political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Monday, May 12, 2008
Possibly the Weirdest Campaign Video Ever
Hmm, not sure this video does the English Democrats' cause in Crewe & Nantwich much good. It's quite good for the first minute and a half, but then it appears the producer got pissed... Stick with it to then end and you will see what I mean.
Simon de Montfort was ENGLISH???? Like Gen Petraeus is Iraqi, I guess.
I am sick to the [insert your own Anglo Saxon adjective here] teeth with this whole English nationalism [insert an Anglo Saxon noun describing 'poo'] - do you really want to live in [that first adjective again] witans governed by [again, please] heptarchs? Or can we not agree that the British phase of our national life was marginally more productive, for us and the rest of the human beings on this planet?
Either that, or we can go back to kicking every possible shade of [Anglo Saxon noun again] out of our regional neighbours once again, as we did for about 1,000 years before the formal Act of Union. But when I say I'm a Conservative, I usually mean 'beam me back to 1640', not 'beam be back to 640'. Yeah, I'm a lightweight, I know ....
Makes me feel proud to be a Londoner rather than calling myself English.
See if you can spot any faces that are not white in any of the pictures. If this party was really about an English parliament they would regard all people living in England as English, no matter what race or religion.
"Either that, or we can go back to kicking every possible shade of [Anglo Saxon noun again] out of our regional neighbours once again, as we did for about 1,000 years before the formal Act of Union. But when I say I'm a Conservative, I usually mean 'beam me back to 1640', not 'beam be back to 640'. Yeah, I'm a lightweight, I know ...."
Jimmy. Most people in this land are white, and English is most certainly an ethnic identity, which is not represented by recent immigrants or their kin. Labour say we are a 'nation of immigrants' well we are now since they let them all in.
Surely recent electoral history shows that appeals to jingoism won't get you anywhere. What do the English Democrats propose to do about schools, hospitals, policing, and what have you? Do they think the people of Crewe & Nantwich aren't interested?
People would have voted for Vague and Coward in landslides if they'd been what the right wants them to be. But you're in la-la land if you imagine you're going to win like this.
A video that makes not one reference to local conditions, and seems to have been made by people who have never set foot in the constituency in their lives, is going to sink.
Camoron knows, that's why he could win and these [Anglo-Saxon expletive] can't.
Well, it did go on for too long. But apart from that, what is there to complain about, given that Lib/Lab/Con are all in the pay of their lords and masters in Brussels?
As for a backing song, they could have chosen "Roots" by Show of Hands (2006), or even better "England, my England" by Adam Faith (2000).
It made me laugh. Wouldn't make me vote for them but that's personal preference. It's funny, it'll make people laugh and that'll translate into votes. Not everything that mentions "Dave" is bad.
Jimmy, just because London is full of immigrants doesn't mean every publication by every organisation on any subject has to be a haven of multicultural political correctness. Crewe & Nantwich isn't exactly famous for its towering mosques and West Indian street markets.
6:56 Well, Simon de Montfort was an Earl of Leicester, so I think that sounds quite English.
I think he had a French grandfather, but one hell of a lot of English have a French name lurking in their family trees, given the Norman Conquest and all.
Alfred of Wessex, I can think of several things to object to. They don't deign to mention who (if anyone) their candidate is, they make no reference whatsoever to local issues, they show no sign of even having been to Crewe or Nantwich. Admittedly both places are shyte, but you could pretend otherwise.
It's all about slagging the 3 main parties. Maybe they should be slagged. Maybe there should be an English Parliament. But the English Demotwats don't seem to be doing anything to advance the causes they supposedly believe in, certainly not to the extent of actually running a proper campaign, or anything.
According to Wikipedia, the English Demotwats are running one David Roberts. What has this Roberts got to say for himself, nothing or nothing?
I'd vote Conservative if I thought the Lib Dems couldn't win. To oppose Labour and because Timpson seems like a decent, honest type who has done good work as a foster parent and lawyer. He also supports civil liberties.
