Elections

  • New media takes old lines

    The election is now underway in the UK.

    The requisite “battle buses” have gone out to the four corners of the UK to find voters willing to listen to our three main parties.

    The campaigns of Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrat’s are in full swing and online, too.

    Take for example the website ToryManifesto.org.uk, a campaign site advertising itself on Google search. It’s full of statements by the Labour team over the failures of the Conservatives.

    It makes for miserable reading (give it a whirl).

    Its starting point is; “WHAT THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT HAS ACHIEVED IN THE LAST 14 YEARS…”.

    It’s not accurate since Rishi Sunak has not been in office that long, but I get the point.

    It’s the Tories wat’ done it.

    As usual, the same lines are drawn over failings that aren’t all a single Prime Minister’s fault.

    He can take credit as well as blame, however, so it proves the necessity of a campaign.

  • Will social media win the war?

    The election is underway. Campaigns have kicked off and Sunak and Starmer are busy talking to the people (as politicians usually do).

    What’s different about these elections is that, now, “social media” can play its role in sharing, spreading and highlighting a politician’s message.

    This happens all the time in elections overseas and the UK is no different. In-between our ‘prime time’ election events there’s plenty of fodder to be found on social media sites like Facebook and X.

    These are major go-to platforms for social debate, sometimes uncivil disagreement, and thread-by-thread debate – and it can get interesting. There are other platforms too, like Discord and YouTube, but these aren’t used in the media and so their cultural relevance isn’t as high.

    The online world is abuzz with activity most days and it’s worth looking out for what people are posting. It may be a candidate is recorded on the campaign trail (or off), and something else happens that sets them in a whole new light.

    It’s still a choice, though, and as the ballot box date approaches it’s worth checking out someone else’s opinion even if it is online and they insist it’s a shoo-in for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

  • What will they vote on?

    According to a YouGov poll taken on 20 May 2024, 69% of people said they disapproved of the Government, against 15% who said they approved.

    It’s a shockingly poor statistic for a Prime Minister who’s tried hard to remain in power for a reason, from proposals on AI to his own Rwanda plan.

    It hasn’t worked, however, according to any plan that may have been devised by strategists in Number 10.

    This stat is a poor reflection of a Prime Minister as he goes into battle on election day on 4 July.

    Indeed, it’s also something which Sir Keir Starmer – his only opposition – can use to his own advantage, as he also fights a campaign.

  • The Muslim vote wat’ won it

    In the recent local elections, a few ‘truths’ emerged; sometimes the Tories lose badly, other times Labour actually poll fairly well.

    These are, of course, two extremely broad definitions of politics that almost defy definition, sometimes, in that they seem such a broad a church respectively that to even bother explaining them without just a sheer focus on Jesus is pointless.

    Many of us beg to differ, of course.

    We don’t see politics like that, and thanks to modern enlightenment we see things in a very different way between each other. We don’t see ‘truths’, we see ourselves.

    This leads us to an organisation called The Muslim Vote, aptly titled and so-called aside, it looks to be a very engaging if only dynamic political group online, and off.

    There has to be substance or weight to a political movement if it’s going to succeed and not just stick in our imaginations as a clever idea or some great new effort that won’t go anywhere. Take Momentum for example, and you get the point.

    The group The Muslim Vote says that this year the Muslim community politically organised in its first ever coordinated effort to influence a set of elections. These would be local elections where Muslims tend to feel that things are not reflective of the way they want to live in local areas in England.

    The import of the far-right (which is neither imported nor exported) in the UK is usually in local areas and has its effect in local neighbourhoods and around the sort of Mosque’s that don’t always invite trouble but get the addresses right if they do.

    These are the more provocative times and moments that the Press in the UK want to ignore, but they happened, and they still do, I guess.

    Yet, The Muslim Vote has trended in the same Press behind a ‘character’ in Leeds who won his seat on a local council through that old fashioned method of campaigning, and connecting with local voters through a blog about growing vegetables.

    This is how ‘truths’ come up, now, but it’s not the way realities bear down on us.

    Councillor Mothin Ali is certainly not an eccentric for wanting to grow his own food, and get a seat on a local authority, but anything else about his life may still fall into this unfortunate category.

    It’s a fact that being Muslim is still not understood unless it’s there, in person, and not the subject of debate or controversy.

    The feeling and reality of being Muslim is still not in the political mindset or public perception of what it’s like to feel and live like a Muslim. These two ways of describing the situation will never include my own thoughts unless I meet the criteria for being one.

    Hence, our way of representative democracy.

    The election of a candidate who is not you is not a cause for celebration, unless you voted for him or her, or that you missed hearing about them but their work will benefit you, anyway. It means though that there are at least a portion of the local population who definitely felt the need for someone else, rather than the preferred candidates of other residents.

    This is democracy, and this is the way it works. It’s upsetting at times but it gets the initial job done. The rest is left to Mr Ali and what he decides to do with the time allotted to him.

  • Khan is on a high, but what is the way forward?

    The election of a new mayor in London has concluded, and Sadiq Khan has secured an “historic” third term, according to news outlets here in the UK.

    His win is secured on the back of surging prices of accommodation, outdated modes of policing that have led to surging knife crime and anti-social behaviour, and an uncertainty over the future of London itself.

    It’s not clear yet what Khan will do with an “historic” third term. His legal background has so far stood him in good stead, allowing him the necessary skills to argue his way off difficult questions, and an opposition keen to take pot shots at his record in office.

    A Tony Blair-style run is obviously impressive, but it doesn’t mean the problems have or will go away.

    He needs to work hard on his legacy, because so far there is little to show for his social improvements in a city still struggling with homelessness; uncertainty over affordable accommodation; and student discontent that has spilled over into anarchy over Gaza, and many other issues.

    The most telling characteristic is silence, a sense of a need to speak about matters in a civil and more public way.

    The main characteristic of a Londoner (in my view) is what they have to say.

    Yes, it’s a painful way of rebuke, but it’s a better way to address issues than just speaking through a representative.

    Our way of democracy is by representation, but I fear this has superseded ordinary engagement that supports chambers that host debate.

    I’ve no doubt others may see this too, but a question is if the Mayor will use his latest term to make way for a more public voice to rise above the noise of the traffic.