"My name is ...... and I approve this message" - views on party political broadcasts

First of all, allow me to apologise for the gap between this posts and my previous one: I meant to write it up last week but the need to revise for two exams over the bank holiday weekend intervened. However, this probably won't make too much difference because I haven't promoted this blog much!

Anyway, onto the topic of the party political broadcasts for the European Parliament elections. What I intend to do is to go through each broadcast (at least, the ones hosted on the BBC website) and offer up some thoughts on them. For the purpose of this analysis, I've decided to just look at the most recent broadcasts posted on the BBC website otherwise this post would be ridicuously long! For that reason, I've also decided to leave a few of the small parties out of this.



Conservative Party, 15th May

Right, David Cameron doesn't exactly endear me from the start when he makes it clear that it's going to be five minutes of him talking directly about MPs' expenses. I can see why Cameron would choose to take this route, as lets face it, a lot of people will be voting on the basis of the whole expenses issue and looking to stick it to the big twon parties. Also, its in his interest to make clear his plans on dealing with the expenses issue withing his party (even if the only reason anyone in the main parties is looking at reforming the system is because they've been called out on their frivolous claims by the media). Still, I find it frustrating that Mr. Cameron decides not to put across any policies or positions with regard to Europe or even the local elections. This is a problem which is endemic in secondary elections as it is, where people tend to just use them as a chance to vote against the government, and doesn't need exacerbating by party leaders brushing aside the actual issues that people are supposed to be voting on.
Like I said, I can see why Mr. Cameron spent a whole broadcast focussing on the expenses issue and it makes sense to highlight what he's doing about it. But anyone looking for any kind of policy with regard to Europe will, unfortunately, not find it in this broadcast.

Labour Party, 14th May

Entitled 'Cameron's Conservatives'. There's even a website by the same name! Man walks into warehouse, starts beating on punch bag. Cut to various people saying what David Cameron would do. I thought this was a pretty decent broadcast as they go. Focusses on why people shouldn't vote Conservative which I suppose is fair enough, pointing out where they would make cuts to services or other things that the Labour government has brought in. Had to laugh at the bloke getting in a car with the number plate TORY at the end, but the message was pretty clear and seems to do its purpose of putting doubts in the minds of people who might switch their vote from Labour to Tory next week.

Liberal Democrats, 28th May

Its Nick Clegg! And, it looks like another party leader monologue, and on a boring background - oh joy. Still, in fairness to Mr. Clegg he seems to have his finger on the pulse of public opinion and he's right to say that a few new faces won't change the fact that the system needs fundamental change in how its run. He's also setting out a few ideas that I think may resonate with some people, especially the right to for people to 'sack' MPs if they've acted out of line. As someone who agrees with the idea of consituents being able to 'recall' their MP (as the electorate in American states can do with their governors), I hope Nick Clegg pushes this idea in the Commons. But once again he falls into the trap of not having much to say about the European elections which lets the broadcast down a bit. Yet more proof that secondary elections don't focus enough on the issues they should be.

UK Independence Party, 12th May

United States of Europe? Made me chuckle, but not as much as the metaphor of a burglar with an EU t-shirt on sneaking into 'UK House' and nicking things. Thankfully though, if we vote UKIP we can stop nasty Euro-burglars from stealing our property, apparently...
Once again, they trot out the 'statistic' of 75% of laws passed being made by Brussels, and apparently we have no control over them. I'm no expert on European legislation, but I'm pretty sure member states have the final say on which laws are passed in their country still. Also, its all well and good saying 'we pay a membership fee of £40 million a day', but that conveniently ignores all the money that flows back in to the country in grants for projects. Then they move on to talk about immigration and how we shouldn't be letting poor people from Eastern Europe into the country? Seriously? I love how parties like UKIP keep referring to the vast swathes of immigrants who never quite come in their millions in reality. Pointless scaremongering.
UKIP's focus on getting MEPs has confused me for quite a while anyway. They seem to cling to some belief that by getting elected they can 'take the system down from the inside'. If they had any sense, surely they would focus on the general elections, as Westminster is the only body that can actually achieve their aim of removing us from the EU. As it stands, all they are doing is trying to pick up protest votes from the main parties, a point rammed home by their leader and the old Conservative donator wheeled out at the end of the broadcast. And no, Mr. Farage, I do not think that the most important question facing us surrounds our EU membership which, in my opinion, actually benefits us a lot more than people realise. That is why I will NOT be voting for UKIP next week.


Christian Party & Christian People's Alliance

Apparently these guys 'exist to challenge the secular agenda of the main parties'. I'm not sure there is such a thing, and I'll always be of the opinion that a political system based on secularity can only be a good thing. I could also write a whole other post on whether the values they espouse are exclusively Christian values (in my opinion, they are not). I also think religion should be kept separate from politics so I'm not entirely keen on these guys. Nonetheless, some of what they say and the values they talk about are ones I think are quite fair. Still, I'd be interested to see what their views are on where other religions stand and in particular on their views towards atheists or agnostics. What if people don't believe in a society founded on 'respect for God'? This is something that isn't clear from this broadcast. Either way, I'd sooner have an MEP from these parties than any of the anti-EU parties or the BNP though.