Thank you, anonymous @ 6:56 PM: I thought for a moment I was unique in spotting the Frog, who (as I read the vid) was personally responsible for Magna Carta at the age of ... erm, sorry the fingers don't move as fast as they used, yes ... seven! And what's wrong with butchering a few Cathars before breakfast? It all makes room for those second homes in sunny Languedoc.
Then there's that "mad, bad ... dangerous to know" thing: that's by another Scottish re-tread. Who, actually, managed later to be a first-rate European (daft as a brush, bisexual, good socialist -- OK, well, Luddite: sound on Tories though).
All in all, if it were a thousand per cent more sophisticated and slick, it'd be a milestone in surreality.
Really loved the BNP banner, too (look carefully).
Thank you, Mr Dale, for brightening an old man's evening.
I agree with Verity, it will appeal to many people.
Yes, it ridicules Cameron and the Conservatives, but remember what Cameron said during his leadership bid. "If you want to have a go at me, you go ahead." This video won't hurt Cameron.
One major defect of the video, however, is all of those white faces. My pal Billy who moved here from Jamaica during the 1950s is as much of an Englishman as it's possible to be, as are millions of others like him.
A few general points that aren't to do with the video, but are more likely to be read here than elsewhere :)
a. Iain's mate Ray Lewis, in "answering" readers' comments in The Independent, was evasive as hell. Even by the low standards of that feature, it was a disgrace.
b. Did anyone see the piece about how vital agricultural work is going undone because the departure of immigrants has caused a labour shortage? Oh dear. Looks like the "they're taking our jobs" brigade are worsted again.
It is funny and offensive. I am sure England is not 1500 years old. Did you know England ised top be called Englaland. People could sing that Spanish eirovision tune La La La as their national anthem in England.
Being stupidly insulting (calling Ruth Kelly "him") isn't going to impress anyone except the kind of beer-swilling idiots who'd vote for this shower anyway.
Like Iain, I support the idea of an English parliament, but I wouldn't vote for this sorry excuse for a 'party',
England used to be called Englaland. Imagine if they had added up another La. It could have become Englalaland. Or Englalalalalalalalalaland. Some may jest that is where the English democrats live. LOL. Or how about Engloland.
It's a shame the English Democrats couldn't instead have made a positive, democratic case for the English Parliament (which as a Scot I am perfectly happy to see as I wish to restore fairness to the UK). This stupid video will sadly be used to portray legitimate English patriots as racist or hate-filled, which they are certainly not although the English Democrats may well be.
Didn't the English Democrats' former mayoral candidate and lead candidate for the London Assembly recently resign from the English Dems and call them a "nasty, racist" party? Why didn't you report this Iain? And why do you give them such good coverage anyway? Are you thinking of defecting?
DES - So what if it's offensive? So bloody what? This is what Mark Steyn is being pilloried for in Canada. Three little sharpie trainee Muslim barristers are demanding the right not to be offended.
He has as the strapline on his book just being issued in paperback: Soon to Be Banned in Canada!
9:24 - As Iain notes, you don't sound particularly friendly to gay men yourself. In fact, you seem to be a bit of a thought fascist, frankly. These ticks are easy to detect because they use the word "racist" for anything that doesn't comply with their own rigid and limited Weltanschuung.
It's quite good for the first minute and a half, but then it appears the producer got pissed
Indeed. It is exactly the kind of thing you'd expect from some one overdosing on the ale. It is, in fact, classically English. It is familiar from my time in English pubs for the enthusiastic patrons to begin ranting incoherently like that (My experience in Scottish pubs is that they become incomprehensible.)
