Re: Possible General Election
Posted: Mon 24 Sep, 2007 19.34
Regardless of the fact that you technically vote for a local candidate to represent your constituency, the great majority of people in this country must surely cast their vote based on who they want to run the country rather than who they want to run their local authority - indeed the big money on election campaigns is based around this asumption, the actual local person you vote for has only the most modest of advertising budgets and does most of their canvassing in person. I don't therefore buy the argument that Brown should not feel compelled to call an election - I think any prime minister should be voted in by the public and any change of leadership mid term should be swiftly followed by a general election to prove that the public do want this person in charge of the country.
Nevertheless, I agree that now Autumn is firmly upon us and the Winter not far behind, this is not a good time to call an election in terms of expected turnout. The times when people would battle the elements and the dark to turn out at elections are gone, we are now firmly in an era when people expect a nice sunny day and a long evening after work to go out and mark their 'X'.
But, surely Tony Blair should have seen this coming? Perhaps he held on too long? I can understand that he wanted to achieve the personal milestone of completing 10 years as Prime Minister and that is why he stuck it out into April, but was it really necessary to go on and do the extra 2 months before departing in June?
If he had gone about 6 weeks before he did, he'd still have done his 10 years, but the pressure that's now mounting on Brown to call an election would have happened at the beginning of August, not the end of September. Had he done that Potentially, an election campaign would allready have been fought and almost certainly won.
As it is now, he's under increasing pressure to call an election to prove his entitlement to lead out country. But he's torn between calling one at an unusual time of year which probably won't be too popular amongst the allready falling turnout, or he's going to have to battle on until the spring, with the tabloid press constantly screaming for giving the public the chance to vote for him whilst ignoring any good things he may be doing.
And given the general stupidity of much of the population, 6 months of relentless attacks from The Sun is enough to destroy public opinion of anyone, however unfounded those attacks may be.
Nevertheless, I agree that now Autumn is firmly upon us and the Winter not far behind, this is not a good time to call an election in terms of expected turnout. The times when people would battle the elements and the dark to turn out at elections are gone, we are now firmly in an era when people expect a nice sunny day and a long evening after work to go out and mark their 'X'.
But, surely Tony Blair should have seen this coming? Perhaps he held on too long? I can understand that he wanted to achieve the personal milestone of completing 10 years as Prime Minister and that is why he stuck it out into April, but was it really necessary to go on and do the extra 2 months before departing in June?
If he had gone about 6 weeks before he did, he'd still have done his 10 years, but the pressure that's now mounting on Brown to call an election would have happened at the beginning of August, not the end of September. Had he done that Potentially, an election campaign would allready have been fought and almost certainly won.
As it is now, he's under increasing pressure to call an election to prove his entitlement to lead out country. But he's torn between calling one at an unusual time of year which probably won't be too popular amongst the allready falling turnout, or he's going to have to battle on until the spring, with the tabloid press constantly screaming for giving the public the chance to vote for him whilst ignoring any good things he may be doing.
And given the general stupidity of much of the population, 6 months of relentless attacks from The Sun is enough to destroy public opinion of anyone, however unfounded those attacks may be.
