Some Thoughts On Life Under Labour

Whatever happens today / tomorrow, life under Labour has for me at least, been generally good. I have to admit that. Because when things are good one should say so, just as one does when they are bad.

Politics is about the personal and personally speaking I went from being a broke student in my final term in May 1997 to almost constant (self) employment. I've gone from a rented house to a squat to being able to afford to buy somewhere to live (then back to a rented house again).

I've travelled, published books, run a record label whose start-up was partly-funded by regional Arts Council funding and just generally scraped by on a minimum wage.

I'm not sure whether any of this was because of Labour, but it at least happened under their governing. In fact, any good fortune was more likely due to a lot of luck, hard work and the support of my parents. I've never signed on, never received a penny of tuition fees. When I needed assistance from the police after some robbers tried to take my head off with a brick, they were fucking useless. Couldn't have been less interested.

But still. Working in the creative industries and now living in the post-industrial heartland of Yorkshire, I know that things would (and possibly will) be much worse under a Tory government

I'm not even saying I'm voting Labour. But please. Anyone but the Conservatives (and UKIP. And the BNP).

There was the war of course. Teflon Tony's big bullshit war. And the abolition of student grants, the scapegoating of asylum seekers, the dawning of the big brother / CCTV age, the failed ID scheme, the 10p tax, rising crime etc. And more. Much, much more.

But that will all seem like a walk in the park if Cameron and his cretinous Conservative party gain power over Britain tomorrow. I grew up in the north-east of England in the 1980s.

I haven't forgotten what they did. And what they are still capable of.