Politicking

For all my UK friends as the election draws near. This is my one and only political post. Skip it if the election is driving you nuts already.

I come from Barnsley, Labour heartland, so it's not surprising that I want the current Con-Dem government OUT! Their record is appalling, and their outright lies about Labour causing the economic collapse are simply shameful and their dismembering of the NHS is, frankly, terrifying.

I want:

• A Britain that's humane, i.e. fairer for all, including the disadvantaged, the underfunded and the sick. (I want an end to the scroungers and the immigrants rhetoric! People on benefits and immigrants are not the problem, and never were.)


• I want a strong, expanded NHS with all elements of profit for private companies removed from the equation.


• I want education to return to child-centred-learning, not accountant-centred-learning or 'academies'.


• I want an end to the kind of austerity that clips the wings of the poor and lets the rich fly high.


• I want a re-nationalised railway system with fair, affordable ticket prices.


• I want Generation Rent to be able to afford houses at a sensible price (whether rented or purchased)


• I want a sensible, sustained approach to renewable energies with a 1 kilometre standoff from housing for wind turbines and subsidies that profit developers reduced and instead offered to householders to make home solutions affordable (ground source heat pumps and PV glass roofs for instance).


• And I'd really like it if we didn't get involved in any wars for the next few hundred years, please.

OK, I'm not going to get that from any one political party (and, no, I'm not going to start my own), but I'm certainly not going to get it from the Conservatives. They've already proved that, and that particular leopard is unlikely to change its underpants spots. Since none of the other parties is likely to be in a position to form a government I'm voting Labour, even though they don't tick every box on my list. Labour SNP coaltion? Not a problem. Labour/Green? That's OK, too.

Whatever your choice, please, please, please use your vote on Thursday, otherwise you'll get the government you deserve, not the one you want.