Reflecting on the British Election

It's now a week into the election campaign and it's well...not a very exciting election. Mark Steyn sums up the atmosphere in today's Telegraph:

....none of us has any clear idea which unloved party will do the least effective job at further depressing the turnout of whatever unenthusiastic faction of its dwindling base is most unresistant to being cajoled to the polls.

With a turnout likely to be even lower than the Iraqi election, most voters are either convinced that Labour will win anyway or they're unconvinced that a new government will make any difference.

Here are the choices:

1. Labour Party: More of the same.
2. Conservative Party: Lots of radical changes promised but in the end more of the same.
3. Liberal Democrats: Lots of promises that will make you want to run out and vote for the two other parties.

The Tories have had ample opportunity to attack Labour but they're too scared. On law and order, health, education, immigration, tax, transport, you name it, Labour have performed miserably. Time after time, the Tories have had the opportunity to attack their weaknesses, and each time they shied away for fear of being radical.

It's like the 1970s all over again, the last time we had an era of concensus politics. Back then, it prevented anyone from tackling economic stagnation and industrial unrest. In today's political climate, the only belief is in holding the centre ground. It means the Tories can't do anything which makes them look too "right-wing", and it means Labour have to pretend they're right-wing (whilst appeasing their left-wing MPs).

We need somene who is a mould breaker (preferably not another Thatcher),but somone who believes in themself and who isn't scared to tackle those sacred cows, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, The EU and Immigration / Asylum Policy, someone who can unite the country behind them. Until such a person emerges, don't expect anything to change.