Britain faces its toughest spending cuts for 20 years

"Alistair Darling has warned that Britain faces its toughest spending cuts for 20 years if Labour continues in office" (The Times, 9th January, 2010). George Osborne and Vince Cable have said much the same thing. And they have all supported the fatally-flawed Afghanistan adventure. And they are all subscribing to a conspiracy of silence on immigration and race relations.

(If someone thinks that I 'sound' like the BNP or UKIP, I made up my mind long ago that I would never vote for the British National Party as I believed that it was anti-Semitic, homophobic and socialist. My reasons for being thus concerned were and are that I admire the Jewish people who have suffered so much and I am basically pro-Israel; that, having had a relative jailed for practising homosexuality - in the hypocritical times when Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears were known by the establishment to be doing the same thing - and knowing other people who are extremely derogatory towards anyone thought to be homosexual, I disapprove of homophobes; and that I have always been opposed to old-style Socialism. So far as UKIP is concerned, I am pleased that Great Britain is a member of the European Union - though not, thank goodness, using the Euro common currency that will, I believe, soon collapse - and I am also pleased that we are so closely allied and tied to most of the rest of the nation states on the continent. However, I do not look to a 'United States of Europe' and I still believe that we British are entitled to secede from the E.U. if and when we should want to. An analogy in history is the belief - which I share - that was held by the Southern States of America prior to the awful 'Civil War' of 1861 - 1865. Those Southern States held that the then Constitution gave them the right to secede from the then United States of America and their view was held by many Northerners as well. When Secession actually came, Abraham Lincoln called an enormous army into the field to defeat the secessionists. By then, it was too late for the Constitution to be upheld and great suffering followed. If I were to become convinced that our European friends were moving towards the opinion that nation states could never be permitted to secede from the E.U., I would be with UKIP immediately. In the meantime, I hope and pray that we can all co-operate peacefully and economically and that European civilisation and culture can continue to be enjoyed for many more peaceful decades and centuries).

This - the words of Darling, Osborne and Cable - is all proof of what I have been saying for some time, namely, that there is little visible difference between the major parties on economic affairs, foreign affairs and the most important of home affairs, and that voting at the election may be decided by social and moral issues. I believe that Labour has an edge in this respect.

Indeed, under Tony Blair's leadership, the class warfare of old took a back seat. Also under Labour, civil partnerships were made lawful and have become accepted. Labour members, with notable assistance from some Conservatives such as Ann Widdecombe, ensured the passing of the anti-hunting Act, outlawing the awful and abominable 'sport' of hare coursing. These reforms would not have been feasible under Margaret Thatcher or John Major, but they are greatly to Labour's credit.

However, many in South East Cambridgeshire will not want to vote Labour, either for other reasons or because Labour is a lost cause here.

So, the choice here this year is 'no choice' as between the major parties. We now need independent voices to speak for the people and to be unwhipped by 'the party line.' We need MPs who will listen, take advice, think things through for themselves and make up their own minds on important issues of the day, and who will act and vote accordingly, hopefully in the best interests of the people, locally and nationally.

If I am a candidate (the appearance of a rosette on this blog posting has no immediate meaning: I am just checking to see how it looks) and if I am elected, much of what is written above will guide what I say and do in the new House of Commons.