uk politics kind of suck right now!

[such_heights]

So, what's the European equivalent of emigrating to Canada - Scotland? The Netherlands? Because if the local election results coming in are indicative of the shape of things to come, then, well.

In Doncaster, about 20 miles from me, the new mayor vows to cut gay pride funds.

Peter Davies, of the English Democrats, said: "My policy on gays and lesbians is very simple. I don't think councils should be spending money on them parading through town advertising their sexuality." (guess what I'll be doing come August 16th)

Mr Davies has also stated he intends to cut funding for translation services for non-English speakers in the borough. The English Democrats say they want "English freedoms and values, not multiculturalism".

[source]

Also, the BNP claimed its first county council seat in Burnley, the next town over from my father's family. They found another in my home county of Hertfordshire. There is no escape! /o\

With the European Parliament election results coming out tomorrow, it's also relevant that David Cameron (let's be honest, our new PM in all probability), has spoken about his desire to move away from the centre-right EU grouping, the EPP-ED, to form a new right-wing Eurosceptic group. He'll need 25 members from 6 countries to qualify as a grouping. Huh. A collection of disenfranchised right-wing political parties forming a new separatist coalition, I see no way whatsoever that could go wrong. source, source, and more source.

*moves to the moon*

Comments

[acari]

Well, I [wouldn't] look toward the Netherlands as a tolerant heaven right now.

I didn't even get to vote yet and I'm already sick of it.

[copracat]

Dear God. I'm sorry.

I first read 'new right-wing Euroseptic group' which is just about correct, too.

[such_heights]

D: Oh god. Faith in humanity: rapidly diminishing.

[such_heights]

HA - I like that! Let's hope this doesn't go through the way it's looking like it might.

[arch]

Nooooo! Europe is supposed to be my beacon of hope, should the US fall into the crapper, since Canada's gone all conservative now too. THE WORLD IS BACKWARDS.

[such_heights]

:( I don't know where we go now!

[godofstrife.livejournal.com]

That is so much bullshit. Man, how I wish I was allowed to vote. What's going on with this trend towards the right wing in Europe lately?

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

And the fucking BNP got a seat on Hertfordshire county council. :(

Edit: And I can read. WTF is wrong with people.

[azelma.livejournal.com]

The BNP getting any seats is really goddamn frightening but not as surprising as it should be. Personally, I blame the British media for stiring racial tension by reporting things like "Muslims ban Christmas" and other idiotic headlines. I know people who live their lives by what the Daily Mail says. :/

[oxoniensis.livejournal.com]

I feel sick at the thought that so many people voted for such hate-filled, racist politics. One of the BNP campaign leaflets that came through my door was all 'it's not racist to want the best for our country' and BS like that, and the trouble is, people believe it!

Fàilte Gu Alba!

[glinda-penguin.livejournal.com]

Come to Scotland! Our nationalists are not the crazy bigot kind (the first Scots-Asian MSP - the late Bashir Ahmad (http://remember.snp.org/tributes/view/bashir_ahmad_msp/): "It’s not where we came from that’s important, it’s where we’re going together." - was SNP)! (Also they're in favour of nuclear disarmament - just sayin')

The depressing thing for me is that I have absolutely no control over the Westminster government, after the '92 election there was all of one Tory MP left in Scotland and there was still a Tory government down south. Whole damn country can turn round and vote against a government and it won't change a damn thing...Voter apathy, we have it. :(

[http://users.livejournal.com/_emeraldgreen/]

Wow, that's a whole lot of fail. Seriously. What IS going on?

[charrr.livejournal.com]

Scotland is pretty Lib Dem, but I think our only safe bet is Iceland - lesbian prime minister ftw! Total gender equality and LGBT rights! Bjork in charge of the economy! Paradise!

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Oh yuck. I'm sorry to hear it.

[shantirosa.livejournal.com]

(Hopefully you don't mind random people commenting on your LJ. Uh, if you do, feel free to ignore.)

The BNP also gained a seat in my home county (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8086063.stm), and though Coalville is not particularly diverse, neighbouring Leicester is about as multi-ethnic as it's possible to get.

The economic crisis and the general fail of the government at the moment are bringing out the worst in voters. My university was pushing students to vote in the European elections on the basis that the BNP had a chance of getting in, and it was our job, as voters, to stop that happening. We thought the whole idea was ridiculous - the BNP getting in just seemed impossible.

Admittedly it is starting to look a lot less impossible now.

[snorkackcatcher]

It's depressing, isn't it? Mind you, it's worth noting for optimism's sake that protest votes for fringe parties don't necessarily have much effect beyond the one election. I can remember a European elections where the Greens got about 15% of the vote as an anti-Tory protest, but it was a complete one-off.

[woldy]

Fuck. It starts already, eh? Even aside from the new EU grouping, the Conservatives have had racist and homophobic policies for years - you can see it in their voting records as well as their rhetoric.

I think the European equivalent of moving to Canada might be Scotland (yay free care for the elderly! yay no tuition fees!), or at least that was my plan before I, er, moved to Canada (which is nowhere near as progressive as a lot of people seem to think).

[woldy]

Also - Hertfordshire is where I grew up, & I'm shocked and saddened to hear about the BNP seat.

[lefaym.livejournal.com]

That is so scary. :( I wonder if that new mayor is going to refuse to fund any materials that promote heterosexuality in any way (ha, yeah right).

