A fisherman's tale

Last Wednesday a number of people marched from Lancaster Market to the Morecambe Town Hall. They were protesting about the closure of the market and while they were marching I happened to be walking my dog. I often carry a camera with me and I took a photo of the marchers. I thought that it would be interesting to compare the number on the photo with the reports that would follow of how many were protesting.

On the radio on Thursday I heard that hundreds were protesting. On the BBC website they wrote that at least 200 were marching, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8549895.stm and in the local paper they reported that "market traders were joined by around 100 supporters on a march". I counted 48. It may be that many more started but that isn't the same as marching from Lancaster to Morecambe. It also makes you wonder about any reported numbers, and it sounds like these numbers may well increase as time goes on like the stories that fishermen tell.

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Is Julie from Llandudno a stooge?

Following on from yesterday's blog, I took a look at the Conservatives website. I admit that I only glanced at it but I saw that Julie in the poster campaign liked what the Tories are doing for families so I wanted to know if I liked it too.

The website mentions marriage but this isn't the same as family. It's fine if you like marriage but what about the families where there is no marriage? It talks about a council tax freeze. This is nothing to do with families. Families may benefit but so will everyone else. It's also a red herring. If we see what has happened in Lancashire County Council, the Tories took control with the electoral promise of freezing the council tax. How did it manage to do this? It borrowed a lot of money.

The website talks about only letting millionaires pay inheritance tax. If we want to impose a tax so that the money can be directed towards families then it strikes me that inheritance tax is one of the easiest ways to do this. In fact if you want to change the inheritance tax laws then it almost certainly doesn't help families who are just starting their careers in order to build up a financial resource that may eventually lead to an inheritance. I admit that it will help the filthy rich young families. Napoleon knew about this and he used inheritance tax to break up the aristocracy. The Conservatives want to maintain the aristocracy.

I am concerned about Julie from Llandudno. She has never voted for the Tories before, and now she has invited them into her house and given her name to an advertising campaign for them. Manifestos, including those of the party or parties that she used to vote for, have not been published so she hasn't read them. She is quoted as supporting ideas that have gaping holes in them, and worst of all, she may even be a stooge.

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Ripe for parody 2

When I saw this poster I thought it was hard to believe. The Conservatives are funded by big business and they have a philosophy of allowing people to spend the money that they earn. Why should they want to support families as this would increase taxation? The poster just didn't fit in with my perception of the Tory Party.

So I thought that I would improve the poster by amending the wording for them. It struck me that this 'genuine' voter was actually working as a model for the party. I presume she got paid and I am sure that the poster campaign costs a lot of money. Where did this money come from. Well big businesses and people like Lord Ashcroft are factors here so this led me to the second amendment.

If you look carefully you will see that I have taken out the origninal words and this has affected the underlying photograph. It is difficult to see at this poster quality. I was considering a smaller change just to the second and third lines but I didn't find the exact text so changed all the words.

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Ripe for parody

I saw this poster yesterday and it gave me another opportunity to combine my photography and politics blogs. The poster told me that one person was voting Conservative because of their plans to help families. I am not sure whether this is the case or not. It is advertising after all. I don't know if the Tories had to find a 'genuine' voter but this one looks just right for a poster campaign. I don't think much airbrushing was needed and she has been amended much less than David Cameron was in his poster.

I wasn't convinced that this voter had arrived at a balanced view comparing one party's policies with another. Is Julie from Llandudno politically aware? Is this Julie from Llandudno? Does she know the details of all the parties? I buy all the manifestos before general elections and compare them. How has Julie managed to come to this conclusion even before the manifestos have been published?

The point here is that the Conservatives are not trying to put over policy. We are just as ignorant after reading the poster. Image is much more important than substance for them, and image is certainly helped by some airbrushing. Obviously there are a lot less changes to this photo than were made to that of David Cameron, but it remains ripe for parody.

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Upholding the wealth divide

I have never thought that it was the role of government to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. I am not keen on tax loopholes because, as the name suggests, it is an anomaly in the system that allows the rich to get richer and loopholes need closing. However if there is a method to avoid tax then I don’t blame individuals for doing so.

If you have enough money accountants may advise you to live abroad. The Rolling Stones are famous for paying little tax. Jack Walker is famous for making millions and avoiding the tax man but then passing money over to Blackburn Rovers. They put this statue up to him outside Ewood Park as he was much loved in this area of Lancashire. He did have to live abroad to hold on to his wealth but it didn’t really matter that he influenced the English football results. The point is that if there are loopholes and the rich pay less tax then proportionally the poor pay more. I am sure that Robin Hood would not approve of this sort of thing.

You may have guessed that I am going to mention Lord Ashcroft. I am not concerned that he is a non-dom. If I had millions I might choose to live abroad and pass on my money as I see fit rather than pass it to the government. I do have concerns for political pary funding in that the people who pay will want something in return. If the trade unions want to sponsor an MP then they will want something in return. If big businesses fund the Conservatives then what are they getting?

It might be alright if voters know who is pulling the strings but we tend to get headlines rather than detail. Voters should know who is paying the piper. I have heard that Lord Ashcroft is passionate about his politics. Well if he is really passionate about governing Britain (which involves closing tax loopholes) then this is much more important than football and he should live here and live within the laws which he hopes to administer.

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Good old happenstance

I wrote about Neil Warnock's rant on Tuesday 16th February and how this attitude affected not only the respect shown to referees but was also related to the way that fans treat each other. When I was recently in Edinburgh I took this photo of a pub in which rugby fans could watch a match side by side with fans from the opposite team. I saw other pubs with similar signs.

Compare this with pubs near football grounds. They are either for the home or the away fans. I wouldn't dare to say that victory on a football pitch is not important but compared to the way that fans treat each other I know which I consider to be more important.

There is a postscript to the Neil Warnock story. It seems that his wife told him off for his rant because a similar thing had happened in his favour in the previous round of the cup. Sometimes pure luck is useful for a clearer view of the right way forward but wouldn't it have been much better if he had thought it through before he was taken over by emotion, because we are still left with the excuse for all the emotional fans to do whatever they like to abuse referees and behave badly towards each other.

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Right-thinking people

Do you remember a Monty Python sketch in which Graham Chapman says "I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired." It does go on in a similar fashion but it is a parody of politicians who say very little and talk in jargon.

I was reminded of this sketch yesterday when Peter Hain was interviewed by Andrew Marr. Peter is in election mode. He said "what is absolutely vital to the great decent progressive majority in Britain is that we stop the Tories winning power. And I think it is absolutely crucial and most people in Britain agree, that if we can have a situation in which we can stop the Tories winning governments, then whether Labour's had an absolute majority or whether Labour doesn't have a majority we should be the majority party because we are the only party that can form an alternative government to the Tories". This can be summed up as "vote Labour".

Peter went on to call for all non-Tories to vote Labour. Now Andrew had just heard that it was vital and crucial to stop the Tories, so he asked the obvious question about Labour supporters voting for Liberal Democrats. Peter got confused at this point and forgot what he had just said. He reverted to his "vote Labour" spiel. It's a pity that our top politicians forget what they have been saying so easily.

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