Hibernation

At this time of year I really wish I was a bear. First off I'd be living somewhere nice with fresh air, mountains, streams teeming with fresh fish and all bear mod cons whilst I gorge myself on the bear equivalent of pie, crumble and other seasonally inspired high carb high sugar highfat food. Then I'd find a warm cave and sleep for a few months to wake up skinny, pretty grumpy and ready for the spring. Lucky bears. I am craving the hibernation food and a really long sleep but instead of snuggling up away from reality for a few months I have to keep going. Instead I am hibernating from the cuts. I know that as a woman, with a child and an income that is above the very lowest (although seriously, swanky gym we can't afford aside, it really doesn't feel like it once the debts have been paid there is very very little left, debts, may I remind you, caused by redundancies not profligate living more's the pity. Swanky gym aside although thanks to the Lib Dems who ran my spot of red for years, council sport facilities are somewhat stretched locally and private is the only way forward. Here, in my spot of red, we always knew the Lib Dems true colours were blue.) I am in the hardest hit group but I can't deal with it, not yet. At some point I will be typing vitriol, anti tory thoughts and my ideas for how to change it but not today. Today I am hibernating and hoping against hope that it'll look better in the spring.

Cuts!

Anyone else really, really petrified?

Not got the Balls?

Alan Johnson?!? Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor? A man who doesn't even have maths O-Level and admits he doesn't know much about economics? Well done Ed, in a time of recession with the Tories leading us ever closer to economic meltdown as they gleefully widen the gap between rich and poor ensuring the hard working middle class pay for it all we need a Chancellor with integrity, charisma and a firm grasp of numbers - oh hang on a minute. We have the man who wanted us all to fork out £100 each for an ID card. Meanwhile Balls and Cooper are sidelined, shadow home and foreign may sound good but really they are trophy roles. the two MP who fought hardestand have been most vocal against the Tory cuts sidelined. Ed,I am despairing already, stop worrying about your own position and give us the best the strongest and the most effective shadow cabinet.

Retreat

He didn't have the integrity! Stories of angry wives and hissed asides meant David decided to concentrate on his family and constituency for now. It's been a week and I am already a little concerned by our new leader.I don't give a toss that he's unmarried, atheist or Jewish but I am a little concerned that he isn't on his child's birth certificate. "Sorry little Johnny, I was too busy being important to register your birth even though you can do it in Asda nowadays."just screams arrogant tosser at me. Secondly I am worried about his living arrangements; he apparently lives in Doncaster and appeared in a Guardian Spread about his low expenses and extolling the virtues of his modest semi - only the family home is really a much swankier pad in London. A little bit call-me-Dave on his bike with chauffeur just behind. I want him to do good, I will give him my support, bu it's qualified, it's for now and he needs to prove he deserves this.
Esp as Gideon drives this country further into a rich/poor division. Who put this trust-funded idiot in charge of our finances anyway? When even the Daily Mail is ranting in despair things must be bad. They have no mandate so come on Lib-Dems, ditch Nick and come over to the red side. Or disappear altogether...

Birthright

and so it's Ed. Not my Ed, in the end I went for Balls over polished campaigning. I admired the grit, determination, and pure aggression. Sure, I was concerned about the back stabbing and the bullying, tempted to Twitter him and beg for reassurance "@EdB, you're not a complete hypocrite and bully who drove the yellow-livered Lib-Dems straight into the arms of the Tories are you?". But then I figured, what the hell? He ain't going to win despite his terrier-like team so ED B 1st and ED Jnr (our new leader) 2nd. Andy 3rd cause I really did like him... I liked David too, that was the problem. Four completely able, intelligent and articulate men. If they can just work together the Con-Dems shoud be quaking in their hand stitched boots.
Of course Murdoch is spitting blood - it's not the younger brother he invited for an audience, it was the heir anointed, pipped at the post by his brother of all people, his younger brother cod psychologists are having a field day, our own Shakespearian tragedy playing out on News 24. Will he stay, will he go, can he take orders from the younger sibling? I don't know, only David knows that. But, if he was man enough to lead then he's man enough to stay. If he walks, maybe he didn't have the backbone ad integrity after all... Over to you Miliband Snr