As for the BNP stuff -- we had a party in Australia a while back called One Nation, which was almost as bad as the BNP, and there were a couple of elections where they did really well, but eventually they imploded, because they didn't know what the fuck they were doing. The party itself still exists, but they are considered a complete joke now. Unfortunately, the right-wing government of the day did adopt a lot of their racist policies on the quiet.

[such_heights]

I don't know! Thursday was the first time I voted, actually - exciting, and yet, no one's inspiring that much confidence in me at the moment. :/

[such_heights]

I have not got a fucking clue. Ugh.

[such_heights]

Oh, god, so do I. That's a really atrocious excuse for a paper.

[such_heights]

I know! Aaah, god, the logic fail and the general bigotry is just maddening.

Re: Fàilte Gu Alba!

[such_heights]

Hurray! Aw, I like the SNP, I do indeed. I'm glad that you, at least, have a decent politician or two. Here, not so much.

[such_heights]

I don't know! I just really hope this is not the start of more fail.

[such_heights]

Haha - onwards, comrade! :D

[such_heights]

Yeah, me too -- I just hope it doesn't get worse.

[such_heights]

(Not at all, hi!)

Leicestershire? D: Ugh, that's really depressing. We had that campaign going on here too, and it's so sad it seems to be called for.

[such_heights]

Yes, I live in hope this isn't the start of a larger trend.

[such_heights]

Oh, yes, the Tories haven't been in my good books, well, ever, but with each new incarnation of them I always hope that they're ditching their more objectionable policies. That may have been misplaced.

Sorry to hear Canada's not turning out as advertised in that respect! Seems like very few places actually do, though.

Also, hurray fellow Herts person! I don't see those around very much. What part are you from, if you don't mind my asking?

[such_heights]

*snort* That'll be the day.

Ack, that sounds insidious and horrible -- I really hate how common these sorts of parties/policies continue to be, what the hell.

[woldy]

I'm old enough to have gone through school during the Section 28 and I remember their negative comments about single parents and racist stuff about the test of nationalism being which cricket team you support. And I've actually looked at the voting record for my MP (James Clappison) and so I know he's voted against LGB equality measures. It's going to take a damn sight more than David Cameron smiling to convince me that the Tories have changed, especially while they keep calling for a tough on crime agenda that means criminalizing the poor and (especially given the nature of the Met) disproportionately people of colour.

Canada's okay, I guess, but ultimately it's a white settler state with immigration policies that only admit the rich or highly educated (thereby brain draining professional people from poorer nations). Then again we have a minority Conservative government of massive suck run by oil people at the moment, so I may be unusually bitter!

Re: Fàilte Gu Alba!

[woldy]

I'm sort've hoping that after the next election when - barring a miracle - there will be a Tory government at Westminster, the SNP will manage to pull off a majority in a referendum on independence. An independent Scotland cooperating with Europe will beat the hell out of whatever fantasy scheme the Conservatives are cooking up for England.

Re: Fàilte Gu Alba!

[glinda-penguin.livejournal.com]

Yay! Yes, it makes me most happy to have a decent politician or two. (You could tell the Scots on my flist on Thursday they were the ones debating whether to vote SNP or Green, I do feel rather bad for the Greens as the increased incompetence in Westminster and the increased viability at Holyrood is conspiring against them). Tis weird tho to see people that used to babysit me at conference on the tele making speeches.

Re: Fàilte Gu Alba!

[glinda-penguin.livejournal.com]

It's just so weird to me cause for years in Scotland its been largely Labour vs SNP with the Tories only figuring on the edges (they call themselves Conservative and Unionist party up here, which tells you all you need to know). I really do hope we get the whole independence in Europe gig sorted out, but I genuinely don't know what the 'new' Tories position on that is...

[verasteine.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to join me here in the Netherlands, but I should warn you we just voted a new party into the EP that could give the BNP a run for its money (although, bizarrely, they're pro-gay rights). Europe is becoming a bit of a scary place.

And what's with David Cameron? Very, very scary, all this right wing bull shit. I think Scotland is turning out to be the place to move to :).

[sunnyrea.livejournal.com]

Oh ick that really sucks! I hope you hear better results

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Yes, welcome to the land where I have Peter Lilley as my MP. such_heights has Anne Main as hers and it all just fails :(

[grandiose666.livejournal.com]

*joins you on the moon*
i've lived in scotland, most of my experiences were nice, but it has its share of extremists on the left and the right.
the bnp seems to be gaining by toning down its rhetoric for people who were neutral-ish or apolitical, while safeguarding its dark fascist racist neonazi heart. oy.

[woldy]

*sigh* I can haz new electoral syztem nao plz?

Of course, it would also be nice if any other parties actually ran in those seats - I would've voted Green in the last national election if they'd bothered to put up a candidate.

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

I think the Greens ran for the Hitchen and Harpenden seat but it's such a Tory safe seat, it's not even funny. The Lib Dem candidate looked about 15 at the last election.

[builtofsorrow.livejournal.com]

Ugh ugh ugh. Starting up my commune is sounding better and better all the time.

[secondsilk.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I am so glad I've already decided when I'm going home. I strangely glad that I live in a country with a indigenous population with so little institutionalised power, because it means that the people with institutionalised power can't say things like that, or what the BNP said about racism in Yorkshire.

Is there some way of donating money to the Doncaster Pride organisers? After the Birmingham one was such a display, for the politicians, of "look how wonderful we are telling you how much we love showing that we're tolerant" and nothing about the history of oppression or the political roots of the parade. (Also, August 16? I can be there!)