Britain is Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. There are 54 recognised shades of blue but it is uncanny that in the English language, blue often represents the human emotion of sadness. Today, the morning after the one night stand off that were the General Elections, Britain appears to be heading towards a blue state.

Will it be Eton blue, an odd mix between Oxford blue and Cambridge blue? A society that tacitly valorises class, privilege and elite education for a select few? A Big Society that is hemmed in between the boundaries of West Hampstead and Chelsea? Where parents and civil society will build and own their own academies and where teaching will become a profession reserved to only the elite? I wonder who will build the academies and schools for the families in Peckham and Camberwell where parents are disenfranchised and unable to provide the first building blocks for themselves or for their families. Very often, there are no parents at all, but this is unfathomable to the azure thought process of David Cameron.

It might be the cornflower blue of the blue-blooded privileged. An annual cap on non EU migrants every year will ensure that Britain does not turn black or Asian and that it is not flocked by immigrants from Africa, India and the Caribbean. Likewise, the English language test to be taken by anyone who wishes to marry a British citizen will ensure the survival of pure English stock and to assure, as my neighbour put it to me this morning, that there won’t be the case of “no English people in Britain any more”. It could also be the cooing baby blue of the married baby boomers, who would be spending their 150 quid extra on decaf double caramel extra hot skinny lattes as they herd Maclarens across parks and into Starbies. Or it might even be the harsh steel blue of cuts in public spending and more job losses.

It will certainly be a blue period for the most vulnerable in our society because Cameron’s Big Society is small enough to leave them outside it. The homeless, the disabled, single parent families, the unemployed, pensioners and children whose parents cannot afford good schools do not have a certain, steady place within it. If we believe David, schools will be open to private initiatives and prisons would be privatised. The media will be totally deregulated. Solid British institutions like the BBC will be under threat as commercial channels will also be subsidised. We will see the advent of a British Fox news. We will enter a new period of private sector contracting for essential services and significant welfare cuts will be made under the guise of protecting Britain against incapacity cheats and benefit scroungers. Due to pressure from the Conservative bourgeoisie, social housing in affluent areas will disappear(a la Boris Johnson style) leading to mass ghettoisation. Inner city estates will see unparalleled neglect. Hospitals will be run as foundation trusts with budgets allocated by results- riskier, potentially unprofitable procedures will be abandoned.

The last time the Conservatives were in power, there were over four million unemployed and the NHS was on its knees. The rail infrastructure was in shambles. The Conservatives record on how they vote in Parliament also reveals a lot about its current priorities. Despite their alleged commitment to building a stronger economy, they voted against the Business Payment Support Service for small businesses and against the Strategic Investment Fund to protect Britain’s strength in industry. Despite their lip allegiance to families, they voted against increased paternity leave and more flexible maternity leave. They also voted against a House of Lords Bill that removed the right for hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. Newspaper articles from late 1995 show that the Conservatives removed government grants for at risk schools, that the NHS faced a funding crisis and that the police were facing massive cuts. Spending on education was cut. Teenagers were opting out of Further Education. The wages council which set minimum wages was scrapped. People in Yorkshire were being paid poverty wages. Government housing spending was slashed. Labour had to spend so much quite frankly, because the Tories spent too little.

All this I thought as I passed by the Catford town centre today, towards the train station, when I noticed a  sign that I had not previously noticed before. It was a glaucous blue sign reciting “Catford Conservative Club”. Souped up and scrubbed up, it was hedged in between a Turkish kebab joint and a Afro hair supply store but still managed to look dated and out of place. It is for this reason that I believe that the Tories’ courting of the Liberal Democrats will not ultimately, make Britain any more fair, egalitarian or compassionate. The Lib Dem-Tory coalition is a fragile one and is a worthless empty oxymoron as there is no such thing as a Progressive Conservative or a Liberal Conservative. There is a wide chasm of difference between the founding ideological principles of both parties. I am a democracy whore and believe that where the people have not spoken loudly enough or strongly enough, we need to ask the question again. Sweetener deals and agreements in closed rooms do not a mandate make and the governing of a nation cannot be founded upon a discussion between two public schoolboys in their royal blue ties.

A Man for All Seasons

I voted for the old blind man today.

I have actually surprised myself as at the start of the campaign that was not my intention. I was very tired of Labour. Lewisham, the borough where I live is the crossroad between up and coming and ghetto. Lewisham has always voted Labour and has almost nothing to show for it but a town centre that sprawls with low-value shops, an unkempt market selling produce "pound a bowl", loud uncouth black youth who do not deign to speak English, scream on the bus and say random things like "you get me blud", a shopping centre that flails with faded glory, a rash of chicken and kebab shops and a huge Primark.

I am first and foremost a thoroughbred Liberal Democrat. I believe in equality before taxation and that the very poorest should not pay tax because most poor people really need the money, even when some of them appear to spend the cash that stings my pockets on trainers at JJB Sports. I believe in empathy and amnesty for immigrants because they have survived much more than I ever can, even when I see the Somali asylum seeker supplied with a council house and I have to catch my arse to purchase a one bedroom semi. I believe that a stronger Europe is a stronger Britain, even when Polish workers undercut British workers because I know that this is what makes markets competitive. I believe in an environmentally friendly, green Britain even when I complain about having to sort my rubbish into neat piles. I believe in the greater good for the community even at the expense of my individual and personal discomfort. And A.O (After Obama for those not in the know), I was also hungry for change.

I won't recite the reasons stated in my earlier blog but Gordon did not seem very attractive. Cameron was out of the question. Nick certainly seemed like the best choice. However, in the last few weeks, contrarian that I am, I suffered a swing of sympathy away from Nick Clegg towards the man who weathered the storm with grace and dignity.

His diligent note taking on the platform almost made me weep. This was a bookworm like me who cared about the small points and who liked to make things add up. His genuine response to Bigotgate told me that he was sincere. I would have said the same thing myself to anyone telling me that Eastern Europeans were flocking Britain. Pity Eastern Europeans can't vote. His plans were detailed and well thought out. He appeared statesman-like. He did not struggle. I saw Bigotgate being reported this morning in the Metro as the "image of the election" and I wondered if it were only me who thought that this was sad. You could sense Gordon's discomfort with large scale PR, lights and flash. This was not a ready-meal candidate. This was no red carpet bling bling Prime Minister. Sure, he was not extraordinary in look or image, but he was the best we had in terms of policy and experience. This was an honest man, with honest views. It was only when I saw that the media and swing polls reported his "performance" (yes, that's what they called it) as lack lustre, when I thought both Clegg and Cameron came out soft and underprepared, that I knew that this was an X-factor, tweeterific election and I knew that I could not fail to give Labour another chance. This country, this party, this man, needed my vote.

The Great British Public will speak tonight. And it is very likely (if we believe the polls) that we will wake up to a blue Britain tomorrow. Change will be coming to Britain. But will it be the right change? I will, however, stand confident in my belief that I voted for the right man. A man who weathered the financial storm and has righted Britain to its feet without the riots we see now in Athens. A man who jubilantly brought the Olympics to London. A man who weathered adversity and waited in the wings for his turn, his time. A decent father, husband, statesman. A man for all seasons.