Friday 30 April 2010

The land of the perpetually confused

You might have to be blind to have failed to notice that election fever is sweeping us at the moment. You log onto any news site and the first set of headlines are Election2010 based, and every lead story in every paper is about the latest gaff or faux-pas or spitting out of dummies that the competitors are doing. But I tells you what - it's a nightmare. I don't have a clue who to vote for. The past few years have been a disaster under Labour, I could NEVER vote for the Conservatives, I just couldn't, I was raised in a working class family with strong Labour roots, those Tory blues just don't hit my radar. And I'm wary of the Lib Dems. In the past, it's always been like a bit of a no-vote to choose them because let's face it, in Britain it's always been a swing between blue and red, yellow just didn't get a look in and it felt a bit like sitting on the fence. But now, in this 2010 election year, the colours are starting to blur.

To tell you the truth I try to avoid the media as much as possible in election time, mainly because they're all so busy putting their own spin on it that the truth (ha!) is lost amidst the PR fluff. And this is my problem, this is why I'm living in the land of the perpetually confused, I just don't know who to believe. Or what for that matter. Right about now, I think I'm really wishing for something that doesn't exist - an entirely independent place, where each party lists exactly what they stand for, the changes they propose to make, and why they should lead our country. Am I politically naive do we think? I reckon so, as such a thing simply doesn't exist. I spent a considerable amount of time yesterday reading the BBC website, they broke it down into different sections and priorities, and it was useful. But not independent. Probably not entirely truthful either.

But here I am. With only a matter of days to go and still no further forward. I know I have to vote, it's vital that as many people as possible vote in any election. But I swing daily between red and yellow, back to red...forever confused, indecisive. It's not a great place to be.

2 comments:

Librarian Girl said...

Across the pond, we have helpful organizations with websites that are really helpful during elections, that just list candidates and their voting records. Takes away all the fluff of media, candidate speeches, and other detritus and you just see what the candidates have already done. (Project Vote Smart is one such site). You guys have to have things like that over there, I bet. No help on this from your library?

Good luck on making a decision!

Anonymous said...

i havn't a clue in fact sam did me a favour when he posted my ballot form through the letterbox to the outside - where it was raining!!!
rx