Monday 11 May 2015

The greatest tragedy of the British election [updated]

So, what about that British election then, eh?

Three party leaders resigned, two parties that went anti-immigrant were told by voters to piss off, and pollsters by the bucketload had their faces dowsed with egg.

There as here, Labour’s class warfare rhetoric has failed spectacularly, and the non-specific and insubstantial bland mouthings of a “brighter future” under Blue statists rolled out so successfully by NZ’s National Socialist proved almost as successful in Britain – and as recommended by  the same advisers.

Always great to see the sensational political losers we’ve been denied by MMP: George Galloway, Nigel Farage, Ed Davey, Ed Balls, Russell Brand.

Always amusing to see those so supposedly vocal about democracy blaming the wisdom of voters for their dramatic defeats.

Always fun to see the pollsters and the pundits who follow them – who between them for weeks on end were telling the country the parliament would be hung and the parties who lead it in coalition -- so utterly, utterly wrong. Yet, as we know, before you can say “sampling error” they’ll be back peddling the same sewage and the same selection of media talking heads will be back buying it and slinging it again all around the commentariat, even though they’ve been proved once again to be wrong, wrong, wrong.

And always pathetic to see advocates of MMP bust out yet again and start singing about how the results would have rewarded voters better under their preferred voting system – ignoring not only that politicians who can’t even convince one smallish group of people who know them best that they should go to parliament as their representatives should probably not be so rewarded, but – to put it as simply as it’s possible to do -- as we in in NZ have learned voters vote a lot differently when there’s a different voting system in place and parties campaign a lot differently. Sheesh!

And, as always, so, so sad that now (as with every election when folk get so excited it’s almost possible to be believe that real change might sometimes seem almost possible), now the UK will settle down to a new term under the same set of statist masters who, in every important respect, are very,very little different to the other set of statist masters  the voters decided not to prefer.

That, in the end, is the greatest tragedy of every modern election everywhere.

And why I re-watch this episode after every election I’ve ever been involved in.

UPDATE:  Here’s a related tragedy. An intellectual one. David Farrar points to what he calls "the global failures of the left this decade."

It may be coincidence, [he says] but in almost all the countries we take a big interest in, the centre-right has been winning election after election.

And he looks at each of them.

But what he appears totally ignorant about is that, in virtually every case he highlights, the so-called centre-right’s victory’s have been bought by adopting the policies of their erstwhile political opponents.

So, since it’s the policies inflicted upon us that matter in the end, not the colour of the rosette of those inflicting them, who do you really think is winning?

And why are the so-called centre-right so dense they don’t see it?

6 comments:

Sam P said...

It put a smile on my face. Watching the shell-shocked presenters on the Beeb absorbing by inches the incoming truth was gloat entertainment material of the highest order. Some twitteratory said; give them a break, they've just spent the last 5 years campaigning for Labour.

I beg differ though; this was a meaningful result with a meaningful difference. The left was rejected clearly & decisively for being left -- in particular its 70s style politics of envy & class warfare. Outside media-land, the regular Brit ain't up for that. Heartening.

(The spectre of being run by a mutant coalition of Labour & Scot nationalist maniacs helped. heh heh)

Anonymous said...

Well pollsters aside, it is unclear that this is some quantitative victory for "the Right" in the UK.

To wit:

1) The SNP, which is if anything more left wing than Labor, peeled off an immense number of seats, seats that if added to labor seats, would have most definitely have pushed labor neck and neck with the Tories. Taken in its totality, it is difficult to see this are some fundamental rightward shift in the electorate.

2) Movement in the South towards the Tories was likely a last minute switch prodded by the above mentioned movement in towards the SNP in the North--which was pretty clear to everyone, at least everyone but Labor strategists--rather than some deeply felt and widely held repudiation of Labor's left wing policies.

3) All in all, the current Tories are hardly "conservatives" in any fundamental sense--they are most certainly statists. This shall be seen in how they handle the "Referendum" and immigration. They will in fact make sure that the UK will not leave the EU, and immigration will proceed apace.. They are really just another bunch of elitist technocrats off in their arrogant and idiotic abstractions, and wholly corrupted by their egoism, greed and lust for power. The Tories and Labor but our out to rip apart the traditional, founding civilization of the UK, and in fact have reduced it to the point where it might never recover.

Yes it is true that there are some differences between Labor and the Conservatives, but it is mostly a matter of degree and not of kind. Like in the USA, the choice appears to be merely that of the speed at which the elites lead the UK to national suicide.

For a sane take on this election by an insightful Englishman I would recommend eureferendum.com.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

"Always amusing to see those so supposedly vocal about democracy blaming the wisdom of voters for their dramatic defeats." Cue David Slack on Radio Live blaming the result on the cunning of Crosby Textor.

OECD rank 22 kiwi said...

Let's take note of the little things here in the UK. Income Tax won't be increasing to 50p in the £1, no mansion tax and the inheritance tax threshold will rise to £1,000,000 .(for couples/partners).

Otherwise David Cameron is as wet as he ever was before 7 May 2015.

Mainstream Mike said...

Sure the tories are socialists (in spite of Maggie's great phrase) but Labour are out-and-out communists.

There's a huge difference between doubling the amount to be spent on welfare (Labour) and cutting 25% in real terms across the next term (Michael Gove).

With a bunch of rather restive Tory backbenchers, Cameron's feet will be held to the fire, and with any luck the UK will have a second chance at real reform after Maggie!

Imagine how much better off would be if Key was promising to chop welfare spending by 25% and keep everything else the same in nominal terms (so year-on-year cuts to everything at the rate of inflation)

Oh, and in the last term Gove turned every secondary school in to a charter. Key & English could do all this in NZ, but they just haven't got the guts.

MarkT said...

"...the so-called centre-right’s victory’s have been bought by adopting the policies of their erstwhile political opponents."

True - and you could interpret that to mean the socialists have won. Or you could interpret it, coining a phrase from Robert Tracinski, that we have reached "peak leftism". That the socialists have now pushed it as far as they can, aren't making any more headway, and they have nowhere else to go now but down.