Counts are weird.
Stuck in a green-lit basketball court with the hoi-polloi for 26 hours, you can clearly see the parties for what they are.
The Conservative Party is a club for wealth and power. Their slightly poorer, crankier relations make up the UKIPs.
Some of the Greens were nice enough. They had vegan pizza which looked alright.
I was waiting to be interviewed, sitting next to former MP, Cheeky Girl lover and now Radio Kent correspondent Lembit Opik, when the LibDems had their big melt-down. It was clearly a distressing time, but that is what you get for propping up a Tory Government.
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| Stickers. You never know when you'll need 'em. |
Unable to counter the popular anti-cuts rhetoric of the SNP. Unable to win back disgruntled working class new Kippers.
Ed Miliband didn't lose because he made a pigs ear out of a bacon butty. Labour didn't lose because he's a bit weird. They lost because they couldn't mobilise the great masses around their austerity-lite program.
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| They even lost a councillor in the Soviet Republic of Twydall. "That's a kick in the nuts" I say to ex Labour MP and Iraq War supporter Paul Clark. "That's one way of putting it." he says. |
From a pretty much standing start. Medway TUSC won 600 votes in the General Election. We were just shy of 3500 in the Locals.
We can, and do, feel immensely proud of each and every vote.
DISCLAIMER: Paul Dennis of RMT fame stood in Rainham North. The returning officer declared he had zero votes. We know this is not the case. Richard Hicks, Deputy Returning Officer acknowledged this was "unheard of".
Even Paul voted for himself! And his Mrs! We are gathering evidence and considering a legal Petition via the Electoral Commission to find out where our ballots have gone. Watch this space...
Over 3000 people made a clear, anti-austerity stand.
Despite a very small national profile, no fulltime party machine and a few seconds on the regional news, we made our mark and are here to stay.
No-one predicted a Tory Majority. They won it by default. There is a crisis in politics; a crisis in working class representation.
Labour will lurch further to the right, completely misunderstanding that the votes lost to UKIP are not because of racism; it's because working class people are angry and are looking for someone to blame.
Labour is terminal.
The trade union movement, in order to remain relevant, cannot continue to endorse a zombie-party of cuts, privatisation and war. It must join the RMT and throw its weight and resources behind building a new political voice.
Following an election that was about who has the least unpopular, the political establishment is weak and fading. The future is ours!
DISCLAIMER: Paul Dennis of RMT fame stood in Rainham North. The returning officer declared he had zero votes. We know this is not the case. Richard Hicks, Deputy Returning Officer acknowledged this was "unheard of".
Even Paul voted for himself! And his Mrs! We are gathering evidence and considering a legal Petition via the Electoral Commission to find out where our ballots have gone. Watch this space...
Over 3000 people made a clear, anti-austerity stand.
Despite a very small national profile, no fulltime party machine and a few seconds on the regional news, we made our mark and are here to stay.
 |
| Rosettes are for prized cows and pigs. We went for Hi-Viz. "You look just like workers" chirped one of the women doing the counting. "That's cos we are!" I said. |
No-one predicted a Tory Majority. They won it by default. There is a crisis in politics; a crisis in working class representation.
Labour will lurch further to the right, completely misunderstanding that the votes lost to UKIP are not because of racism; it's because working class people are angry and are looking for someone to blame.
Labour is terminal.
The trade union movement, in order to remain relevant, cannot continue to endorse a zombie-party of cuts, privatisation and war. It must join the RMT and throw its weight and resources behind building a new political voice.
Following an election that was about who has the least unpopular, the political establishment is weak and fading. The future is ours!
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