Cecil The Lion

I'm sorry if this one doesn't make much sense today but I'm deeply upset:

#Cecilthelion

We have to ask ourselves why big game hunting exists don't we?  The pursuing and killing of animals for 'the high' we get from it is a pathetic and backward habit.  It is a sad excuse of a thing to do, when rich people from America fly over to Africa for the sole purpose of wiping out a beautiful creature which is one of the few remaining natural marvels of the world.

For goodness sake lets put a stop to this pathetic behaviour, let us enshrine it in international law, please people.  These creatures feel pain, they have minds and they have fear.

If we prick them do they not bleed?

There is a line in all of this, I think Animal Husbandry is a completely reasonable part of humanity. I think we need the likes of meat (I certainly do anyway) but where do you draw the line?  Where do you draw the line?

The people writing death threats I cannot condone, but nor can I condone the slaughter of this beautiful creature.

A tearful Scarlet signs off

Jeremy Corbyn

As someone who tends to sit on the Tory side of the benches my opinion of Jeremy Corbyn shouldn't seem all that relevant, but Scarlet always feels the need to speak out.

So for those of you who haven't noticed the race is on to become the next Leader of the Opposition.  A national representation of our Democratic state the role is one of the most important in the system.

The next leader of the Labour Party will be the most public voice against the Government until the next election (provided bonnie Prince Charlie keeps his mouth shut that is).  There is now a very real possibility that that person will be veteran Labour left winger Jeremy Corbyn.  Jezza is everything Labour was thirty years ago, Scarlet's observations:

The Return of the Left?

Outside Scotland Parliament has near enough lost its bent to the left.  The New Labour bandwagon turned the old party of the unions into a centre right alternative to the Tories, indeed Lady Thatcher once claimed her greatest victory was getting Labour to shift to the right.  

Although many welcomed a shift to the right for Labour it has left the party in nowhere land, these days if you want to vote for a mottled Centre Right you can vote for Cameron and Boris, why would you vote for Labour?  As for the left, well Labour really aren't there anymore, I didn't hear Ed Milliband suggesting any Re-nationalizations or a strengthening of the unions?  Without anything to reach for Labour appears stale and the socialist movement has no-one to vote for.  Could Corbyn bring Socialism back to the agenda on the national table?

#ToriesForCorbyn

What nasty political skulduggery this is.  Many Tories are registering/supporting through media Corbyn in an effort to get Corbyn elected believing he is an unelectable spoof candidate the British public will see through, what a horrifyingly unsporting thing to do.  If you support the Labour Party you should have your say but to feign interest to try and destroy a political party is so vindictive even Lord Archer would be embarrassed.

Secondly what if Corbyn proves popular?  Imagine if the left rise as above and Corbyn gets into number 10 and you as a Tory helped it happen?  What a Muppet you would feel.  Let us leave who is representing Labour to Labour, and then debate their leader on mutual terms.

A Real Opposition

What is the point in an opposition like the current Labour Party?  Yes they rant and rave about Tories and complain about their handling of everything but there is really no ideological reason for this, it is just part of their ploy to get back into power.  If Red Ed was the PM at the moment we would see a cut in the deficit, less public spending and HS2.  Sound familiar?

With Corbyn at the helm we would see a whole new agenda, I'm not saying I would agree with it at all but at least we would have something different on the menu, a leader of the opposition arguing for much higher taxes on the rich and a return of Socialist values.  This might draw some of the protest vote back in, in the last general election Labour/Tory seats in the house are 86%, in 1992 between them they had 93%.  The big parties are losing their support: UKIP, SNP, Greens may be here to stay.  Labour could grab back from all three with the right package.



In spite of all this it seems to me that Andy Burnham will probably edge it, but New Old Labour could be on the agenda in 6 weeks time!

Cyclists

Quite often I begin these things by claiming 'this is not supposed to be a rant', much like the great Mark Kermode the rant tends to bubble over in any case, today Scarlet bangs on about the cyclists and he makes no apologies 'this is a rant'.

Why don't they ride in single file?

Why on earth is this even a problem?  Have you ever seen this insanity?  I certainly have, cyclists regularly ride 2 by 2 whilst cars are stacking up behind them because the cyclists can't make a hill.  I sympathise with the struggles of getting to the top of the hill but WHY? Why would anybody do that?

Why aren't they using the Cycle Lane?

Lets face it, motorists tend not to deal with Cyclists on the Road Network overly well.  The UK didn't invest in Cycling Infrastructure like most of Europe after the war and Britain's roads aren't exactly the widest in the world in any case.  Part of solving this issue was for councils to build hundreds of miles of Cycle Lanes alongside busy roads; flat and well surfaced these are particularly abundant in New Towns.  In certain areas the cyclists appear to snub them!  Anyone who has been behind a cyclist going round a corner with an empty 9 foot wide Cycle Lane to the side must surely have been wound up about this?  What are they doing? ARRRRRRGGGHHHH

Let us face it people, cycling is a fantastic way to get around, and we in Britain are finally starting to embrace it on our Road Network and it is great to see.  Boris Bikes, country tracks being built over old railways it is becoming an excellent and healthy hobby.  For the love of god can we please make sure the cyclists pull their weight on the safety front, after all they are the ones most at risk.