By the time it got back to the point, it seemed to have lost all relevance. The bit at the end was the funny too when they showed a pic of some six years old in England garb with mallets captioned, "Vote English for their sake". It was screaming for the addition, "so they can attack you with St. George mallets."
verity . I did not say I wanted it banned. I said i found it offened. Are you saying I do not have the right to find it offensive. I am saying it is offensive I never stated it should be banned. Although I do think yob, thugs and bullies should be banned. Steyn should be locked up.
Unforunately for you biens pensants I don't think the video was really aimed at you. So I doubt if your opinion of it will carry much weight.
Given it what a low opinion the English public has of politicians in general a party that offered 5 minutes of sustained moderately funny vituperation probably earns several brownie points.
The English Democrats don't expect to win; they want to raise consciousness of the issue and a nice bit of funny controversial irreverence is not a bad way to start.
Labour went from zero in 1908 to hero in 1924 and the Liberal Party went from No 10 to a telephone kiosk from 1918 to 1931. There is so much hatred of politicians and their inability to do anything at the moment that it could take just a little tinder to light a very large fire again.
Iain Dale said "I'd hardly defect to a party capably of producing such a weird and idiotic video. It just illustrates why they are not taken seriously. " Yet Devil's-eyes Blair and Fagin are supposed to make us take the Tories and Liebour seriously I suppose?
An English "Grand Committee" is intended to have us all nodding in sage agreement with the Tories and toddling off to vote for them eh?
The reason the English Democrats came into existence is because the three main parties have not only spurned the English, but selectively denigrate them. This is particularly true of the Tories who would not exist if it were not for the English.
The Tories are doing well, not because Cameron is doing such a fine job, but because Broon is making such a monumental cock-up.
They would do well to not get too complacent. I have canvassed many people in elections over the last three years. Yes, when asked what is most important people will reply education, bills, health care etc. Ask them about devolution and the benefits the Scots get compared to the English and you will be bombarded with a diatribe of anger, often culminating with "I wish they would eff off". Try it in Nantwich and see if I'm right. Although Welsh free prescriptions might engender a similar view of the Welsh.
DES - In what way is Mark Steyn a criminal to "be locked up"? He voice an opinion in a democratic country that glories, supposedly, although in Canada's case we'll have to take it on trust.
Let us know what his putative crime is, please.
You have an absolute right, DES, to be offended and I would defend that right. But those loony, aggressive trainee barristers want Mark Steyn and MacClean's Magazine taken to legal task for having an opinion that differs from their own.
You add: "Although I do think yob, thugs and bullies should be banned. Steyn should be locked up."
In what way has Mr Steyn threatened you? For what "crime" should he be locked up - presumably without a trial because people like him simply infuriate you?
"Unforunately for you biens pensants I don't think the video was really aimed at you"
So it was aimed at Crewe and Nantwich, was it? That explains the utter failure to mention the constituency or local issues, the fact that the candidate doesn't deign to appear at all, the fact that emotive language is used to make up for having no apparent views on schools, hospitals, policing, etc. etc.
Yes, you might say "we can't do anything like that while we are under the "FASCIST JACKBOOT OFSCOTLAND & EUROPE! ZOMG!" But what would you do afterwards? Be a bunch of incompetent divs? Yes. Just imagine a UKIP government: even most of those who want out of the EU recoil at the prospect, just as most racists know how hopeless a BNP government would be and vote Labour (generally) because even if they agree with them on one issue, they know they're shyteheads in general.
Oh, and I've lived on council estates in Stoke all my life, so assuming I must be a bien pensant or politically correct is laughable.
My own personal view is this. I think we were better off before devolution happened, when we really were a united kingdom.
I appreciate that it isn't fair for the Scots and Welsh to have devolution while England doesn't. I think Labour were as cynical as ever in bringing devolution in, and it was only supported because the Celtic fringe suffered so much at Thatcher's hands, not out of any wish for nationalism. I know cancelling devolution isn't practical politics, but it's what I'd like to do.
