Punished, jilted and teased.......The British voters sent a message to the politiciaans, we do not trust any of you to lead the nation out its present quagmire. The Labour Party was punished for thirteen years of dithering, an unwanted war, a crumbling economy, the venality of Tony Blair and the financial shenanigans of parliamentarians. David Cameron has de-toxified the party from Thatherite extremism, but he made enemies in the party ( the Conservatives, historically love to feed on its own entrails, and this was no exception) and thus was denied a majority, jilted by its own right-wing members and a wary electorate. Nick Clegg and the Lib- Dem. were exhilarated by the polls after the debates but, the voters were just teasing the "new kid on the block"...... maybe next time.
The media talking heads are twittering and pontificating on the possible outcome ( the Brits are not used to hung parliament. It has happened in 1923, 1929 and in 1974, but the nature of British politics has changed with more regionalism, more new citizens clamouring for their share, less fear from I.R.A. terrorists but more fears from foreign and home -grown terrorism , an uncertain economic future and a Britain on whom the "sun has set"....Will Brown step down? Can Cameron woo the Lib-Dem, with promises of portfolios and compromises on immigration, Europe and proportional representation and, will Clegg enter into a marriage of opportunity with Cameron or, will he be part of a larger coalition with Labour and the regional parties? They are also talking about the Canadian experience of minority governments...we have had at least eight of them in the past 50 years,as is the case presently.
The Canadian experience with minority , which seems to be the rule rather than the exception, has been a mixed bag. We have the Pearson 60's, which gave Canada its Flag and its National anthem and more importantly Medicare and our very positive international reputation in peacekeeping. The Trudeau 1972 minority, propped up by David Lewis's N.D.P. was also good, but it cost the N.D.P. dearly at the 1974 elections, where Trudeau got the praise but Lewis paid the price....Clegg should study this before he decides to enter into any agreement with either the Tories or Labour. "If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas".
The media talking heads are twittering and pontificating on the possible outcome ( the Brits are not used to hung parliament. It has happened in 1923, 1929 and in 1974, but the nature of British politics has changed with more regionalism, more new citizens clamouring for their share, less fear from I.R.A. terrorists but more fears from foreign and home -grown terrorism , an uncertain economic future and a Britain on whom the "sun has set"....Will Brown step down? Can Cameron woo the Lib-Dem, with promises of portfolios and compromises on immigration, Europe and proportional representation and, will Clegg enter into a marriage of opportunity with Cameron or, will he be part of a larger coalition with Labour and the regional parties? They are also talking about the Canadian experience of minority governments...we have had at least eight of them in the past 50 years,as is the case presently.
The Canadian experience with minority , which seems to be the rule rather than the exception, has been a mixed bag. We have the Pearson 60's, which gave Canada its Flag and its National anthem and more importantly Medicare and our very positive international reputation in peacekeeping. The Trudeau 1972 minority, propped up by David Lewis's N.D.P. was also good, but it cost the N.D.P. dearly at the 1974 elections, where Trudeau got the praise but Lewis paid the price....Clegg should study this before he decides to enter into any agreement with either the Tories or Labour. "If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas".
