Funk On The Stump
I have just received a call from John Greenshields, who is working for Emily Thornberry. He has invited me to go canvassing with them on Friday, 11-1pm, at a local housing estate. Then I will be able to interview Emily and assess her as a candidate for my vote. I am feeling a little bit nervous, since aside from being a parliamentary candidate, Emily is a criminal lawyer, and I am the secret and invisible available in all colours. Which colours, she will ask, and why are they not visible? Just to make sure they knew I wasn't going to write a lot of misquotes, I told them that I hadn't had my Vote Labour poster yet.
John was nice on the phone, cheerful and helpful, and I noticed how he described the other parties candidates respectfully, even referring to the Conservative candidate, Melanie McLean (right) as "lovely". The Labour movement is full of volunteers and members, he said, whereas the Liberals just ran it like a business. Liberals are paying people to erect posters on sticks at the garden gates of their supporters. I thought they were quick off the mark.
James Humphreys (left) is the local Green Party candidate, and they launched their manifesto today. Green is the only vote I ever cast that wasn't Labour, so I am interested in this party particularly. Although they won't get more than a handful of votes in a general election, I am happy that their politics are greening the other parties, who unfailingly retort that they have ALWAYS been Green. But then, they would say that, wouldn't they? It will have a bearing on my vote whether or not the candidates are credible in this area.I have found a website, courtesy of Probably the Best Blog in the World, which proclaims: Blair Out, Labour In: It IS Possible. I strongly suspect the "protest vote" socialism it purports to be is in fact a divisive right-wing scam designed to leech the Labour vote - but if you are confused by British politics, or even pissed off at anything in particular at the moment, and have a computer with sound, check out this flash movie.
posted by Deek Deekster @ 2:18 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/
good ammo.
Thing is, none of my candidates have ever been an MP before so there is no Parliamentary record upon which to base my choice. In my constituency, we'll have to look at candidates local, political record, and wider social activities... wonder if any of them support fox hunting?
That's weird.
Why don't you email them each, saying you're an influential blogger, with a standard set of questions you want answered?
Methinks your friend at Labour HQ is leading you (appropriately enough, given the subject matter) up the garden path ...
Lib Dem posterboards were all put up by volunteers - and the campaign is run by volunteers. The poster team are hard working without doubt, but they're all paying for the privilege rather than vice versa.
I'm sure much the same goes for Labour but it's an interesting sign of the times that the Labour team who turned up on my street were driving a sparkling Mercedes estate and definitely of the "smoked salmon socialist" variety.
Rather like their candidate, really. Did you know she lives on the same exclusive road in Barnsbury as the Blairs used to (& Margaret Hodge still does)? Must be something in the water ...
Fist: I am doing that (more or less) and it is working. But I want to meet them, not grill them from afar. I want to smell them.
Cat: How interesting, thanks for that. Note that the volunteers are not all local - plenty drafted in from, for example, Walthamstow. As for the exclusive Barnsbury Road, we all drink Thames water.
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