But, if there was an English Parliament, the Lib Dems would probably do really well in it. The Tories realise by now that they'd be in the lead in such a body. But voters don't like a party being in office for too long: they didn't like the last Conservative government and they don't like this Labour government. So if we had maybe 8 years of Cameron and pals, who would replace them in England? Maybe Labour, but maybe ourselves.
Just don't let's have a Lib/Lab pact. We know all about Labour by now.
"Does this include the Sedgefield by-election, when you stood for your joke of a party and one just 0.6%?"
Yes it does and what I said above was exactly my experience in Sedgefield. People universally despised Brown and everybody wanted rid of the "regions" and some wanted rid of the Scots.
The Labour vote halved in that election. The Tories and Lib dems held up their vote, nothing more.
The Tories are pretty well disliked in the North of England and are a joke in Scotland.
The designer of the English Grand Committee is a Tory Scot who was unceremoniously kicked out of Scotland, so therefore was parachuted into a safe English constituency.
The Scottish Grand Committee failed spectacularly, yet the Tories expect the English to embrace an English version with gusto.
That is a policy of a "joke of a party".
The Tories are dead and buried in Scotland, yet cling on to the notion that "an imperfect Union" is worth the English hanging on to.
The Tories take the English for granted at their peril. It is Middle England that is suffering, and Cameron had better wake up to the fact that without the English they would not exist. Yet all he can do is blame the "sour Little Englanders" for Scots becoming more nationalistic.
The SNP were scoffed at by other parties, yet they are having the last laugh now with Labour in disarray and the Tories the "joke of a party in Scotland".
I contacted every Tory candidate n the 2005 general election and said that as the English Democrats had gained an average of 1.5% in the European elections in 2004, on a policy of an English Parliament, the Tories should promise a referendum on one and capture that vote in marginals.
I even phoned up Welshman Michael Howard's campaign office, suggesting the same.
The next day he went out and said the Tories would give the Welsh the opportunity of upgrading their assembly to a parliament.
All those who responded to my suggestion rejected it. One idiot actually said "Most English people also want capital punishment, that doesn't make it right". He lost the election - as did the Tories.
If Labour ditch Brown and get an English leader, unafraid to say "England", the Tories could find themselves in trouble.
If Labour offer the English a parliament, they will win and the Tories will become the joke party in England as well as Scotland.
'People universally despised Brown and everybody wanted rid of the "regions" and some wanted rid of the Scots.'
Perhaps they did. Perhaps every single one of them felt this way. But they also care about things that the English Demotwats never, ever talk about. Hence your paltry results.
Some Germans wanted rid of "the Jews" back in the 1930s. That didn't make it right.
Oh, and I can tell you that the Conservatives in Scotland do a LOT better than the English Democrats will ever do in England.
Oh, and at the 2005 General Election, how many English electors voted for candidates who supported a separate English Parliament? Very few, and in some constituencies (i.e North Norfolk) there was a massive swing AGAINST candidates standing on this platform, so don't tell me for a second that the English Dumbs represent the English people, because they don't.
Say what you want about the last part, but it made you smile (well, unless you are John Prescott, that is). It will remain in your mind for a while, which is more than can be said for most political ads.
How can there be a Swing "Against" the English Democrats, in 2005, it was the first time they stood in a General Election.
What a plonker
"Oh, and at the 2005 General Election, how many English electors voted for candidates who supported a separate English Parliament? Very few, and in some constituencies (i.e North Norfolk) there was a massive swing AGAINST candidates standing on this platform, so don't tell me for a second that the English Dumbs represent the English people, because they don't."
52 comments:
I think it will resonate with a lot of people.
For heaven's sake ...
Simon de Montfort was ENGLISH???? Like Gen Petraeus is Iraqi, I guess.
I am sick to the [insert your own Anglo Saxon adjective here] teeth with this whole English nationalism [insert an Anglo Saxon noun describing 'poo'] - do you really want to live in [that first adjective again] witans governed by [again, please] heptarchs? Or can we not agree that the British phase of our national life was marginally more productive, for us and the rest of the human beings on this planet?
