who on earth is interested?
why does it have to be such a shambles?
what's the agenda?
I'd love to write a wise and revealing piece on this issue, but lack of credible information is curtailing my muse. It's not just that though - I also suspect there is a pretty obvious agenda. A possibility that the thing may be all about political control of the police is hardly a startling supposition. Anyone with a pulse and a brain cell could work it out. A further possibility that there may well be an EU link is scarcely any more pulse-raising either.
Do you intend to vote?
I don't. I'm a fairly punctilious voter for some strange reason which I admit I don't fully understand. It's not as if it makes any difference is it? But this time I tend to feel I shouldn't have any part in the vote. Not until I'm sure I know what I'm voting for, which I don't.
I don't. I'm a fairly punctilious voter for some strange reason which I admit I don't fully understand. It's not as if it makes any difference is it? But this time I tend to feel I shouldn't have any part in the vote. Not until I'm sure I know what I'm voting for, which I don't.
At least I know pretty well how the Parliamentary elections don't work and how I am able to use my pitifully feeble vote to throw a single grain of sand in the wheels by voting for the candidate most closely resembling a genuine maverick.
With this PCC game I'm not so sure. It feels fishy, but may not be and that's another problem. It may be an honest attempt to make policing more locally accountable.
Honest?
What am I thinking of! When was anything ever honest in UK politics? Why are the big three national political parties so prominently involved? So it's not an injection of local power into policing - we can be sure of that.
Honest?
What am I thinking of! When was anything ever honest in UK politics? Why are the big three national political parties so prominently involved? So it's not an injection of local power into policing - we can be sure of that.
So I won't vote, because in this case an embarrassingly low turnout may have a little more political impact than that grain of sand. Well I can hope.
7 comments:
I have my voting card thingy with no information about who is up for election, I also have a totally useless leaflet which tells me to go online to find out who to vote for.
Like you I won't be bothering to drag myself to the scout hut to register my interest because I don't have any.
Angus - I had to go online too. The lack of enthusiasm is almost worrying.
Apparently the current austerity dissuaded the government from sending out the usual leaflets, which leaves several million voters with no internet connection in an interesting position.
It all sounds like a total con, and I think your EU angle is probably the key. The Tories are keen on law & order, and changes towards politicising the police are policies that they would normally shy away from. I would expect them to talk about the Stasi, socialist totalitarianism, etc. There is also something odd about how secretly the whole thing has been done, and how desperately the tories want to pick fights with the police rank and file.
It used to be so simple in the old days. Thatcher thought the police had restrictive practices, and lamented the lack of an officer class. But she had the sense to pay them well, as she needed them to kick shit out of the miners. I am genuinely puzzled.
Sam - "I am genuinely puzzled."
So am I, so much so that I was in two minds about posting on it. The more I think about it, the less I like it.
I suspect we'll find out that a minuscule turnout has elected a bunch of 'special interest' candidates with a clear agenda and the contacts/influence to bring out a posse to vote.
Given the way that adversity encourages extremism, I'm not optimistic...
Of course there is an agenda and Common Purpose is not too far away from it.
Mac - yes, I'm concerned about the posse vote too.
James - yes, there will be an ideological thread in there which has been quietly promoted for some time.
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