idea. Well, maybe I should delete this comment and start over. 🙂 I hope you are ding well, my friend!
Unfortunately that seems to be the state of politics these days. I am doing well thank you, despite the onset of cynicism. I hope you are seeing plenty of interesting plants. 🙂
Very good. I think cynicism creeps in on all of us off and on. I haven’t ventured out since last Sunday when I went back to the prairie. Unfortunately, most of the flowers had faded already. Even so, I managed to identify a new species. Not very good photos of it because the sun was too high and it was windy.
Some days are bound to be better than others, but finding a new species when you already know so many makes it a day to be treasured.
We all voted too. The Greens won the Ward where we live (Bungay) but Reform have done very well elsewhere in Suffolk. The Lib Dems have done a little better than of late, mainly because support for Conservatives and Labour has diminished somewhat.
I read an analysis earlier that said Lib Dems have done better in places where they were second. They didn’t need to do well – the loss of support for Labour and Tories just made the difference for them. In the current climate retaining you share of the vote i tricky so they deserve their success. Meanwhile No 1 Son in Norwich i now in a Green city.
Norwich has been getting greener for some time. Blocking cars from roads in the city, electric buses etc. Not enough park and ride facilities and those that are in place are not very big. Maybe that’s what they’ll be up to next?
We will have to see, but at least they have a chance. My prediction is that all the new parties will find it harder than they think once they actually have to do things. I even wish Reform success in running councils, as people will suffer if they don’t.
I voted LibDem in East Oxford as the candidate supported Palestine. As a Scot I will always,support ithe suppressed peoples. Looking at results in Scotland, it’s stalemate again as, sadly, the SNP will not push for our Independence as they neither want nor have the capacity to run a fully Independent country.
Yes, they are in a tricky situation. 🙂
I voted too and being in Scotland, I was able to vote twice, so I got to vote for two different parties.
It has been a perplexing election from that point of view. Three different electoral systems. I’m interested to see if any of them turn out to be seen as clearly better than the others.