Either that, or we can go back to kicking every possible shade of [Anglo Saxon noun again] out of our regional neighbours once again, as we did for about 1,000 years before the formal Act of Union. But when I say I'm a Conservative, I usually mean 'beam me back to 1640', not 'beam be back to 640'. Yeah, I'm a lightweight, I know ....
Heh, certainly made me laugh, but as a political video, it's a bit mental...
It's silly, but mildy amusing nonetheless.
If you want truly surreal, watch this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2XTDHltNVU
errr ...why the scotts gits singing the minging ....?
suppose chas n dave were booked fer the local..
uuurrrcha
...an billy bragg jus a bit too blair lurvy wanabee ...innit .....!
maybe tha' should ave asked Sir Cliff ....If it wus me ..I would have gone for Ten pole Tudor ..swords of a 1000 voters ..innit !
Tha' broons gonna get spanked anyways !
Tankus
I assume you meant to say " quite good for the first minute and a half....until they started having a go at the Tories too"?
Funniest thing about it was the fact that they had to resort to a Scottish band to find a suitable backing track. ;-))
Makes me feel proud to be a Londoner rather than calling myself English.
See if you can spot any faces that are not white in any of the pictures. If this party was really about an English parliament they would regard all people living in England as English, no matter what race or religion.
Why use a song by Scots to illustrate the video? I mean, the right words but the wrong nation, surely?
I would say - given its billing on Conservative home and your blog - that its been very effective.
Have to say i like the Proclaimers anyway - even if one of them is a Scots Nat.
The real prize is awaiting the man to re-edit for England the famous trainspotting scene or Braveheart. The Nats know what I'm talking about.
Despite the use of The Proclaimers, the ad was somewhat cogent until, yes, about 1:30--and then the wheels popped off and it became utterly hilarious.
anon @ 6:56
"Either that, or we can go back to kicking every possible shade of [Anglo Saxon noun again] out of our regional neighbours once again, as we did for about 1,000 years before the formal Act of Union. But when I say I'm a Conservative, I usually mean 'beam me back to 1640', not 'beam be back to 640'. Yeah, I'm a lightweight, I know ...."
hats off, dere boy, fell of chair laughing.
I love the intentional irony of having a nationalist scottish song....
I hear what they are saying....
Jimmy. Most people in this land are white, and English is most certainly an ethnic identity, which is not represented by recent immigrants or their kin.
Labour say we are a 'nation of immigrants' well we are now since they let them all in.
Surely recent electoral history shows that appeals to jingoism won't get you anywhere. What do the English Democrats propose to do about schools, hospitals, policing, and what have you? Do they think the people of Crewe & Nantwich aren't interested?
People would have voted for Vague and Coward in landslides if they'd been what the right wants them to be. But you're in la-la land if you imagine you're going to win like this.
A video that makes not one reference to local conditions, and seems to have been made by people who have never set foot in the constituency in their lives, is going to sink.
Camoron knows, that's why he could win and these [Anglo-Saxon expletive] can't.
At you know where they stand on an English Parliament. More than can be said for the mealy mouthed Tories.
Where do you stand these days Iain?
Well, it did go on for too long. But apart from that, what is there to complain about, given that Lib/Lab/Con are all in the pay of their lords and masters in Brussels?
As for a backing song, they could have chosen "Roots" by Show of Hands (2006), or even better "England, my England" by Adam Faith (2000).
It made me laugh. Wouldn't make me vote for them but that's personal preference. It's funny, it'll make people laugh and that'll translate into votes. Not everything that mentions "Dave" is bad.
Jimmy, just because London is full of immigrants doesn't mean every publication by every organisation on any subject has to be a haven of multicultural political correctness. Crewe & Nantwich isn't exactly famous for its towering mosques and West Indian street markets.