Communicating with the masses

The candidates may be on their well deserved holidays (although with Eden Project talks by Miliband Jnr and constant communications by Team EdB the campaigns feeds are as busy as ever) but those of us with important voting decisions to make cannot ease up on the ever engrossing task of research. So, I took advantage of an hour long hole in my busy schedule (between dropping A off at a birthday party and taking her to the doctors - it wouldn't be the holidays without some infectious ailment)to multitask - catching up with the Archers and looking at the candidate's websites. First off Alice and Chris got married! In Vegas! Secondly it turns out website researching is so dull I needed the distraction of the Archers to keep me at the computer.

They are all so slick - good communications training comes as standard with this crop of wannabe leaders and their young, enthusiastic army of volunteers can put together good multi media whilst ordering a hot skinny macchiato. Every website urges us to follow them on Twitter(complete with the latest 140 character pearls of wisdom) and Facebook (you have still not responded to my friend request David!), join Labour and, of course, Donate. They want our money - and our time but most importantly our money. Don't they know that we are heading back for the double dip faster than Call-me-Dave's heading for his next diplomatic row and gambling £25 on a candidate who might not win is £25 that might be better spent on wine to numb the latest news headlines? The communications-savviness may explain why they are all so bland. I got no real idea who the candidates were and what they stood for apart from a fairer deal natch, but although the bastard Tories and lap dog Liberals may be disintegrating society faster than you can say "come on old chap", really candidates you had 13 years to sort all these things out and I hate to point this out but you didn't.

First off Andy Burnham at www.andy4leader.com. I do like Andy Burnham but couldn't help sniggering at the name, I could imagine A coming up with something similar in the playground. It's all very clean though with a nice picture and campaign messages clearly displayed "Reconnecting Labour putting the heart back into the people’s party”. Nice messages though not the snappiest slogan I ever heard - and makes me think a little of a cosy Sunday night drama set somewhere in the Dales. Andy is cleverly playing the anti-elitest card and positioning himself as the outsider and One of Us, for instance he wants payment for interns and to ensure all internships are advertised although I can't help pessimistically thinking that the elite will still find ways of favouring their own. Reading his blog I was treated to a dull selection of endorsements and articles sadly akin to reading the Council's self-congratulatory newssheet and there was no sense of him at all.

Next I looked at Diane. Who has also gone with the "4leader" web address. Her website kicks straight in with a movie which as I was still on the Archer's omnibus made her sound like a very loud background character in the Bull. I didn't actually hear what she was saying as I was too busy tutting over Will's jealously and devoutly hoping the writers aren't going to bore us with another Will Grundy storyline. The site is stylish and the most individual of the five with red slashes on a grey background and loads of really good photos but I didn't find it that userfriendly with text hard to read. When I found her campaign message five out of the first six lines begin with "I". Which I find offputting. I know, I know they have to sell themselves to us but it comes across as a little narcissistic. At least the blog is in the first person but unfortuantely it is more a series of defensive aruements, a little humour would have gone a long way although she does label call-me-Dave a Bully.

I found it really hard to find Ed Ball's leadership site and found myself on his constituency one which leads with things to do over summer holidays, he didn't mention canvassing and hustings, nor driving in a campervan through Boston but it was still a nice touch. Finally I managed to link through to edballs4labour.org.uk where I was quite disconcerted by his bizarre coronation st type logo. The blog is by his (very committed, they are Twitter fiends)team and again very article driven leaving no sense of him apart from the campaign message although I was amused by the “Ed said” and “Ask Ed” buttons at the top.

