The pain of choice

Happy New Year!! All the best for 2010, and all that crap. 


Ahem. Anyway, hello all. So, in the wake of Christmas, I've been doing a lot of music-gobbling, and January 2010 has been one of the most exciting and fascinating months of my life. Ok, slight exaggeration, but screw it - passion sells!


Before all that, though, I feel I should say a bit on politics (groans all round). The UK general election is getting closer, and mostly greeted with relative indifference, including me. I can't really discern that many differences between any of them, once you eliminate the loonies and the no-hopers. It's enough to make you want to give up on the whole thing altogether. That may just be my slogan every election year. 


It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that David Cameron's Tories will get in. So, who to vote for? Well, I will never vote BNP or UKIP, and whilst this may have been the Conservatives best chance at securing my usually leftist vote, given Labour's iniquities, a cursory look beyond Cameron's waffle and posturing soon convinced me otherwise.


How come? Well, it's all very well talking about cutting taxes, and in this economic climate, who doesn't want to save money? But, as this article outlines: http://www.johannhari.com/2010/01/15/cameronomics-has-already-been-tried-in-ireland-the-result, Cameron's approach is bogus, and the cutting of state spending will only lengthen the recession, as is the case in Ireland. I'm no economist, but Vince Cable does seem to speak more sense on these issues, and the example of China is interesting. As is the fact that the debt hysteria is being oversold by Osbourne and The Daily Mail. Above all, I dislike this talk of tax breaks for the rich at exactly the time when society should be pulling together to help those less fortunate. These Tories strike me as just another old Etonian rich men's brigade, happy to help out its own, less keen on securing the future of Britain's poor. After all, as Hari says, who will suffer the most if taxes are cut? Osbourne's millionaire buddies and foreign oligarchs? Of course not - it'll be working class Britons, whose public services will almost inevitably feel the strain.



On a much more personal note, there's the gay issue. Cameron was at one time one of the Conservative party's most vehement opponents to the repeal of that odious Tory law called Section 28. He voted to keep it in place 3 times. That's three! I am willing to believe he may have had some Road to Damascus-esque conversion to the importance of gay rights, but I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the realisation that 3.5 million or so potential voters are gays or lesbians. Call me cynical... But cynical or not, at least he's talking the talk. Except he's not showing the right signs that we, as a group, will be any better treated under the upcoming Tory government than previous ones, except by virtue of existing Labour legislation. 


The single most important issue facing the gay community today is that of bullying in schools. One of the legacies of Section 28 is that gay or effeminate (or "butch" girls) teenagers and children have little to no protection in the playground, and are regularly submitted to verbal or physical abuse. The statistics are scary: even as we are more and more visible in the media or have better protection at work, gay and lesbian teenagers are far more likely to commit suicide, suffer from depression or self-harm than their straight peers (http://www.stonewall.org.uk/education_for_all/research/1790.asp). And teachers are considerably less likely to intervene if a kid is being called "faggot" than if he is being singled out for his race or religion. 


So something needs to be done.Yet so far, outside of fringe leftist parties, only Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have said they will take any radical steps to fight this problem. Brown and Cameron have been predictably wishy-washy. Whilst homophobic bullying is deemed punishable in schools, nothing will be done to make sure religious schools, where homophobic bullying is particularly rampant (see any report by Stonewall for evidence), comply and crack down on it. If anything, matters will get worse, as both parties are bowing down to the vociferous right-wing religious minority (be it Jewish, Christian or Muslim) and talking about introducing even more faith schools. Clegg has been clear - faith schools, like secular ones, will have to crack down on gay-bashing, and expressly show support to gay teens and children. They will not be allowed to openly teach (preach?) anti-gay sentiments, as many do now under the banner of religious freedom. I may baulk at the idea of telling religious bodies how to behave, but the fact is these schools are paid for by the state, and therefore the taxes of millions of gay people, and my taxes (that word again) should not go towards creating an environment that is inhospitable to gays. What if these schools were teaching the value of slavery and genocide, both allowed in the Bible in the same pages that condemn homosexuality? This is not about free speech, it's about responsible state-funded education. Yet Cameron's stance is even softer than Brown's.


Likewise, the Tory Lords have been doing their utmost to block an Equality bill that would bring Britain in line with European law on this most difficult matter. They want to make sure a religious body can refuse to employ someone, if said person is gay, or of a different religion. As European law stipulates, the Equality laws do not suddenly mean a Catholic church would be forced to ordain openly gay men as priests, or even women (the horror!). It does not mean that Muslim imams would be forced to recognise and marry gay couples. What it intends is to protect people from being discriminated against by employers because of their sexuality or religion. Does a christian faith school's cleaners all have to be heterosexual Christians? What difference would it make were they gay or Muslim or Sikh? It's not about forcing religious bodies to change their way of thought, it's about stopping discrimination. It's one of the few areas I am in line with recent Labour policies. The Tories have not changed their spots so radically on gay issues (was Alan Duncan really the best they could do?). Their recent alliance with anti-semitic, racist, gay-hating extremists in Europe only proves this. Cameron's hypocrisy is vile. It's the equivalent of someone saying "I love black people", then going to a garden party with the KKK. And if you think these European extremists aren't as bad as the KKK, try organising a gay pride in Warsaw. 


All in all, Cameron is as fake as his airbrushed picture (seriously, what the fuck is that?). I don't trust his supposed support of gay rights (it's more a "status-quo-let's-above-all-let-the-religious-nutjobs-keep-discriminating-but-I-love-you-really" stance), and his tax cuts just hide a desire to keep on favouring his rich cronies over ordinary citizens. On top of that, it looks like the BBC, a fantastic institution for all its occasional flaws, will become a major target under Cameron, with his buddies in the Murdoch empire already looking to dismantle Auntie's status and usher in a British answer to Fox News and Sky across the board. Profit over the people - how truly Conservative. Old school Conservative. 


Though, what's the alternative? Another 5 years of Labour's sleaze and incompetence? Visions of them all getting off scot free for the Iraq War? Blech! I suppose that any other vote will be a wasted one, a side-effect of Cameron's rise to power. Well, screw it. I have principles. I will not vote Tory just because I am tired of Labour. And I will not vote Labour simply to keep the Tories out. They both stink. I will agree, The Lib Dems are muddled, and Clegg is as charismatic as a slightly soiled dish cloth. I haven't made up my mind on them, so my vote is not cast. I agree with their policies on gay rights. But I also like what the Greens have to say. And, always nagging away is the fact that voting for either will change jack shit. Argh, the pain of choice. After the BNP loonies, the creepy Ukippers, I have now consigned Cameron's airbrushed Tories to the dustbin of my voting options. But what to choose instead? Seriously, it's enough to turn you off politics forever. Now where have I heard that before?


Phew! Another day, another rant! Back to music, next. That world makes more sense to me...