Wyrdtimes, I stand where I always have - in favour of an English Parliament.
6:56 Well, Simon de Montfort was an Earl of Leicester, so I think that sounds quite English.
I think he had a French grandfather, but one hell of a lot of English have a French name lurking in their family trees, given the Norman Conquest and all.
Absolutely bizarre. Did you notice that it called Ruth Kelly a man?
I am not a "him"!!!
Alfred of Wessex, I can think of several things to object to. They don't deign to mention who (if anyone) their candidate is, they make no reference whatsoever to local issues, they show no sign of even having been to Crewe or Nantwich. Admittedly both places are shyte, but you could pretend otherwise.
It's all about slagging the 3 main parties. Maybe they should be slagged. Maybe there should be an English Parliament. But the English Demotwats don't seem to be doing anything to advance the causes they supposedly believe in, certainly not to the extent of actually running a proper campaign, or anything.
According to Wikipedia, the English Demotwats are running one David Roberts. What has this Roberts got to say for himself, nothing or nothing?
I'd vote Conservative if I thought the Lib Dems couldn't win. To oppose Labour and because Timpson seems like a decent, honest type who has done good work as a foster parent and lawyer. He also supports civil liberties.
Thank you, anonymous @ 6:56 PM: I thought for a moment I was unique in spotting the Frog, who (as I read the vid) was personally responsible for Magna Carta at the age of ... erm, sorry the fingers don't move as fast as they used, yes ... seven! And what's wrong with butchering a few Cathars before breakfast? It all makes room for those second homes in sunny Languedoc.
Then there's that "mad, bad ... dangerous to know" thing: that's by another Scottish re-tread. Who, actually, managed later to be a first-rate European (daft as a brush, bisexual, good socialist -- OK, well, Luddite: sound on Tories though).
All in all, if it were a thousand per cent more sophisticated and slick, it'd be a milestone in surreality.
Really loved the BNP banner, too (look carefully).
Thank you, Mr Dale, for brightening an old man's evening.
I agree with Verity, it will appeal to many people.
Yes, it ridicules Cameron and the Conservatives, but remember what Cameron said during his leadership bid. "If you want to have a go at me, you go ahead." This video won't hurt Cameron.
One major defect of the video, however, is all of those white faces. My pal Billy who moved here from Jamaica during the 1950s is as much of an Englishman as it's possible to be, as are millions of others like him.
A few general points that aren't to do with the video, but are more likely to be read here than elsewhere :)
a. Iain's mate Ray Lewis, in "answering" readers' comments in The Independent, was evasive as hell. Even by the low standards of that feature, it was a disgrace.
b. Did anyone see the piece about how vital agricultural work is going undone because the departure of immigrants has caused a labour shortage? Oh dear. Looks like the "they're taking our jobs" brigade are worsted again.
c. Utter bilge from Yasmin Alibhai-Brown again.
It is funny and offensive.
I am sure England is not 1500 years old.
Did you know England ised top be called Englaland.
People could sing that Spanish eirovision tune La La La as their national anthem in England.
Being stupidly insulting (calling Ruth Kelly "him") isn't going to impress anyone except the kind of beer-swilling idiots who'd vote for this shower anyway.
Like Iain, I support the idea of an English parliament, but I wouldn't vote for this sorry excuse for a 'party',
England used to be called Englaland. Imagine if they had added up another La. It could have become Englalaland.
Or Englalalalalalalalalaland.
Some may jest that is where the English democrats live. LOL.
Or how about Engloland.
It's a shame the English Democrats couldn't instead have made a positive, democratic case for the English Parliament (which as a Scot I am perfectly happy to see as I wish to restore fairness to the UK). This stupid video will sadly be used to portray legitimate English patriots as racist or hate-filled, which they are certainly not although the English Democrats may well be.
