Oh my oh my I am so excited. If Ed
Miliband can just stop flipping off the Scottish National Party for a
few minutes, he may be Prime Minister and the G7 can finally boast at
least one leader who sees stopping climate change as a top priority.
That's reason enough for me to be excited, but fivethirtyeight shows
it can be done! Labour needs to work with its Irish partner party,
the SDLP, as well as both separatist movements, but there is a clear
path to a bare plurality (majority if Sinn Fein maintains its
abstentionist tradition) which gets easier if Liberal Democrat
leader/ Tory stooge Nick Clegg loses his seat.
The problem is Miliband has started
saying he would rather see a Conservative government that a Labour
government that gets the Scottish National Party' support. This is
the SNP that has been busily out-Labouring Labour itself for the last
15 years or more, ever since Alex Salmond undertook the titanic
mission of purging the fascists from what was becoming a very ugly
organization and turned it into Britain's leading force for
democratic socialism. Now under the leadership of his longtime
deputy Nicola Sturgeon (architect of the SNP's progressive expansions
of childcare guarantees and a staunch advocate for nuclear
disarmament and increased public action to improve the economy), the
SNP has produced miracles in Scotland with regard to youth
unemployment and climate protection. Miliband is the most
progressive leader Labour has had in a generation, and if even he
can't agree to work with the SNP, it's going to be a very depressing
five years.
Watching the leadership debate. Ed is
disappointing-he had a chance to stand up and mention British
acceptance of refugees as saving his parents' lives. Sad to see he's
giving in to the rising tide of xenophobia. No European economy
would be even as strong as it is without lots of immigrant labor
off-setting declining birth rates
Clegg got in a great line- said Farage
was incapable of viewing any foreigner as anything other than a
menace.
The star of UK politics right now is
SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon- she alone is
unafraid of Nigel Farage, and is calling him out at every opportunity
on the need to create a welcoming environment for newcomer, saying
that Britain is strengthened by diversity. She's equally impressive
on war spending and healthcare- she's calling for the abolition of
Britain's nuclear arsenal, and has masterminded the
re-nationalization of Scotland's NHS with stellar results, and has
served in the government that recently expanded free childcare. She
is the greatest stateswoman I've seen come out of Britain, and I
desperately hope her party will enter the next government, or at
least get meaningful policy concessions from Miliband.
Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen.
Wow. CNN is saying the Tories won outright. I feel terrible but I want to laugh instead of cry. Ed isn't perfect but he's a damn sight better than Brown, Blair, and certainly Cameron. I know he sold out on immigration, but he's still a lovable geek who knows exactly what to do on climate change- it's like I'm watching the tenth doctor regenerate away... Apparently I'm not the only girl who thinks so, as twitter is reporting trends of "We still love you, Ed!- #Milifandom".
ReplyDeleteThe big question now (aside from whether Labour sacks him for his more conservative older brother, as seems likely) is what Nicola Sturgeon can do- tonight was the best case scenario for the Scottish National Party, but they don't look set to have any influence over anything with the Conservatives having enough libdem and DUP stooges to pass anything they want. The SNP will continue to institute justice wherever it may be needed on devolved matters, but having nearly 60 MPs is somewhat meaningless if no one will do business with them. And for once, I can't solve this problem with a PR system- as a plurality party they did way better than the overall votes should permit under a fairer system, but I'm still rooting for them. Free childcare, free tuition, lowered voting age, push for nuclear disarmament, minimum wage increases, pro-immigration, best greenhouse gas standards in the UK... They've got quite a record, and hopefully tonight shows Labour that they've got to adopt some of the SNP agenda if they want to claw their way back up to serious size. Whatever strength they can muster will lie in solidarity with fellow leftists. Labour and the SNP (and Plaid, and the greens if possible) ought to try a united front- what does Labour have left to lose? They can't govern with these kind of losses even if they took all 59 Scottish seats as opposed to the naught they won. The SNP can't get anything done in Westminster if the Tories have a majority.
Of course, this looks rather familiar- the German SPD chose to further moderate and go into a grand coalition with Merkel rather than allow the Linkspartei into the Bundestag. Seems no one is willing to do business with progressive parties led by women.
Ok, now the tears have started.
Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen