UK general election 2015

[Demolition Squid]

People were more afraid of the SNP getting power than they were Cameron.

Because if we were ruled under an SNP/Labour/Lib Dem coalition, Scotland would divert billions into a giant saw in order to cut itself away from the rest of the UK for good, or something. I was never really very clear what the 'threat' was given they said over and over they wouldn't demand another referendum.

[MMIX]

People were more afraid of the SNP getting power than they were Cameron.

Because if we were ruled under an SNP/Labour/Lib Dem coalition, Scotland would divert billions into a giant saw in order to cut itself away from the rest of the UK for good, or something. I was never really very clear what the 'threat' was given they said over and over they wouldn't demand another referendum.

My best guess is that a credible threat just has to have an identity, however vague, that can be repeated ad nauseam. That is after all how memes work.

[Cain]

Because people have no fucking clue about how this country is actually run (a state of ignorance many politicians seem content with) and so have no idea about things like the Barnett Formula.

[MMIX]

Because people have no fucking clue about how this country is actually run (a state of ignorance many politicians seem content with) and so have no idea about things like the Barnett Formula.

You mean that bit of pro-Scots / anti-Welsh and N Irish shit that idiot Joel Barnett worked out on the back of a fag packet in a motorway services when he should have been getting some beauty sleep? That Barnett formula? <Hysterical laughter ensues>

Sorry. I've been up all night and the BBC news channel have just dragged out a new version of the swingometer so I'm definitely getting a bit hyper.

BUT, But. Something I have noticed this time round which I suspect may indicate an underlying sea-change in UK politics. For years like right back to Harold MacMillan the first PM I actually remember I have been driven batty by those ghastly vox-pops where some housewife / labouring chap in the street is asked what the result of the election should be and utters those unforgettable words. "Well I think its about time we had a change". And it was a very powerful meme for the longest time. I can attest to its ubiquity over nearly 50 years of elections.

Now you can say what you like about the quality of political debate and the depth of political sophistication in the UK body politic but this time round nobody, not even fucking Joey Essex ffs, has suggested that we just need to vote for the political pendulum to swing back the way it just came from in order to  alleviate all the nations political woes.

[Cain]

I've honestly not read any of the reactions so far.  Is it really that bad?

Then again, the most vacuous Prime Minister since we had a monarchy without German genes is not only in charge, but voted back in with a majority so it probably is, isn't it?

[MMIX]

Well it could be worse, I suppose. At least with the idiot Cameron more or less secure it is marginally less likely that the appalling Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson will get into power before I am too damn old to give a shit.

[Junkenstein]

You'll get the dithering dolt next election, opposition pm.

[MMIX]

You'll get the dithering dolt next election, opposition pm.

If I'm really lucky I will be dead by then

[Junkenstein]

You'll get the dithering dolt next election, opposition pm.

If I'm really lucky I will be dead by then

You won't be that lucky.

It shall be the final victory of style over substance and proof you can win an election without actually making a single intelligible statement.

[MMIX]

You'll get the dithering dolt next election, opposition pm.

If I'm really lucky I will be dead by then

You won't be that lucky.

It shall be the final victory of style over substance and proof you can win an election without actually making a single intelligible statement.

You haven't been watching Cameron then have you ? 

[Cain]

The UK electorate does like proving HL Mencken right, don't they?

[MMIX]

Hmm. This one seems fairly appropriate, was this the one you were thinking of?

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_l_mencken.html#zMkyxwm96DxEpKAD.99

[Cain]

I was thinking more:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

[MMIX]

Gotta love Mencken 

also apropos politics

For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/h_l_mencken.html#zMkyxwm96DxEpKAD.99

[Junkenstein]

I went straight to 'the common man is a fool.'

All seem to apply.