Didn't the English Democrats' former mayoral candidate and lead candidate for the London Assembly recently resign from the English Dems and call them a "nasty, racist" party? Why didn't you report this Iain? And why do you give them such good coverage anyway? Are you thinking of defecting?
I hear they're not very tolerant towards gays.
DES - So what if it's offensive? So bloody what? This is what Mark Steyn is being pilloried for in Canada. Three little sharpie trainee Muslim barristers are demanding the right not to be offended.
He has as the strapline on his book just being issued in paperback: Soon to Be Banned in Canada!
Doesn't sound like you are either.
I'd hardly defect to a party capably of producing such a weird and idiotic video. It just illustrates why they are not taken seriously.
Yes I do give publicity to the campaign for an English Parliament. That does not imply support for the English Democrats. Far from it.
9:24 - As Iain notes, you don't sound particularly friendly to gay men yourself. In fact, you seem to be a bit of a thought fascist, frankly. These ticks are easy to detect because they use the word "racist" for anything that doesn't comply with their own rigid and limited Weltanschuung.
Buzz off.
Why would you think I wasn't friendly towards gays?
verity, you're so bitter and twisted it's not even worth my time responding to your pathetic comments.
It's quite good for the first minute and a half, but then it appears the producer got pissed
Indeed. It is exactly the kind of thing you'd expect from some one overdosing on the ale. It is, in fact, classically English. It is familiar from my time in English pubs for the enthusiastic patrons to begin ranting incoherently like that (My experience in Scottish pubs is that they become incomprehensible.)
By the time it got back to the point, it seemed to have lost all relevance. The bit at the end was the funny too when they showed a pic of some six years old in England garb with mallets captioned, "Vote English for their sake". It was screaming for the addition, "so they can attack you with St. George mallets."
Who sang Good Morning Britain Through the Nineties on C4, Love the Irony.
verity . I did not say I wanted it banned. I said i found it offened. Are you saying I do not have the right to find it offensive. I am saying it is offensive I never stated it should be banned. Although I do think yob, thugs and bullies should be banned. Steyn should be locked up.
Good to be reminded that English nationalism is every bit as bonkers as Scottish nationalism.
As there are no local powers anymore since central Stalinisation, why should people vote on local issues anyway ?
Unforunately for you biens pensants I don't think the video was really aimed at you. So I doubt if your opinion of it will carry much weight.
Given it what a low opinion the English public has of politicians in general a party that offered 5 minutes of sustained moderately funny vituperation probably earns several brownie points.
The English Democrats don't expect to win; they want to raise consciousness of the issue and a nice bit of funny controversial irreverence is not a bad way to start.
Labour went from zero in 1908 to hero in 1924 and the Liberal Party went from No 10 to a telephone kiosk from 1918 to 1931. There is so much hatred of politicians and their inability to do anything at the moment that it could take just a little tinder to light a very large fire again.
Ewen Bruce said "Funniest thing about it was the fact that they had to resort to a Scottish band to find a suitable backing track. ;-))"
A sense of irony is obviously an English characteristic and not a Scottish one.
Just as fair play is an English characteristic and not a BRITISH one. Devolution has shown that.
Anything with "Union" "United" or "British" in its title is merely a euphemism for "screw the English"
Iain Dale said "I'd hardly defect to a party capably of producing such a weird and idiotic video. It just illustrates why they are not taken seriously. "
Yet Devil's-eyes Blair and Fagin are supposed to make us take the Tories and Liebour seriously I suppose?
An English "Grand Committee" is intended to have us all nodding in sage agreement with the Tories and toddling off to vote for them eh?
The reason the English Democrats came into existence is because the three main parties have not only spurned the English, but selectively denigrate them. This is particularly true of the Tories who would not exist if it were not for the English.
The Tories are doing well, not because Cameron is doing such a fine job, but because Broon is making such a monumental cock-up.
They would do well to not get too complacent. I have canvassed many people in elections over the last three years. Yes, when asked what is most important people will reply education, bills, health care etc.
