And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

This, which you can't have failed to have seen already, is pretty excruciating.

Honestly - you can't say anything about bigots these days. It's political correctness gone mad, I tell you...

"Where are all these Eastern Europeans coming from?"

Um, Eastern Europe? More specifically, perhaps Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia? These would be EU member states whose citizens are perfectly entitled to be here - every bit as much as all those ex-pat Brits are entitled to live in Spain. So is it just me who's wondering: what's the fuss?

See also: this.

Tribalism: Labour's besetting sin?

A number of pundits and bloggers have been speculating whether this election marks the nadir of tribal politics? Short answer: no - but it left me wondering if tribalism isn't more of a problem for Labour than either the Tories and the Lib Dems?

It isn't that the others are less so; I'd argue in particular that the Tories are, if anything, more so. But it's a special problem for Labour in two ways:

1) They do it more explicitly than anyone else. Can anyone seriously doubt this? If you do - do come to Scotland and we'll show you how it works here. Disagree with my position? Here's why you're wrong... Nothing could be more alien to the Scottish Labourist tradition. Disagree with me and you are a traitor to the long-suffering proletarian. You know the man - the one most Labour politicians have had described to them. Now tribalism can have it's attractions - provided you feel you belong to said tribe. But if you don't, it's this sort of thing that is designed to draw the line between those who belong and those who don't more sharply. It leaves us with a problem: for every one Chris Dillow who feels drawn to Labour for aesthetic and nostalgic reasons, there's at least three who do not - which leads us to the second fatal problem with Labour's tribalism:

2) It's that the aforementioned tribe is shrinking. This is something those who were Brown's cheerleaders never understood. I would compare him to Michael Foot in one respect only: he was a candidate who was the very incarnation of the malady that sometimes afflicts (losing) political parties - the malady that has to do with mistaking your 'grassroots' for the electorate. Blair on the other hand - despite his faults - was two things: he represented an understanding that Labour has to reach beyond its natural constituency - and he was a party leader who also actually understood this personally. I still take the view that Blair could not have continued but I also take the view that it is because Labour no longer has what Blair represented that it is now facing electoral oblivion.

Mystery solved

I was wondering why there was so many drunken yahoos in the pub at 7.30 on a Sunday night.

Here's why.

Football: a very popular sport in the West of Scotland amongst loud fat bastards who couldn't touch their toes if their lives depended on it.

Leaders' debate III: SNP launches legal bid

From Scotland on Sunday:

"THE SNP will go to court this week in an extraordinary legal move to block the third crucial party leaders' debate being shown on TV in Scotland if the BBC does not give it a podium place, Scotland on Sunday can reveal."

Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting thinks this is a politically smart move:

"It is a great move, a potential masterstroke with so little time to go until the election itself and a near-guarantee that the SNP will be seen fighting for what it believes in for the remainder of the race."

He might be right about that, although someone with my political disposition is unlikely to think he is. But I'm wondering if it will be considered quite such a good idea when the case actually gets down to the arguments. What are these going to look like?

SNP: It is unfair the Nationalists have been excluded from the UK leaders' debate - so people in Scotland shouldn't get to see it.

BBC: Alex Salmond is not a leader of a UK party and he doesn't want to be the Prime Minister of Britain.

I really don't see where the argument can go beyond that - although I would say that, I suppose. We'll need to see. Meanwhile I have to say you are going to be impressed that the SNP are fighting for what they believe, provided you are convinced what they are fighting for isn't completely stupid. But it is. And parochial. And arrogantly censorious, since Salmond's aim it to stop Scots from watching the telly! I'm sure at least some of the 'Scottish people' agree with me on this and we would like to remind Mr Salmond - again - that he does not speak for us.

Reflections on the election: leadership debate II

Didn't see the first one. Watched about half of that one, then couldn't stand anymore. Amongst the questions raised by this debate are:

For Gordon Brown: what exactly the fuck do you think you're doing to yourself?

And a related point: why hasn't whatever adviser who said, "Leadership debate? Go for it Gordy - you'll knock 'em dead" been shot yet?

If it's about the politics of presentation, then we are fucked. Never mind who looked into the camera, remembered names, who was the tallest. Big presentation problem for Brown? When he smiles and tries to act jovial, he looks completely insane. This point was made years ago by Andrew Marr in the Independent - back in the days when it used to be a newspaper. I'm talking about when Labour were in opposition to Major's Tories. Has nothing been learned since then? Would it have killed team Brown to say something like, "Leadership debate? Might be appropriate in a presidential system but we are a Parliamentary democracy and we're all too busy for this shit".

They could have put it in a more refined fashion, obviously - but does any other Labour-supporter disagree with me on this point? Cameron and Clegg remind you of your two boys at bath-time. So your boys are forty-something men, are they? No they are not - so who the fuck do you think you are convincing with this painfully over-rehearsed clunky shite? Honestly!

I had other questions but I've forgotten what they were. I'm left only with the urge to repeat what I've said before: Brown cannot win this election. Part of the problem is that Brown has never won a competitive election in his life and he's too long in the tooth to learn how to do it now.

Prediction: the 'yellow surge' gives absolutely no grounds for optimism amongst Labour supporters. We are fucked. Completely. The only thing to fight for that has any reasonable grounds for success is to avoid third place.

Being of a slightly perverse melancholy disposition, I like to make predictions that I hope are proved wrong while simultaneously fearing I won't be. The rise of the Lib Dems will damage Labour more than the Tories. Then Cameron will be invited by the Queen to form the next government.