SPHEEL

The Englishman asks the barman for a pitcher of lager, the Irishman asks for a shot of whiskey, and the Scotsman asks for half a pint of bitter.  Here lies no punchline, just a simple analogy in terms of what I consider the current three politicians are offering us the voters in the upcoming election.

Raised in a family of Labour, I’ve been scared away from Conservatives since the day I was born; mainly due to the Thatcher years and the numerous problems that occurred in Liverpool such as the Toxteth Riots.

However, being the disloyal family member; I decided to approach this election impartially and try to detract myself from any prejudgements I had in regards to David Cameron and the conservative party.  Having looked at the manifestos and watched the TV debates, one problem continues to concern me with the conservative party and that is their economic policies; something of paramount importance at a time when a double dip recession is extremely plausible.

Shame on those who fail to learn from history.  It is evident that you must ’speculate to accumulate’ in a time of economic uncertainty.  Don’t trust me, or the other leaders; the facts from the past recessions of the 1930’s and 1980’s speak for themselves.  The UK can merely not afford six years of growing unemployment, particularly when emerging economies are starting to compete even more against our nation.  The government must invest, even if at times this seems a waste; our UK government must spend in order for our economy to improve and recover effectively.

And so David Cameron with his quick, short sighted fix of a shot of whiskey is ruled out.  His ideologies seem some what naive, and I do agree with Gordon Brown when he says he is a risk to the economy.  So, what do I choose, a pitcher or half a bitter?

Here is where my concern lies.  Should I consider the likeliness of certain hung parliaments, or do I just be an idealist and vote for who I want, regardless of possible consequences?

My concern with Brown and his half a pint of bitter is that I feel the UK needs change, it needs an Obama, it needs some sort of vision and hope to try and put respect back in to politics.  Forget Clegg and his cake tin, I’m sure most would agree he does seem to have the best idea in terms of reforming politics, and for this is what makes me believe Clegg should be prime minister.  Scandal has caused mistrust, and I believe for the good of the nation we need a visionary to move forward and forget these past troubles.

Brown however is the one person who knows where the nation currently stands.  Not only this, but as a previous chancellor, he has the greatest expertise in terms of the economy.  But, its that same old party making ridiculous decisions such as the digital economy bill?  This boring weathered face is not what the UK needs.  He’s the guy from labour we blame, the guy who we can moan at.  While Clegg is someone with a positive ideology for the country, he wants to get a pitcher, he wants to get somewhere, and I want to see that happen.

matt Blog, Politics election, Politics

This conversation cropped up between me, my brother and my father not so long ago, and in retrospect I think it’s quite a controversial issue that could be discussed in more depth as our society pulls towards a multi-cultural system, while a minority lag behind with the nostalgia of what used to be.

But what is British?  This island has been colonized for centuries, and so it’s difficult to find a pure Brit.  I mean, just look at our monarchy (…but that’s a completely different argument).  I sit here, with my Malaysian produced laptop, watching my Japanese manufactured TV, wearing my Italian T-Shirt, eating some Mexican cuisine.  Quite a lot to be doing at one moment but treat it more as  a symbolic metaphor.

The key is, over millions of years tectonic plates have digressed from the concept of Pangea, yet I feel now as a new decade begins, western civilization is something that is becoming collective rather than these individual entities.  The UN, the EU, it’s accepted we have different cultures and values, but we all breathe the same air, and we’re all made from the same elements.

My point is, I’m in the progress of applying for a Green Card for the USA.  If accepted, once nationalized, I have the same privileges as any other US civilian.  Except I can’t run for presidency.  For me, I can’t understand this.  A nation which plagued it’s native ancestors does have a right to feel proud for their constitution and the infrastructure they now have in place.  But why does this rule still live on that ensures no foreign blood can become president.  Freedom of choice this nation cries; yet they cannot trust their 300 million strong population to formulate their own viewpoints on a given candidate?

That right there is where I tend to find people disagreeing with me.  Politicians can lie, deceive, and we know power corrupts.  But as a British Citizen if the majority of my fellow people elect a foreign born candidate; so be it.   That should be the beauty of freedom and the power of the people.  I think that the obstacles for these foreign candidates would be colossal, and the chance of it occurring would be minute.  So why engrave it in stone that they don’t even have a chance to pitch their ideas to their residence, and acclaimed nationality?

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Recently, I was offered the opportunity to go to London and discuss my view’s, as a student, on the upcoming election (on the BBC Breakfast show).  After some thought I decided that if asked a question, I wouldn’t know where to start.   I’m no more a politician than Jedward are fantastic singers, but nevertheless I do take a stance towards our current government policies, and at the moment, I can only beg questions rather than provide the answers.

Once upon a time labour and conservative were contrasting political organisations, each with their own different agendas.  Now, with the fear of losing votes, it seem’s that policies are nurtured with very little difference between the two organisations.  Conservative now crave Downing Street, something they have not had since John Major over 12 years ago.

David Mitchell spoke how both governments pitch themselves to reduce waste and hereby improve performance and efficiency of our nation.  In business terms lean production is desirable by many organisations, and this is true in the public sector.

However absolute productivity can never be achieved, and it seems that when I switch on BBC News, there is no pivotal factors or initiatives that inspire me.  As a young 21 year old, I’d like to think for my first election, I’d have something to get excited about that would affect my future.  But no, instead, it still revolves around the propaganda, publicity stunts, and slating of past occurrences.

Cameron offers the country, a fresh, young face.  But he’s backed by a party who pride themselves on traditional values and their conservative ideologies.  Gordon Brown has had to manage the nation through a tough economic crisis, and has been criticised accordingly.   But for the rest of this decade, am I happy for either of those named to be taking a podium and preaching British values?  No.

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