The European Union

Well I imagine most people already have some preconceived notions as to how Scarlet feels about the EU, you're probably not far wrong but this ISN'T A RANT, nor is it time for me to a lay a case out for leaving/staying in the union.  I'm just a blogger...

For those of you who do not know the start of what we all know as the EU today was after the Second World War.  Western Europe had torn itself apart twice in 40 years and the uneasy peace of Waterloo was done for, from the ashes of war came co-operation.  With an eye on the Communists to the East the West came together to unite, to tie their interests together and build a better Europe that could never go to war again.  As Germans haven't found their way into Paris and the British and Spanish aren't fighting over Gibraltar it seems like to an extent the original ambition has been achieved.  There is peace in Western Europe and it is as solid as ever, with NATO tying up the loose ends we seem free of any Military complications, WELL DONE ALL.

Somewhere along the line however something changed, the Common Market became a nation of its own. The EU now has a President, a seat at the G8 and more branches of Government than that bureaucratic hothouse France!  The issue here is that we went from something that was working quite well and accepted to something much bigger with no permissions sought, like it or not (and it seems many do not) our Houses of Parliament now play second fiddle to Brussels on most legislation.  As the Common Market expanded its influence economically and socially the UK quietly accepted it, particularly when Maggie was there demanding concessions for the bits and pieces we didn't like. Nowadays it seems the mild irritations are starting to boil over.

I have travelled to Europe several times in my life and have always enjoyed it, but it seems to me that even though we are in the EU, we don't seem to be really 'in' the EU.  How handy that there is a single currency so you don't need to exchange your cash.... Oh wait we opted out of that.  How handy that there is an agreement which keeps open borders between countries, you can go from one to another without a Passport check.... Oh wait we opted out of that.  This is the root of something that complicates our relationship with the EU completely, for the last 40 years we have picked and chose what we did and didn't want.  Like a Christian picking the nice parts of the Bible the UK has opted out of any major integrated decisions; and now we are too weak to bully more concessions.  The UK is not the player in the EU we believe it to be, not by a long shot.  De Gaulle blocked Britain's entry because he believed we would want to dominate, each day that looks like a slightly more astute observation.

It would seem that the whole of Europe is getting concerned about the super state, but it seems to me that we shouldn't.  The Euro is on the brink of collapse, the Greeks will set a precedent that will soon see the return of the Drachma, the Lira and the Franc.  A smaller diplomatic unit will emerge and Europe will sit in limbo once again.  Sadly it seems you can't please everyone; the UK will leave and the blame game will start, it has been nice working together but it simply isn't going to work.

Scarlet Reflects on the Election

The dust is settling on the most incredible election we have seen since 1992.  Indeed the parallels between this one and 1992 can be drawn across the board however Scarlet isn't going to go into depth about that, that is for the far more intellectual and boring bloggers.  Scarlet is going to sit back with his Bacon Sandwich (as a tribute to the leader of the opposition) and look at the key points after the day after the night after the day of the election.

Narrative

Scarlet posted his vote after work.  This being Scarlets second general election I was surprised by the amount of people about.  It may simply be a case of my arriving at 6pm but the turnout seemed considerably higher than 2010, perhaps a sign?  Scarlet posted his vote and kept well clear of the irritating people who stand outside the polling station and undermine the entire principle of the system.  It amazes me that these people are allowed to stand there, annoying members of the electorate and making them generally feel awkward.  It seems to Scarlet that this is the problem with a party system.  These people are highly beneficial to the Tories, Labour etc.  So why would a Conservative Government get rid of them?

I got home and found that everyone in the house had voted for a different name on the ballot paper, interesting thought I, this seems to be the feeling of the nation at the moment.  Everybody voting for a slightly different party they don't believe in as opposed to the standard everybody voting for the same party they don't belive in.

And so the evening in front of the coverage began (The Scarlet household voted for BBC, you can't beat a bit of Dimbleby with lashings of Nick Robinson), an exit poll and a thunderbolt!  Surely not?  Tories up the other side of 300?  It seemed propesturous and the wily old foxes of Ashdown and Campbell agreed - doubt that happens very often - could DC have achieved this late swing?  Indeed an incredible outcome, we won't know how or why the pollsters got it wrong but my goodness me a shock has run through our nation.  The success of the SNP was long predicted but a Tory majority will stun the UK to its core.  Scarlet thinks it is a bloody good outcome but there are many who will not, the PM has some tricky days ahead of him so I hope he enjoys what will surely be his finest hour.

