britain

A British election is approaching. Voting is non-compulsory there and winners are decided on a first-past-the-post basis - not preferential voting as in Australia.

This presents leftwing voters with a dilemma. Do you register a protest vote against Tony Blair, especially over the Iraq deception? Do you protest by not voting? Or do you vote for someone like the Lib Dems who might have a faint hope of winning if enough people turn against Labour?

Political journalist John Kampfner went on the road in three traditionally Labour electorates in the north of England to try and gauge the mood. He concluded that people really do care about being lied to over Iraq. And that racism and far-right politics are billowing up again.

Further thoughts: Perhaps I shouldn't have posed this as a dilemma for leftwing voters, but for Labour voters in general - strength of feeling against Tony Blair seems to be very strong in Britain across a wide range of those who initially supported him.

Something else which emerges from that article is the generally positive feeling about the state of the British health and education systems. I guess that's the difference we face here in Australia - although our governments are aligned on Iraq, John Howard and Co. are in the business of running down public health and education.

Comments

[David]

Having been out of the country for over 15 years I no longer even have a vote. That saves me some awkward decision-making.

[Valerie]

You wrote, "He concluded that people really do care about being lied to over Iraq."

Sigh... I wish my fellow Americans cared about that. Being lied to makes *me* fuming mad, but my fellow Americans re-elected Bush even knowing about the lies. Sigh.....

[Mark Bahnisch]

Suzoz, this article by Tariq Ali is interesting on this issue:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1445964,00.html