Saturday, 12 July 2008

Haltenprice and Howden by-election

As I woke up this morning I heard the news on the radio that the Greens have for the first time come in second place in a by election with 7.4%. We beat the 6.1% in Vauxhall in 1989, and in the process giving David Davis and the Tories a scare. Of course the LD and Labour didn't stand, giving us a chance, but the media made it a story about all the hopeless independents.

DDs principled stand against 42 days was rather undermined by his support of 28 days. The Greens have opposed every increase in detention without trial, as its against the principles of british justice he pretends to be so passionate about. No other country needs to take so long, and even the security services aren't supporting this.

What is so gratifying about the election result is that, while Davis was supported by a long list of celebs and of politicians from the usual old Parties (Bob Geldof, Martin Bell, Bob Marshall-Andrews), the second place didn't fall to someone (such as Jill Saward who attracted a good deal of press coverage and tacit Labour support.

The Greens were the main challenger to Davis, challenging his claim to be the defender of British civil liberties.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep spinning away Adrian, you might one day convince yourself that you're any different from the rest of them.

Adrian Windisch said...

From my point of view the big parties are indeed the same, with very similar policies that attempt to please the average voter. Its a strategy that seems to win elections, but leaves no real choice. The greens offer carefully conceived policies that adress the issues, not appease the voters.