British National Party, 26th May

Speaking of the BNP, they have broadcasts too albeit very poor ones. I'll at least try to tone down my views for this post, but I can't promise anything!
So, it starts with a voiceover wistfully recalling a bygone era where we had fields (apparently, these have gone??), a working health service (was fine last time my family used it), honest politicians (seriously??) and safe streets (yeah, because no-one ever got abducted or killed back in 'the day', did they?). I find it amusing how parties like the BNP and, to a lesser extent, the likes of the Daily Mail newspaper, always seem to go about with the belief that everything was rosy back in the 1950s. They say we British built a happy society, though they ignore the contributions of millions from the British empire who fought for us to have a free and happy society, not to mention the immigrants from the empire & Commonwealth who came here to help rebuild Britain post-World War Two.
Then, like so often in this recent campaign, they go on to invoke the sacrifices of our soldiers in the aforementioned War. This really pisses me off personally, as we all know that these brave people fought and died so we would not have to live under a regime with the kind of views that the BNP advocates. Oh and the conflation of a Nazi-dominated Europe with the European Union is absolutely ridiculous, as is comparing modern-day immigrants to the spectre of Nazi soldiers invading the UK. Apparently 'political correctness' strips us of our heritage, bringing in such horrible concepts as diversity, equality and human rights: oh no! Please, whatever will we do! Also, I'm pretty certain no Council has EVER torn down an English flag.
Then Nick Griffin appears, saying 'lets be clear, the BNP doesn't blame the immigrants'. Yes you do, Mr. Griffin. And, yes it is about racism because your own party prohibits non-white membership and wants all such people deported!


Green Party, 27th May

My word, a party broadcast actually setting out clear policies, some of which are related to Europe! I'll admit, I've never really considered voting Green before and I'd imagine a fair few people would say the same, but this broadcast was probably my favourite of the bunch. It pretty much hits all the criteria of what a political broadcast should contain, in my view: clear policies, clear statements of what the party has achieved, and a clear statement of why one should vote for them. Pity that their campaign leaflets, from what I've seen, aren't that impressive. Hopefully a fair few people will have seen this broadcast; on reflection, I certainly wouldn't begrudge the Green Party picking up a few more seats in Europe.


Anyway, I think thats enough for now! Hope it was an interesting read, and make sure you get out and vote on Thursday!

First post and some observations on Eurovision 09

Ok everyone, so this is my second foray into the world of 'blogging'. I did set one up briefly a while ago but my commitment to these kinds of things tends not to be maintained for long, so it disappeared after a couple of entries. But recently I've found blogs written by my friends to be quite interesting reads, so I've been somewhat inspired to set up my own. I aim to update this one fairly regularly, and will at least try to engage a bit more in this blogging business, so please keep an eye out for updates!

Just so you know, this blog will not be a journal so you won't be getting updated on my day-to-day thoughts/activities (I prefer to use Facebook statuses for that every now and then). Instead, most of my entries will be on politics or current affairs, though not exclusively! For example, for my first entry I thought I'd talk about something relatively light-hearted: the Eurovision Song Contest! Now, I know this is much maligned but even in recent years with the endemic political voting I've still found it worth watching because occasionally the contest does throw up some genuinely good songs, and also some absolutely hilarious ones (certainly reason to watch the semi-finals as well as the main event!). Nonetheless, I think everyone was getting a bit tired with the farcical back-scratching between neighbouring countries in the voting and the more I think about it, this year's change to the voting system (where the results are decided in each country 50/50 between a jury and telephone voting) has probably saved the contest somewhat. The big four countries who get the automatic entry to the final made an effort with their entries this year and I do think that they may all have considered withdrawing from Eurovision entirely if they'd have been screwed over by political voting again. Who knows?

Anyway, so I think Andrew Lloyd Webber hit the nail on the head when he stated that Eurovision had 'become a song contest again' or something along those lines. For the most part, the final table in my opinion was a fair reflection of the relative quality of songs in the contest, and for the most part, the best entries got through to the final. (Personally I thought Slovenia's entry was pretty cool and I liked Ireland's as well). The best part of all, however, was that for the first time in years I actually felt proud of Britain's entry. I wasn't convinced Jade was the right choice to sing the song at first but she won me over. She, along with everyone else involved in writing/performing the song, really made an effort with it and this was reflected in the fact that we picked up a very respectable points total. The only question is how do we do that well again next year? It will be interesting to see what happens, just as long as we don't go back to sending reality TV rejects every year.

Here’s a few thoughts on some of the contestants that stood out for me from Eurovision 2009:

Portugal: I quite liked this one; the set-up was really cool, loved the instruments, and the song itself has a certain relaxing quality about it. Perhaps lacked a certain something to really make it grab people's attention though.
Russia: The song they won with last year wasn't too bad, but this one was just...well...depressing. Deservedly didn't make the top ten.
Azerbaijan: Another that finished where it deserved to in my opinion. Stood out above some of the other similar entries and was quite catchy.
Denmark: Co-written by Ronan Keating and boy, you could tell! Part of me did wonder if the singer was in fact related to Ronan in some way. Either that or he idolises the former Boyzone member. Good song though, and 13th place was a bit harsh in my opinion.
Germany: Now, this wouldn't have been that bad if the performance hadn't been clearly geared towards parading Dita Von Teese in a corset on stage. Maybe an ill-advised grab for the male vote? Who knows? Either way it didn't work.
Albania: Average song. Not that I could comment on it in any detail because I was sat there wondering why on earth there was a green gimp (as accurately described by the guy commentating on the semi-final) on stage manhandling the singer. Oh and the Joker/mime makeup on the backing dancers was just weird as well.
Norway: The main singer pulled a few too many smug faces for my liking during his song, but overall a good track and a deserved winner.
Ukraine: Incredibly cheesy, right down to the scantily-clad Romans who looked like they'd been picked up from a lady's night or a hen party somewhere. Made me laugh though, and every Eurovision needs a few acts like this just for sheer hilarity.