There’s quite a bit of it, the traffic is in chaos, lorries breaking down all over the place it’s mayhem. It is getting a bit parky now though and I have to brave the motorway tomorrow.

Anyway I failed to get online again yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to write any more so no comment on the Tuition fees vote in Parliament. Surprise surprise if Labour didn’t take it by 5, ok it’s very close but that won’t matter to the students so it might just as well have been the full govt. majority for all the good it’ll do. It all seemed like a play that was a little too obvious, capricious timing of events, leaks and announcements it was all a little too staged. As for the Hutton report well I think that was even more concilliatory than one would have thought, the BBC took a pasting and the govt. emerged unscathed. Again on balance this is not astonishing info. a high court judge who has been in the system for many years is a pretty safe pair of hands for such a report.

Now things could go 2 ways as a result of this: firstly the apathy syndrome could worsen and people’s existing poor opinions of politicians and politics will hardly have cause for revision. Alternatively on a more optimistic note people who do decide to vote may wish to take a punt on the new kids on the block as they did in 1989 when the Euro. vote went well for the Green party. The onus is on us to ensure that they know who we are and what we stand for. That being said such a step is not a given, the British electorate have made some very curious decisions in the past in recent times principally in 1992 when Labour looked to have sewn it up. We could end up going the way of the Referendum party or such like. It’s not that there isn’t a market for Socialism here, I think if people voted genuinely the way they felt we’d do very well indeed but people here are conservative (note the small c) and they like to go with what they know, it’s the idea that to vote for a smaller party might let in one of the bigger parties that the voter doesn’t like. The notion is simple, vote for Labour in their heartlands to avoid the Lib Dems and BNP, vote Lib Dem in Tory areas as Labour usually languish in 3rd place. However the Euro elections are PR so if we can just poll enough votes, even if we don’t win many or any seats if the overall % is good it may sow the seeds in people’s mind that we are more than a one-hit wonder. If all the genuinely left-wing parties unite around a Respect candidate and stress to their members the importance of voting and at least some of the Muslim community can be attracted by the anti-war message then you would think the potential has to be there. The Scottish Socialist Party have really shown that it can be done and are even now attracting the support of the Trade Unions north of the border. If we can appeal to a section of the Trade Union Left and those traditional Labour voters dissolutioned with the direction since 1997 anything is possible.

It is hard to see how if a Conservative government had run the country since 1997 things would be much different to the way they are now. Labour isn’t working but the Tories never will.