Miliband Jnr doesn't have a new website, he is using his own. He (or his evangelical team) is very comfortable with social media and it shows with his Facebnook page shown on the site along with Twitter feeds and lots of talk about his "innovative text conversations". I haven't signed up for these, I feel harassed enough by Twitter and now Facebook but am intrigued. Again the Blog is a series of articles and I was quite horrified to find a plea for £25 at the bottom of the page I read (skimmed through). People are very pro-Ed but his website gave me no reason why.

Last but not least Miliband Snr although by now I had had it with platitudes and was having to restrain myself from restarting one of my Facebook farms (8 months cold turkey but I still get tempted every day). Not surprisingly he has the best website (sign of all the money he has) with loads going on visually such as lots of photos. It felt really interactive with a Blog that was written in the first person and not just a series of lectures and sermons - not laugh out loud funny but human at least. He wants us to fundraise, with dinner parties (can you imagine inviting the Free School neighbours for a nice political debate over some Sauvignon Blanc and Kettle Chips?) and there was a very serious blog by a woman who had done exactly that with cocktails and Cheese Jack Straws and Gordon Brownies. Seriously.

Ithought it was Miliband v Miliband but now I am seriously wondering whether a. Andy Burnham can stand up to call-me-Dave and perform at PMQ and b. Is Ed B too tarnished by his association with and renunciation of Gordon (who I love, turning on Gordon is not favourably looked upon). Because maybe, just maybe, they could be my 1 and 2. Could they?

Records and revelatiosn

SO. Time to take this seriously. Which means researching. I start off by declining Harriet's email asking me to take part in a q&a as it is at 2.30pm on a Monday in the School Holidays when most women, Harriet, are either at work or in a park/museum/play area wearily refusing a request for yet more sweets and wondering if 4am is too early for the first glass of wine....(no is obviously the answer, not in school holidays). My plan involves reading each candidates website in depth and watching some hustings on the labour website but severe lack of time means all I have managed so far is sending friend requests to the Milibands on Facebook. Ed has agreed, David, at this moment, has not. This could prove costly DM.
Instead I have taken a short cut and have used "They work for you" drawing up a nice little grid of voting histories and expenses. Ed wins the expenses race hands down coming in at 578 narrowly beating big brother at 569. Diane and Andy are also respectable but I was surprised to see Ed Balls was 199th. Could do better Mr Balls. Voting records are a bit of a shock and a wake up call that passionate as they all say they are about change they are all part of an establishment that made some pretty big mistakes. They attack the Con-Dems on education and health but both Eds voted to give schools more autonomy with only Diane disagreeing and David and Andy were both for Foundation hospitals with Diane again the only one to vote against. None of them voted for climate reform bills, all the men want to replace Trident and none wanted a more transparent Parliament or an enquiry into Iraq. On the plus side they were all pro smoking and hunting bans and Lords reform and strongly for Gay Rights.
Most disappointingly for me none of them were out right against ID cards and only Diane (again) was against the anti terrorism legislation. Not one of them openly rebelled against any party decision in the last Parliament. This does make their claims of change, new thinking and a new way slightly unbelievable.
Meanwhile the return to the eighties vibe I get whenever I switch on the news was reinforced with a trip to see Pet Shop Boys in Newcastle and a reminder that at least the last Tory government inspired some great music. My Twitter fear is intensifying with new followers to replace those that have dumped me and even some retweeting of my words of wisdom which is far far too stressful for this particular novice. Apparently most Tweeters aim for 500 followers - are they mad? My phone buzzes continuously with new tweets so I can wish Bon Voyage to Ed M as he travels to Cornwall and Ed B (flying to Boston), I am sure the others have equally nice holidays planned and will be twittering them to me soon. Better than a postcard - bring me back some maple syrup will you Ed B?
Finally the supporters of Ed M have set up a phone bank here in my own little dot of red. I am tempted to join in just to be involved even though I still have to decide. One tweeter suggested I volunteer for each campaign to help me decide which if I wasn't a hideously overstretched working mother would be a great plan. Other ideas on a postcard please!