It's been a thin month for posts. It's the usual thing: so many photos taken on the mid-month holiday to Somerset and Dorset (it sounds like an old railway line!) that editing them - a task not yet finished - has entirely crowded out blogging. And my next trip to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is only sixteen days away, after my 72nd birthday celebrations.
As much as I love my photography, I've missed composing blog posts on things that draw my attention. So here's one that I'm squeezing in before June is done with.
It's about the obvious subject - the General Election in a few days' time.
Readers will scarcely be surprised that I remain supportive of the Conservatives, even though they most definitely do not deserve it. But it's the party whose approach chimes best with my own general way of thinking. I don't mean that all their policies are good ones. Some of them are plainly wrong. But I'm comfortable with much of what the Conservatives stand for. Of course I'm not happy about the seemingly endless errors, missed chances, delays in putting things right, and scandalous revelations. It so reminds me of the last months of the Conservative government in 1997: a time of sleaze, and a 'couldn't-care-less' attitude that justly earned them a drubbing at the ballot box. Besides, Tony Blair was unstoppable at the time, and New Labour looked like a very attractive (and much-needed) New Broom. I actually voted Labour in 1997, though never before or since.
The present incumbents seem less guilty than their predecessors in 1997; but clearly the current government is tired, and has run out of vision and great ideas. The country is calling time. Another New Broom seems appropriate and overdue.
All this said, I intend to cast my vote in the Conservative direction. Why? To save the Labour Party from itself.
Suppose (as is quite possible) Labour achieve that 'landslide victory' and end up with, say, a 200 majority in the House of Commons. Labour's Far Left will feel their time has truly come. It's easy to anticipate that the moderate (i.e. quasi-conservative) right wing of the party will be quickly challenged and swept aside. In a twinkling, reasonable Sir Keir Starmer will be undermined and deposed, and his disciples with him. In will come a bunch of hard-line people, who will pursue old-fashioned doctrinaire policies with no effective opposition. Money and resources will be wasted on saving industries that have had their day, and vital planet-saving efforts will be dropped.
I want no hand in bringing that about.
It would in any case weigh heavily on my conscience to be a renegade and vote Labour merely because the Conservatives had run out of steam. My father (a lifelong Conservative voter) would advise me against it, if I could ask him. I still respect his point of view on such things.
But it would also be a serious mistake, one that no responsible citizen should contemplate, to hand Labour an unassailable majority. That wouldn't be good for any party in power. They need an effective opposition. So I will give the Conservatives my vote.
I hope that once it is out of office the Conservative party will face up to its many shortcomings and discard the people who have been stupid, selfish, heartless, wayward, dishonest, untalented and out of touch. After that purge, I want to see fresh faces, keen minds, and much better ideas. One day, after Labour have made their own mess of things, the Conservatives will be voted back again. They need to get ready for that return. A five-year break now, in 2024, may therefore be no bad thing.
And the Reform Party? They may have some thrust at the moment, but I consider the Far Right attitudes of their activists to be poisonous. I would be fearful for my wellbeing if Reform got into power. Having dealt ruthlessly with those they wish to outlaw, they might next turn against unproductive pensioners, or anyone who is a drain on the super-expensive NHS.
And the Liberal Democrats? I usually give them my vote in local District Council elections. But as regards a General Election, I haven't forgotten that they were against Brexit. (I voted for Brexit solely on the sovereignty issue: I did not want to see Britain absorbed into a homogenous United States of Europe. I wanted to see this country run its own affairs, as it did until the early 1970s, and remain distinct and special) It's hard to forgive the the LibDems for being anti-Brexit.
Besides, they have greatly annoyed me recently. The local candidate has been bombarding me almost daily with pamphlets through my front door. It's so irritating. Then yesterday there were repeated phone calls from a central London number, which I ignored at first. But I did eventually phone back, to be told that these calls were made 'on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party' and that yet another call would be made to me shortly. Oh no! What for? Was it some hired agency wanting to know which way I was going to vote? This persistent badgering made me seethe. I blocked the number. The LibDems definitely won't get my vote now.
The Greens? One day, maybe. But I think the immediate priority is to keep the likely Labour majority after 4th July within bounds, so they will be limited to passing legislation that most will regard as sensible, and not extreme.
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