Tomorrow is the day when we are supposed to be voting for our representitives to represent us in the european parliament but as we all know what will actually happen is that, those who actually bother to vote, will use the occasion to kick the established parties as hard as possible and accelerate the pressure for an early general election. Beyond calling on people not to vote for the motley collection of thugs, racists and convicted criminals that constitute the inner circles of the British National Party or UKIP which is essentially the BNP in blazers some of whose current representitives seem to have a penchant for claiming vast expenses from europe whilst others seem to have a nice line in benefit fraud. I cant see that it makes much difference who you vote for as the European parliament will remain essentially a talking shop. If I can drag myself to the polling booth I may vote Green or, even more reluctantly, for the No2EUYes To Democracy list but I cant say I shall do so with any enthusiasm.
On the other hand voting in the County Council elections should, in the current circumstances be more important given the importance that the CC has for the local community. All I would urge for that election is that people vote for candidates who have shown a degree of commottment to our local area rather then just being names on a list.
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Why is it that, if there is any debate at all in Britain regarding the EU, it usually focuses on the issue of whether we should still be in it? If it ever gets beyond that puerile stage, the best our media can do is demand reductions in our contribution. We’ve been a member for the best part of forty years now, deal with it! Lord knows the EU is not perfect – there is a shameful lack of democracy at its heart, the institutions are long overdue for review, and it is progressing toward a federation at a far faster rate than most would wish – but it is the best we have and way ahead of whatever is in second place. Setting aside the fact that it has brought together the French and Germans for the first time since before Waterloo and given us fifty years of peace in Europe; has given the people of eastern Europe hope they dared not even dream of twenty years ago; and has given a disparate group of small countries ( and I include the UK in that group) a voice in the modern world, what are the realistic alternatives? Leave the EU and try to survive on our own? Whatever the parochial little englanders in UKIP and the nazi party may have us believe, that is not viable. They may have Churchill and Spitfires on their election bumph but surely even they must have heard that we no longer have an empire. Come on guys, it was in all the papers. If the major trading blocs return to protectionism as they did in the thirties, who are we going to sell to? Since we ceased to be a manufacturing economy, two things have kept the UK afloat – North Sea Oil and the City of London. One is running out and the other is on its knees. Remember moribund economies can become net beneficiaries from Brussels, ask the Irish and Portuguese. So please move on from endless hand wringing over whether we should be in the EU and start to consider the very real issues it deals with. And that means voting tomorrow on those issues and not as a referendum on this failed government or MPs expenses.
I always exercise my right to vote - mainly because people have paid with their lives for this freedom, both in the past and in other countries. Please don't let their sacrifices be in vain.
I suspect that the ultimate aim of UKIP and the Murdoch empire would be to take Britain into a closer association with the USA, perhaps membership of NAFTA.
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