Spin the political bottle

I was looking for an excuse to blog about the election, when one came right up and slapped me in the chops.  You can always rely on British Mummy Bloggers to serve up a decent carnival when you need one, and Steffi at Mummy Do That is holding the next and her theme is politics. 

So here goes:

For as long as I've been able to vote it's been Labour all the way.  Anything was better than the Grey Man and Tony Blair did all the right things to swing the young vote.  A cosy association with 'cool Britania' made him man of the moment.  He invited the Gallaghers to his house, what more do you want as a young voter?  Well clearly some decent policies I suppose.  But it was all bright, shiny and new and I got carried away by it all as, clearly, did many others.

But then something happened.  Real life took over, the sheen started to fade, his hair started to go grey, Cherie was frankly a bit of a loudmouth and it all started to look a bit shabby.

And now we have Gordon.  I feel for him as I would a rather misguided uncle.  He's completely lost his way but seems to be advised by some PR who tells him if he keeps on saying the same thing ie:  it's not HIS FAULT then sooner or later the British public will start to agree.

Problem is we just don't.  There's only so much you can blame on the Americans (other than McDonalds, the wrong pronunciation of schedule, Paris Hilton and the subprime mortgage crisis).  We are sort of in it together aren't we?  I would respect Gordon so much more if he'd just take a little bit of responsibility for this mess we are in.

Telling us it's all someone elses fault is what I'll expect my toddler to do in a year or so, not a Prime Minister who happened to be the man holding the purse strings in his previous job.  Sorry Gordon but no cigar mate, you just have to wear this one.

Watching the leaders debates I find myself swayed by Nick Clegg's very clear aptitude for the job.  He seems to be honest, he's believable, he's authentic.  But his BIG problem is he's way too idealistic for this day and age.  Imagine getting rid of our nuclear deterrent?  Imagine an amnesty on immigration?  All lovely, utopian ideas but sadly not much good for a world in the thick of a sinister 'war on terror' with borders fit to burst and almost record unemployment.

'Call me Dave' puts on a good show.  Again he has the authenticity factor in my opinion.  I know from my Twitter addiction during the debates that not everyone shares that view, in fact many people want to drive a cold, hard, rusty stake through his head, but when your alternative is Gordon or a hung parliament I'm dangerously close to voting Tory for the first time.

Gordon just doesn't work well in a live debate situation.  He lacks versatility in his voice, he has conviction but he lacks flair.  And that's what we want, it's why we voted for Tony, it's why we might vote for one of the others on May 6th.

Perhaps, though, the most curious obversation of the debates was the fact they all looked a bit robotic.  Did you notice that or was it just me?  That coupled with their serious lack of sweat (despite Sky's sensational promise that watching in HD would mean we'd see every 'bead of sweat), led me to the conclusion they all use Botox.

And then there's the wives, I've written about them before  in a guest post at Typecast.  But they do play a part, no matter how much high ground we want to clamber up.  We, as women, are swayed a bit by them.  Whether it's Sarah Brown's baking or Sam Cam's pregnancy or even Miriam's admirable decision to stay out of it all, they are there. The media can't get enough of them.

I feel more involved in this election possibly because I have more at stake now.  What happens on May 6th will affect my children's futures as well as mine.

Wouldn't it be great if we truly could believe in politicians promises.  That they would stand by their decisions and not sell us all down the river.  Because that's how it feels.  I lost all faith over the WMD debacle.  Maybe that's why In the Loop (Armando Iannucci) is my favourite film of all time.  It just sums up so perfectly the profound idiocy involved in some of these decisions and the way in which the spin doctors concoct the junk to put us off the scent.

Sadly I have no real faith in any of the main parties ability to deliver genuine change.  But I know we need something different to what we have now.

It all feels a bit like a game of Spin the Political Bottle.  But instead of telling us a truth about themselves the leaders just tell us another promise they'll break a bit later on.

I'd never ask how you'd vote, that's your business, but do you think we'll ever trust a politician?