K-Punk, whose single-minded devotion to duty has resulted in his grinding down his natural effervescent coruscation into a finely-honed edifice of rationality, has commented on the election, and it is one of his best pieces for a while.
Just how awful would it be if we had Howard, not Blair? Not much worse,
and in some respects probably better — though the ethnic cleansing of
the tories over the last ten years has largely robbed them of
competence, so they’re not a safe pair of (still petit-fascist) hands
any more. Frankly I think that whingeing about the nightmarish prospect
of a Tory victory is facile. In 1997 I had a palpable sense of relief
that the grinding tedium of tory domination had ended to be replaced by
something at least potentially better. In 2005 I would again appreciate
some relief from the tedium of new Labour.
Roll on a hung parliament, that’s what I say.
If John was here — and he isn’t, he has an election to fight — he’d no
doubt say, so why not seek a political alternative? Morally and
intellectually, he’s right. But I just can’t be bothered dealing with
the usual dreary raft of lefty Januses. And anyway, why shouldn’t
escapism be a political act?
Even so, I will probably vote later. It’s a novelty, isn’t it. Though I
still have no idea who for. I’ll say this though: the Green party
election material I’ve seen so far has been tooth-grindingly naff and
has demonstrated an utter lack of self-awareness and humour. I sometimes
think that political engagement is not so much a civic act as a
communicable disease.