Euro-Apathy [by Pogo]
With the Euro elections fast approaching Auntie Beeb's been trying to draw attention to the fact by showing "special reports". They've been following the party leaders round the country. This apparently is to give each of them a chance to deliver their message... well, the only message I've picked up so far is that nobody is very interested in any of it.
Small wonder. None of the parties really seem to have a message in the first place. The Tory leader just looks smug, the LibDem looks a bit out of it, and The Liar himself is just looking for more opportunities to flash his famous plastic smile.
Political messages? None whatsoever.
Voter interest? Ditto.
A few people have attempted to call the politicians in on Iraq but they've been brushed off by platitudes issued as the politician strides away. Call that campaigning? Call that "taking the message to the people"? If the message is "we don't want to talk about embarrassing stuff" then they're doing a good job.
Don't any of our politicans know how to debate any more? With real people? Don't they know how to deal with an unpredictable agenda? If not, they shouldn't be in the job...
In the meantime we have huge billboards all over the place from the UK Independence Party: Say No To European Union.
Indeed? And why should we do that, then? What's so bad about being part of a larger Eurostate? The UK can't survive on its own any more (arguably, it never did - it just exploited a subservient Empire).
The alternative is tacit annexation by the USA.
George Bush, for all the "monkey" jibes hurled his way, has skillfully manipulated the UK into pissing off the majority of our natural ideological allies. We have far more in common historically with the nations of the EU than we have with the USA - the USA was built on the premise of "freedom for the individual" (ie "sink or swim"), whereas Europe has a strong socialist tendency. Our loyalties should lie within Europe.
A European superstate is the only viable way of exerting influence on the USA - a superpower that has begun to lose its way, and dangerously so.
We need Europe as much as it needs us.
* * *
Pogo is continually told to shut up by his long-suffering mates down the pub. Always opinionated yet rarely correct, he can't help sticking his oar in no matter what the subject. He has even been known to offer up opinions on politics, about which he is supremely unqualified to speak.
Small wonder. None of the parties really seem to have a message in the first place. The Tory leader just looks smug, the LibDem looks a bit out of it, and The Liar himself is just looking for more opportunities to flash his famous plastic smile.
Political messages? None whatsoever.
Voter interest? Ditto.
A few people have attempted to call the politicians in on Iraq but they've been brushed off by platitudes issued as the politician strides away. Call that campaigning? Call that "taking the message to the people"? If the message is "we don't want to talk about embarrassing stuff" then they're doing a good job.
Don't any of our politicans know how to debate any more? With real people? Don't they know how to deal with an unpredictable agenda? If not, they shouldn't be in the job...
In the meantime we have huge billboards all over the place from the UK Independence Party: Say No To European Union.
Indeed? And why should we do that, then? What's so bad about being part of a larger Eurostate? The UK can't survive on its own any more (arguably, it never did - it just exploited a subservient Empire).
The alternative is tacit annexation by the USA.
George Bush, for all the "monkey" jibes hurled his way, has skillfully manipulated the UK into pissing off the majority of our natural ideological allies. We have far more in common historically with the nations of the EU than we have with the USA - the USA was built on the premise of "freedom for the individual" (ie "sink or swim"), whereas Europe has a strong socialist tendency. Our loyalties should lie within Europe.
A European superstate is the only viable way of exerting influence on the USA - a superpower that has begun to lose its way, and dangerously so.
We need Europe as much as it needs us.
Pogo is continually told to shut up by his long-suffering mates down the pub. Always opinionated yet rarely correct, he can't help sticking his oar in no matter what the subject. He has even been known to offer up opinions on politics, about which he is supremely unqualified to speak.
1 Comments:
Good post, Pogo - the same goes for a lot of other European countries as well. Not that i'm in any way politically inclined, but I reckon you've got a point there!
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