June 4 Phase 4
Why is the European parliament never in the Scottish or British news? Are we pathetically insular? Is it pathetically dull? A vast conspiracy of silence? Is it just me?
In fact, political Europe only seems to be in the news when there's an election in one of the big countries, when there's a heads-of-government meeting with a few recognisable figures on stage, or when some country or another votes against ever-greater Union, which vote never seems to make any difference to anything. I have no idea who the President of the European Commission currently is, except that it must be somebody more emollient than Jacques Delors.
So, given that I have no idea what goes on in the European parliament, and therefore have doubts whether any of the candidates has even the slightest chance of keeping their promises if elected, maybe I'll vote for UKIP, on the desperate grounds that at least I know what I'm mandating them to do: negotiate a withdrawal. However, I'm disappointed that their marketing arm has been outflanked by the BNP: UKIP only has a picture of Winston Churchill on its election leaflets; the BNP has a Spitfire.
Anyway, I don't want to sound too despairing of mainstream politics. Here in the U of K, we have visionaries among us. Here's the Conservative parliamentary master plan, 2/3 of the way to completion.
1. Elect non-bald leader.
2. Say nothing to frighten the horses.
3. Wait until economy collapses/ Labour leadership implodes.
4. Gain power.
5. Be in power.
In fact, political Europe only seems to be in the news when there's an election in one of the big countries, when there's a heads-of-government meeting with a few recognisable figures on stage, or when some country or another votes against ever-greater Union, which vote never seems to make any difference to anything. I have no idea who the President of the European Commission currently is, except that it must be somebody more emollient than Jacques Delors.
So, given that I have no idea what goes on in the European parliament, and therefore have doubts whether any of the candidates has even the slightest chance of keeping their promises if elected, maybe I'll vote for UKIP, on the desperate grounds that at least I know what I'm mandating them to do: negotiate a withdrawal. However, I'm disappointed that their marketing arm has been outflanked by the BNP: UKIP only has a picture of Winston Churchill on its election leaflets; the BNP has a Spitfire.
Anyway, I don't want to sound too despairing of mainstream politics. Here in the U of K, we have visionaries among us. Here's the Conservative parliamentary master plan, 2/3 of the way to completion.
1. Elect non-bald leader.
2. Say nothing to frighten the horses.
3. Wait until economy collapses/ Labour leadership implodes.
4. Gain power.
5. Be in power.