Thursday, February 07, 2008










This made me laugh!

Travelling a lot as I have this last couple of weeks you see every witty slogan imaginable on the back of a white van. Previous firm favourites of mine have included " If only my wife was this dirty"; "Also available in white"; "White, with a hint of M42" and "And your mother said I was dirty..."

I am fond of pointing out to my more scientific political friends that second guessing public opinion is an art, not a science. Irritatingly for those of my colleagues who are poll junkies I have often proved that tiny anecdotes of public opinion can be accurate as detailed polling as to what is going on.

So I am always interested in the small things - the minor aside overheard in the pub or rant from a taxi driver that many others dismiss, and that is why I thought this piece of graffiti was interesting, as well as funny.

It is a long time indeed since any mainstream political issue has been the butt of jokes like this - in fact I haven't seen this kind of thing on the streets at all since Labour took office eleven years ago.

Ok you say, get a life, it's one sardonic joke on one van spotted in London, so what?

Well when your attempts at improving public services after ten years result in this kind of thing appearing you know you have a serious image problem.

Whatever you think of the decisions he made, on Iraq, over peerages, however much he might have lied to us and deceived us, nobody ever treated Tony Blair as a joke. With Gordon Brown its becoming the reverse- it's becoming impossible to take him and his Government seriously. From Northern Rock through donations, bugging, lost CD's, its been one long bad episode of Fawlty Towers ever since he entered No 10.

As any politician will tell you there is one sound that is deadlier than any other for a prime minister; and that is the sound of the public laughing at him.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What should Tories read into the borough council by election in Tavistock on Thursday where the Lib Dems took the seat from them with just under 60% of the vote? And not a flash in the pan, Tories lost seats in Portsmouth and Throwbridge to the Lib Dems on the same day. The Conway effect? will it pass or is Lord Ashcroft's tax status, going to keep this story running.

Anonymous said...

Yup, I can see the headlines now:

Meltdown for the Tories
It's all over for Cameron
Tory white flags out
Lib Dems in breakthrough
Clegg: "Go back to your council wards and prepare for power..."
Its a two horse race..
Decapitation strategy..
Clegg waiting for Brown to come knocking..
Today Tavistock, tomorrow the world!

etc, etc.

These and other headlines available in Lib Dem leaflets across the land.

Where is Throwbridge by the way?

Marcus Wood said...

What should the Tories read into last nights Lib Dem by election win?

1)The Lib dems have a considerable by election winning machine that should never be under-estimated;
2)Local issues matter in local election campaigns;
3)Liberal Democrats are still the main threat in the South West; 4)Bad councils will be punished at the polls;
5)Turnouts in local elections are so pathetically low that anything can happen.

Anonymous said...

Short memories you Liberals have got, haven't you?. You had a dreadful round of local elections in May losing seats and councils right across Devon.

When the Conservatives got a new leader their polling went up by 10% and stayed there; when Labour got a new leader their poll ratings went up by 10% for a few months; when you got a new leader your poll ratings went... down by 2%.

I am not surprised you are relieved to have finally won something, but I wouldn't get too carried away just yet if I were you.

Anonymous said...

God its a bit pathetic - is this the level of lib demmery you put up with in torbay?

we won a by election nahh nahh