Let the games begin

So in all the excitement about the non-bomber and the sex and the cars yesterday, I didn't have time to mention the big news in the Real World, which is that Gordon Brown finally announced that the next General Election will be on 6th May. And although I secretly do think the Tories will probably still win, I am allowing myself the opportunity to get excited about it because otherwise it is all just too depressing.

It does seem that most of the election is being fought on the economy, which is just freaking boring and pointless, since even if we made every single cut that is being proposed by all the parties, we'd still be up shit creek, heading towards Angel Falls with no paddle and no Paul Daniels. Meanwhile, no one is saying much about how they're going to handle immigration, which seems to be the biggest concern for voters, and the whole thing will probably be decided on the back of the TV debates happening over the next month.

I am still hoping for a hung parliament, not because I think that anything dramatically massive will come from it, but just because it's a bit more interesting than either Labour or Conservative winning outright. [As usual, I struggled not to type Conservatory, for when I was young and illogical, I thought that Tory was an abbreviation, and that the right wing was represented by a party fond of glazed home extensions]. My clever friend Sara says that we are in an economic crisis and that this is not the time for the indecisive governance that would result from a hung parliament, but a) it would still be interesting to see what happens, b) if we're screwed anyway, what have we got to lose - we may as well have something other than the same two parties we've had for the last 65 years, and c) I deny that only confused leadership could result from a hung parliament - I think that, just maybe, lasting change could be made. And what if the LibDems refused to form a coalition government except on certain conditions? Well, then they'd have a real opportunity to make lasting change to our political system - and even the long-dreamed-for proportional representation could be a vague possibility. Like I said, as long as you block out the knowledge that the Tories are leading in every single opinion poll, this is shaping up to be quite an exciting four weeks.