The UK fading away...

It seems that the Nationalists triumph in Scotland is the latest step toward the breakup of the union.  Scarlet wonders if we will get another general election as the UK?  It really looks that bad.  The SNP party machine has convinced the Scot's that the grass is greener what is the PM to do?

It seems to Scarlet that full fiscal autonomy for the Scot's is the way to go.  It won't last long, Scotland has been mooching off of the English tax payers money for years and i'm sure that the second Scotland is responsible for its own money the reality of life will set in, of course it will all be the fault of the English.  It always is.

Europe

The long awaited EU Referendum is finally going to come.  Cameron's policy of renegotiation will begin straight off the bat, the success of Cameron's renegotiation will be the foundation of whether Britain stays in the EU or not.  Should the Europeans rebuff DC saying 'thems is the rules, like em or not' the British people will react with fury, as a major player in the EU surely we should have a say on policy?  Well if not, sod them we'll go our own way, I'm confident this will be the view of the Daily Mail and it's possible the electorate will rally around this view.  Can the PM bargain with Brussels?  It may well define his second term.

The UKIP vote is still there you know.... There is still plenty of anti EU running about the place, what's going to happen? 

What next for Labour

When Labour elected Ed Milliband there was a feeling around the country "they've picked the wrong one".  The British people have definitely backed this one up; Red Ed was never popular and we've kept him out of Number 10 one wonders how David would've done, or Alan Johnson?

Labour is looking in trouble now, they need to turn to someone to make them look like a modern political unit.  The message of Labour was re-invented by Blair but the Blairite vote might as well go to the Tories now that the smear marks have cleared.  The old left looks dead and buried and where does that leave the party?  One suspects the Labour Party would do well with Alan Johnson at the helm, maybe Labour won't shoot themselves in the foot this time.

An incredible result is in the bag for Cameron but now and the tough times will come thick and fast.  Our PM needs to make the changes before the British people remember how much they don't like him. Good luck Dave, Boris will be combing his hair waiting for his tomorrow.

Voter Turnout

For any given reason it would seem that loads of British people don't vote...

Scarlet has no desire for this to turn into a rant about people who don't vote and why they should really and how they are all enemies of freedom.  Scarlet is just going to lay out a few of the reasons why I think these people don't turn up at the ballot box:

Apathy

Do I vote? No, can't be bothered.  Surely this is the feeling of many British nationals who don't turn up?  Whilst it is not entirely fair to say that everyone who doesn't vote simply doesn't care about what happens on the Governmental front it would certainly appear that in a good few places people merely don't consider it important enough to bother.  Scarlet wonders what these people would do if we were in a police state like North Korea?  Would the apathetic position continue or would it be a case of 'I wouldn't bother voting but I want that to be my choice not theirs' or would they submit?  How often do the apathetic really use their freedom?  The only time we consider freedoms important are when we go to court or engage in political activity (like this here blog), and how many of us do that?  

What difference would my vote make? The (X Party) will just get in anyway

This one is an issue of the system, the dated FPTP system does tend to make safe bets of many seats in our Parliament.  Of course the mainstream parties tend to treat this one with kid gloves, complacency is a big problem in politics and they have to make sure some people actually do turn up or we could get the wrong winner simply because no one bothered to vote for the person everyone actually wanted to win.

They're all as bad as each other

Why would you vote if you thought that all of the candidates were self serving imbeciles?  It seems a fairly good question, most of us consider our politicians corrupt but go and vote for them anyway so shouldn't we just not bother going and wipe our hands of the whole sorry mess?

Scarlet looks at the modern political class and can't disagree with the position.  To get any kind of political pull you need to know the right people and this upper middle class political clique is very much the old boy network of our time.  However it is not the case that they are all like this!  No seriously they're not, if you look at your ballot paper you will in all likelihood find a clean cut candidate amongst the Old Etonians.  You've never heard of these people because nobody votes for the good guys, because all the people who would appreciate them are either voting for the system or staying at home.  Scarlet believes that if you look down the list and see no one worthy of your vote you should do something to show it off, to use the freedom at your fingertips.  You may not wish to stand for election yourself but why not join a party to try and make it better and more inclusive?  Why not start an online blog and at least tell the world what you think?  Perhaps we are getting round to apathy again....

Scarlet will vote tomorrow and Scarlet will await the results with the feelings of a true nerd.  Scarlet will try to hold on to his freedoms because Scarlet cares, but it would appear that many do not.  The question remains will they ever care?  Is the voice of not voting as strong as that of the voter?  Who knows, but tomorrow night the 60% of us that bother will have made a call, and I strongly hope we will vote right and save our nation.

A Video Blog - Scarlet the Atheist

Driving home from a shoot I wondered something, and I couldn't be bothered to write it down: