Oh fiddlesticks! Who to vote for tomorrow?
Lincolnshire is a traditionally Tory county, and I suspect that's unlikely to change, especially given these elections (both local and European) will unquestionably be treated as a referendum on national politics even if it is a mind-bendingly idiotic way to behave.
What is in contention locally is the second party. Traditionally, it's Labour, but they're unlikely to do well given the general contempt in which they're currently held, and regrettably, given the large numbers of immigrants in the county - mainly Eastern European and Portuguese - and the issues around this, the BNP have made headway too. They may do quite well and though my vote isn't going to amount to a whole hill of freshly picked beans, I am morally obliged to cast it against them.
The BNP are also seeking to make gains at the European level too. With a low turnout expected, they could make big gains. The fucks.
UKIP are, as comedian Mitch Benn so succinctly remarked, the Waitrose BNP and the BNP themselves are, of course, the same knuckle-draggers they've always been (perhaps, I grudgingly concede, wearing a slightly better ironed shirt than previous years), and obviously neither of them gets my vote.
All the main parties are tainted by the expenses debacle and in any case, the Tories are just going to be horrific when they get in at the next general election and Cameron's just a joke, Labour are scaling new heights of incompetence by the hour and the Lib Dems are, damningly, the Lib Dems; nice people but you'd feel nervous about letting them have the steering wheel.
Greens are, in my limited experience, also nice and well-meaning people and I broadly support their views on the environment, but they've also got some fairly ridiculous views about a lot of pseudo-science, and I'm not about to vote for that.
Then you've got the independents, who are generally single issue campaigners. Just white noise, essentially. Maybe something for the political equivalent of My Bloody Valentine fans.
Where's my "None of the above" box? In reality, I probably do know who I'm going to vote for, but they're not votes I'm casting with a great deal of joy, but rather with obligation.
