Saturday 8 May 2010

Election Results

Well, the results are in, and since I'm young and hip I watched the Alternative Election Show on channel 4 (Channel 5 was the only real alternative election coverage, opting for no coverage whatsoever, interestingly.) which basically involved the first hour being an explanation of the election process, then the next 3 hours involved attempted humour (After 10 the "Purdah" is lifted, allowing coverage to be less impartial) and people discussing the election.

At 1 am, Channel 4's stars had run out of things to say, so I flicked across to David Dimbleby's team of reporters, which was rather exciting. Essential viewing for election coverage, although bizarrely, they seemed to lock Jeremy Vine in a green-screen room. He appears to exist solely in virtual worlds, to the extent I imagine he shipped with the original Nintendo Virtualboy. What a great game that would be. "Pave the road to Downing Street with tiles labelled after constituencies!" is a tagline guaranteed to rope in any budding politicians. David Cameron never actually played, of course, he had a servant act it out in front of him, but what else would you expect from a direct descendant of King William the fourth?

Disappointingly, I spent the evening grinding my teeth, before exploding into a fit of apoplectic rage when the Conservatives got over 300 seats. Secretly, of course, I was hoping for a Tory majority government, because if the SNP fail to call a referendum on Scottish independence now, with an unpopular Westminster party in power which has a single seat in Scotland, they are even stupider than I give them credit for, and looking at the Edinburgh Tram Project, that's a level of incompetence I daren't even consider. I daresay the other Celtic nations would be looking at similar ideas, although the Welsh Plaid Cymru (Their aim is not, apparently independence, at least, not in such a strong term, merely a seat at EU and UN discussions as a full nation.) are not actually in power at the Welsh Assembly, so they cannot use the Welsh Assembly to re-evaluate their relationship with England.

So the Tories are in power, almost entirely due to the English. Conservatives got a total of 9 out of 99 seats in Scotland and Wales, while Lib Dem got 14 and Labour got 67. Equally, Plaid Cymru and the SNP got 9 seats in total in Wales and Scotland (I'm adding them together as "Parties that stand for independence in their nations"), which suggests the people of Wales and Scotland want Independence as much as they want a Conservative government, and that anti-Tory sentiment is much stronger in Scotland, where they recieved 1 of 59 seats.

This is all very well and good, but quite dull and a bit statistic-y. To be honest, the whole election is little more than a statistician's wet dream, crunching vote numbers and gains and losses and so forth. My calculator is moist with excitement.

As a summary then, a Tory-led hung parliament could EASILY lead to Scotland gaining independence if the SNP play their cards right (Mr Salmond, who might possibly read this, should highlight the injustice that our votes were disregarded. With the right wording, we could easily see people in the street demanding a referendum more than the government would really like) and usher in a new dawn for Scotland.

5 comments:

  1. Susie Saunders9 May 2010 at 00:48

    One lives in hope.....
    I appear to have done my job well for you to be so cynical, so young.

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  2. Shouldn't he 'play his cards right' by demanding it as part of a rainbow coalition deal?. I've always felt LD policy would to support your referendum. We have it, me and lots of other people vote 'no', you and lots of other people vote 'yes' and then we either get on with governing Britain or Scotland. The Parliamentary SNP is now 50% less objectionable now we're rid of that prick John Mason (no offense; I'm told he was a really good councilor, but a social conservative Scotland can do without); Alex Salmond is following the right course and I'd hope you and other nationalists are rewarded for it (and that the referendum fails; again, no offense. Though if it passes I don't see myself jumping the border.)

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  3. I myself am not actually particularly nationalist, I'm essentially indifferent, but the opportunity is upon the SNP. LD would probably support it, given Nick Clegg's increasingly dismissive nature towards Scotland (especially with regard to Alex Salmond behaving in a manner reminiscent of a jealous baby crying and demanding to be involved).

    This would be his best opportunity to encourage a referendum, I reckon, whether the electorate would vote for independence I'm not so sure.

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  4. I've just noticed I used "I myself", which is meaningless and annoys me that I was so thoughtless. I apologise profusely to anyone who saw this before I did and had to bite back tears of rage before closing the browser and taking a few deep breaths outside.

    It's late, and I am clearly not thinking.

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