The first polls are now being released that suggest that David Cameron’s Conservatives may not merely end up being the largest party in a hung Parliament but that rather they may even receive a majority, that is there may not even be a hung Parliament after all. This at least is what the latest IPSOS/Mori poll for Reuters suggests. So in the wake of this prospect of a Conservative victory the other two major Parties have apparently decided to get serious, although by all accounts not that serious.
It seems that both the Liberal Democrats and Labour have decided that what will really convince the electorate of the wisdom of their political programme is the stamp of approval from a rag band of television personalities. This they seem to think is far from an insult to all of our intelligence but rather just the persuasive gesture required to counter Cameron’s lead.
Behind Labour stand such political heavyweights as Blackadder comedian Tony Robinson and former East Enders actor Ross Kemp, while the Liberal Democrats have won the backing of such luminaries as the Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliff and Brit flick blockbuster Colin Firth. What it is about these celebrities that is supposed to qualify their opinions as possessing more validity than the rest of ours is anyone’s guess, but it seems that the politicians don’t reckon on the public possessing the mental faculties capable of discerning this minor flaw in their ironically coinciding publicity stunts. To be fair the Liberal Democrats do have among their line up of notable supporters the somewhat more intellectual likes of Richard Dawkins, but there might be some among us who stop to question whether having a fanatical religion hating absolutist among the ranks of your supporters is really the kind of detail that should weigh so heavily in your favour.
Where as Cameron enjoys the backing of the Economist magazine and nearly one hundred business leaders Labour and the Liberals have decided that wheeling out just about anyone capable of getting their picture in ‘Hello’ will suffice. They couldn’t have insulted the voting public much more if they had have stood up on national television and called us all bigots. No longer will the politicians of these Parties be able to claim that the media has reduced our democracy to the level of the most lowbrow plebeian-esque popularity contest; Brown and Clegg have been openly complicit in this shameful decline themselves.
It seems that both the Liberal Democrats and Labour have decided that what will really convince the electorate of the wisdom of their political programme is the stamp of approval from a rag band of television personalities. This they seem to think is far from an insult to all of our intelligence but rather just the persuasive gesture required to counter Cameron’s lead.
Behind Labour stand such political heavyweights as Blackadder comedian Tony Robinson and former East Enders actor Ross Kemp, while the Liberal Democrats have won the backing of such luminaries as the Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliff and Brit flick blockbuster Colin Firth. What it is about these celebrities that is supposed to qualify their opinions as possessing more validity than the rest of ours is anyone’s guess, but it seems that the politicians don’t reckon on the public possessing the mental faculties capable of discerning this minor flaw in their ironically coinciding publicity stunts. To be fair the Liberal Democrats do have among their line up of notable supporters the somewhat more intellectual likes of Richard Dawkins, but there might be some among us who stop to question whether having a fanatical religion hating absolutist among the ranks of your supporters is really the kind of detail that should weigh so heavily in your favour.
Where as Cameron enjoys the backing of the Economist magazine and nearly one hundred business leaders Labour and the Liberals have decided that wheeling out just about anyone capable of getting their picture in ‘Hello’ will suffice. They couldn’t have insulted the voting public much more if they had have stood up on national television and called us all bigots. No longer will the politicians of these Parties be able to claim that the media has reduced our democracy to the level of the most lowbrow plebeian-esque popularity contest; Brown and Clegg have been openly complicit in this shameful decline themselves.
In the face of such desperate and unrepentant attempts at groping for a little extra popularity one can only expect and indeed hope that David Cameron continues to rise in the opinion polls
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