Election Strategy

Photo by marcn

Gordon Brown surprised everyone by announcing the General Election this morning.

Well, okay, he surprised no one. But I thought that now we were officially into the election campaign, I should clarify a few things for this blog.

I have in the past been a floating voter. From the newly-branded Liberal Democrats in the European Elections in 1989 to Labour in 1997 and the SNP in 1999, my personal swingometer has spun like a wind turbine on Rannoch Moor.

Actually, that's only true to a certain extent. When I voted LibDem in 1989, I had one eye on the spectacular gains that the German and UK Greens were making. And in every Scottish election since devolution, the Greens have got at least one vote out of me if not two.

So last autumn I decided to nail my colours to the mast and finally joined the Scottish Green Party. It was an easy decision and one that had been a long time coming.

I have, though, tried to keep Suitably Despairing apolitical to a certain extent. While I agree with almost everything the Greens say and my initial responses to things closely align with them, in no way do I speak for them and wouldn't dream of doing so. I'll leave that to the professionals.

I have however had much fun at the expense of other parties on this site. You'll notice a lack of ticking the Conservative box in my voting record. I have to admit that I don't believe most of what they say on environmental issues. As for the LibDems, I find them rather bland and willing to wait to hear what the media say on something before they take a stand.

My very brief love affair with Labour died quite quickly after the 1997 election and has never returned. As for the SNP, I like Alex Salmond being First Minister - for entertainment value if nothing else. Watching Iain Gray try to deal with him at First Minister's Questions is one of the comedy highlights of the week. As the SNP form the government, they get most of my ire on certain things.

But back to what this all means for Suitably Despairing. For the length of the election campaign, you may notice a certain partisan tone creeping into the blog. Among the usual mix of crap writing you may find some electioneering.

I have a couple of weeks off at the end of April during which I intend to help out the Scottish Greens in some as-yet-unspecified way, so don't be surprised if I suddenly write 5,000 words on delivering leaflets or climbing up lampposts.

I'm also going to start a new label away from the normal "politics" one to show the demarcation line. And come May 7th, when the election is over and done with, things around here will return to more or less normal again.

Until October, when the hung parliament fails and another election is called!