OpEd: Election 30-04-15

The commentators 30-04-15

...on the general election

The young electorate could have a lasting legacy and responsibility to take from this most unpredictable of elections. If they come out. The result, of course, could easily tip the other way, back into conventional, uninspiring more-of-the-same. The only thing that will make the difference is first-time voters coming out in large enough numbers. The course of this election rests on this one simple, vital fact.
- Armando Ianucci, The Independent

We may be creating a generation with little connection to the state who may veer ever more rightwards and we need to make these very basic arguments again. While baby boomers have benefited from free university education, affordable housing and slouching around on the dole, how will any of that feel to those who have never had benefits or grants but know only the world of loans? How benign will this shrunken state seem?
- Suzanne Moore, The Guardian

The Tories have got some things wrong during this election campaign, but Scotland is definitely not one of them. Yet David Cameron is being accused by Labour and even some Conservative bigwigs of taking huge risks by boosting the profile of the Scottish National Party.
- Stephen Glover, Daily Mail

It will take time for today’s political leaders to admit the rules have changed. The most likely consequence of an inconclusive election next month is another one within a year or so later. But at some point the politicians will have to admit that the old system no longer works. They will then discover that countries elsewhere in the world are routinely well governed by coalition or minority administrations. Finally, they will be dragged kicking and screaming to accept the inexorable logic of proportional voting.
- Philip Stephens, Financial Times

The weird political balance of the sort we are likely to see after May 7 will lead not to stability but to utter calamity. Our political landscape is about to take on the characteristics of the worst European-style proportional representation electoral system, with all of its downsides but none of its advantages. The naysayers who in 2010 thought that a hung parliament would trigger instability were not wrong, merely premature. This time around, the Fixed Term Parliaments Act will turn a bad situation into a potentially devastating one.
- Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph

Boris Johnson fears the Tories are doomed if they continue to be seen as defenders of the rich and, particularly, the privileged. The solution for the Tories lies in a tale of two safety nets: they need to celebrate the one for the poor and dismantle the one for the rich. Too many Tories give the impression of resenting the safety net for those at the bottom. They believe that the solution to every problem is to help poor people get rich.
- Tim Montgomerie, The Times

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When the Daily Star drops the bikini-clad women and the Express the quack cures in recognition of the importance of the Nepal earthquake and avalanche, why is the Daily Telegraph filling its splash space with propaganda and reducing the news to a puff? This isn't journalism.

Comment archive, 2015

February 27 UK politics
February 26 Minor party leaders
February 25 Natalie Bennett
February 24 Rifkind and Straw
February 23 World affairs

February 13 UK politics
February 12 UK politics
February 11 UK politics
February 10 UK politics
February 9 Politics

January 30 Rape law
January 29 UK politics
January 28 UK politics
January 27 Greece
January 26 UK politics

January 16 World politics
January 15 Election debates
January 14 Charlie Hebdo
January 13 Charlie Hebdo
January 12 Charlie Hebdo

February 20 UK politics
February 19 Chelsea and racism
February 18 UK politics
February 17 UK politics
February 16 Copenhagen

February 6 UK politics
February 5 Isis atrocity
February 4 UK politics
February 3 UK politics
February 2 UK politics

January 23 UK politics
January 22 Chilcot inquiry
January 21 Page Three
January 20 Anti-semitism
January 19 Religion and freedom

January 9 Charlie Hebdo
January 8 Charlie Hebdo
January 7 UK politics
January 6 UK politics
January 5 UK politics

For EI daily digests from June to December 2014 please click here

The deficit and debt are just the half of it. The abject economic failure of the Tory-Liberal Democrat government covers the full range: from falling living standards for the majority, a ballooning trade deficit, rampant job insecurity at work, a shocking productivity record, escalating private debt and stagnating business investment. Even when it comes to the Tories’ proudest boast of 1.8m new jobs, they are the flip side of falling productivity, still below pre-crisis levels.
- Seumas Milne, The Guardian