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Red & Blue

As I am in Tallinn, I am not quite sure why I stayed up so late to watch the European Champions League Final- for a start, the time difference meant that I did not get to bed until 2.30. Furthermore, it is not as if I was that interested in the outcome- I am not too interested in English Football, indeed my interest overall is confined to a rather half hearted interest in the results from Pittodrie, and as another half-hearted season comes to an end for Aberdeen, I doubt that I will miss football too much over the summer break.

Even still, it was a tense and intense match- and as the 1-1 result showed, very evenly matched. In the end, by the narrowest of margins, the Red corner prevailed.

In Crewe & Nantwich later on, it seems unlikely that a Red victory will be repeated. Reports from the by-election seem to show that Gordon Brown is just too personally unpopular to save the seat. The Conservatives seem to be celebrating already, and after the victory of Boris Johnson in London, they are already pointing to a sea change in British politics. They also talk of the squeeze on the Liberal Democrats and the return of two party politics.

Just one small detail: another sea change has been happening, the recovery of the Liberal Democrats poll numbers to the kind of level that they gained in the 2005 general election. As the decay of Labour becomes more entrenched, there is the distinct possibility of the Liberal Democrats moving into second place in the polls. Some have even tipped the Liberal Democrats for a rather unlikely second place in tonight's by-election.

So, the growing sense that the economic problems of the UK can not be turned round with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, may lead not to a squeeze on the third party, but rather a squeeze on those most involved in the problem: the ruling Labour Party.

Although I am uneasy at the Tory Triumphalism, an exceptionally poor result for Labour tonight could put many pieces of the British political system into play.

Mind you, I will not be staying up to watch it- especially after the truly awful local elections coverage of the BBC a few weeks ago. Besides the declaration would not be until about 5 AM in Tallinn, and I need what I insist on calling- in defiance of certain obvious facts- my beauty sleep.

Comments

Newmania said…
The Lib Dems did feebly actually. People have got the point . Vote Lib Dem , get Gordon Brown.

I notice by the way that your claims of a Damascean conversion to low tax small state government seem to be treated with as much cynisism by the voters as they are by me.

BTW , What triumphalism ? Example ? Such conceit is hardly likely , we can hadly believe what we are seeing.

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