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Vandalised Conservative billboards (2)
First sighting of vandalised Conservative billboards in Cornwall: outside Truro railway station a billboard depicting a grinning Gordon Brown has been amended with the addition of obscenities and an invitation to vote Lib Dem. Conservative PPC for St Ives Derek Thomas has acquired a moustache and goatee beard on a huge billboard on the road between St Ives and Penzance. Voter power!
Sunday Seven
The most popular post this week was Conservative Vandalised Billboards which I followed-up yesterday with the Big Society posts (and see here). Related was the interest in the TBH’s polling results in my Cornwall’s Tories are Stuffed. Also this week, I drew attention to Conservative PPC for Camborne and Redruth George Eustice’s pitch on his Green credentials. Mr Eustice might care to use his influence as an ex-speech writer for cycling, sledging Dave, to have a word in his leader’s shell-like about how Cameron lets the plane take the strain. Oh, and I’m still waiting a reply from Mr Derek Thomas about Mr Chris Grayling’s endorsement of homophobia.
New General Election prediction
Electoral Calculus predicts the next British General Election result using scientific analysis of opinion polls and electoral geography.
If there were a General Election tomorrow, what would happen?
Current Prediction: Conservative short 36 of majority
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Prediction based on opinion polls from 16 Apr 10 to 24 Apr 10, sampling 19,339 people.
Welcome to the Big Society (2)
Welcome to the Big Society
St Ives Parish Church or car park? battle is back on election agenda
The seemingly endless row over whether St Ives Parish Church should be demolished to make way for a multi-storey car park is on the agenda once again – the year of the 600th anniversary of its foundation. And it looks likely that the St Ives Constituency general election candidates might be sucked into the controversy – something they must be desperately keen to avoid after getting embroiled in the banning of pedestrians from St Ives town centre and other Cornish towns row.
Watch for TBH’s upcoming posts for exclusive views of the parliamentary candidates and the unexpected result of an opinion poll.
Same old Tories: Tory dirty tricks in your area?
Tory dirty tricks: report the details and sign the petition to sack Chris Grayling.
Bonkers fundamentalists and a question for Mr Derek Thomas
In a recent post I raised the question of why such an apparently decent man as Derek Thomas, the Conservative hopeful for St Ives, would want to represent the Nasty Party.
The St Ives Conservatives website provides a clue to the answer. After an impressive list of Mr Thomas’ good works – a list which makes you wonder, What the hell is this man doing with the Nasty Party? you get this statement from him:
Furthering the Conservative cause is increasingly important to me as the core values of Conservatism sit most comfortably with my personal faith. Many new ideas and new values have been adopted by this nation in recent decades and where traditional values have been discarded our communities have declined. The Conservative Party’s direction of travel and our core values provide a basis for leading the nation towards stronger, healthier, more caring communities.
I must confess that I haven’t an inkling of what all this is supposed to mean, but it would be of help to voters if Mr Thomas would decode it for us. Except that he is a Christian, I don’t know just what variety of Christianity Mr Thomas’ ‘personal faith’ might be. ‘Where traditional values have been discarded our communities have declined’ – which values and communities? It’s just a little bit scary when politicians start bringing their ‘personal faith’ into politics – just in case they turn out to be bonkers fundamentalists.
In a recent post I challenged Cornwall’s Tory candidates to tell us if they agreed with shadow home secretary Chris Grayling’s remarks that people who run bed and breakfast in their own homes should have the right to reject homosexual guests. Is,this, perhaps a Conservative ‘core value’ Mr Thomas shares, or not? I think we should be told.
On blinkered floating ‘Independents’
The problem I have with ‘Independent’ politicians is their irritiating belief that they are somehow above the political fray, up there on some ethereal political plane, untouched by the shabby passions and concerns of the party politician. So, Cllr Wallis who in a recent post ‘View of an Independent’ tells us:
… I don’t have any Party loyalties or blinkered by being a Member of a Party. I have always followed Politics since I first watched the 1979 Election as an 8-9 year old. I have also not voted for the same Party in all the General Elections since I was eligible to vote. For me the choice is down to two Parties. One of the Parties I have completely discounted as posted in a previous Blog.
Do you see what I mean? It does not occur to Cllr Wallis that being an Independent might in itself be a variety of blinkering, making it less likely that he will give proper consideration to the policies of the parties. And why is loyalty such a bad thing? In my experience, an Independent can be as ‘blinkered’ as any politician who belongs to a party. Of course, the Independent’s loyalty to the idea of being independent comes at a cost to the voter since the Independent has far less power – if any -outside than inside a party.
Cllr Wallis tells us with, I think, some pride that he has not voted for the same party at general elections. Why is that a virtue, I wonder? Is it independence or just aimless floating?
And then there’s my suspicion that in fact most Independents are closet Tories who dare not speak their name. I guess I could devise a simple questionnaire to put to Independents which would reveal just how independent they really are. And I’ll wager most would be exposed as conservative – and probably Conservative.
Well, for a start, we know that Cllr Wallis isn’t voting Labour on 6 May…
Vandalised Conservative Billboards
Facebook has an interesting collection of vandalised Conservative billboards for your entertainment – but this is an activity TBH is strongly against. Well, at least in Cornwall, because, as I have pointed out in a recent post the paucity and provenance of them strikingly illustrates just little support the Tories have and where it comes from.
The Baulking House 