Ask them about devolution and the benefits the Scots get compared to the English and you will be bombarded with a diatribe of anger, often culminating with "I wish they would eff off".
Try it in Nantwich and see if I'm right. Although Welsh free prescriptions might engender a similar view of the Welsh.
DES - In what way is Mark Steyn a criminal to "be locked up"? He voice an opinion in a democratic country that glories, supposedly, although in Canada's case we'll have to take it on trust.
Let us know what his putative crime is, please.
You have an absolute right, DES, to be offended and I would defend that right. But those loony, aggressive trainee barristers want Mark Steyn and MacClean's Magazine taken to legal task for having an opinion that differs from their own.
You add: "Although I do think yob, thugs and bullies should be banned. Steyn should be locked up."
In what way has Mr Steyn threatened you? For what "crime" should he be locked up - presumably without a trial because people like him simply infuriate you?
Anonymous 11:55 - Sadly, yes, you are right.
12:02 - Interesting point.
"Unforunately for you biens pensants I don't think the video was really aimed at you"
So it was aimed at Crewe and Nantwich, was it? That explains the utter failure to mention the constituency or local issues, the fact that the candidate doesn't deign to appear at all, the fact that emotive language is used to make up for having no apparent views on schools, hospitals, policing, etc. etc.
Yes, you might say "we can't do anything like that while we are under the "FASCIST JACKBOOT OFSCOTLAND & EUROPE! ZOMG!" But what would you do afterwards? Be a bunch of incompetent divs? Yes. Just imagine a UKIP government: even most of those who want out of the EU recoil at the prospect, just as most racists know how hopeless a BNP government would be and vote Labour (generally) because even if they agree with them on one issue, they know they're shyteheads in general.
Oh, and I've lived on council estates in Stoke all my life, so assuming I must be a bien pensant or politically correct is laughable.
My own personal view is this. I think we were better off before devolution happened, when we really were a united kingdom.
I appreciate that it isn't fair for the Scots and Welsh to have devolution while England doesn't. I think Labour were as cynical as ever in bringing devolution in, and it was only supported because the Celtic fringe suffered so much at Thatcher's hands, not out of any wish for nationalism. I know cancelling devolution isn't practical politics, but it's what I'd like to do.
But, if there was an English Parliament, the Lib Dems would probably do really well in it. The Tories realise by now that they'd be in the lead in such a body. But voters don't like a party being in office for too long: they didn't like the last Conservative government and they don't like this Labour government. So if we had maybe 8 years of Cameron and pals, who would replace them in England? Maybe Labour, but maybe ourselves.
Just don't let's have a Lib/Lab pact. We know all about Labour by now.
Stephen Gash, you say you have "canvassed many people in elections over the last three years."
Does this include the Sedgefield by-election, when you stood for your joke of a party and one just 0.6%?
"Does this include the Sedgefield by-election, when you stood for your joke of a party and one just 0.6%?"
Yes it does and what I said above was exactly my experience in Sedgefield. People universally despised Brown and everybody wanted rid of the "regions" and some wanted rid of the Scots.
The Labour vote halved in that election. The Tories and Lib dems held up their vote, nothing more.
The Tories are pretty well disliked in the North of England and are a joke in Scotland.
The designer of the English Grand Committee is a Tory Scot who was unceremoniously kicked out of Scotland, so therefore was parachuted into a safe English constituency.
The Scottish Grand Committee failed spectacularly, yet the Tories expect the English to embrace an English version with gusto.
That is a policy of a "joke of a party".
The Tories are dead and buried in Scotland, yet cling on to the notion that "an imperfect Union" is worth the English hanging on to.
The Tories take the English for granted at their peril. It is Middle England that is suffering, and Cameron had better wake up to the fact that without the English they would not exist. Yet all he can do is blame the "sour Little Englanders" for Scots becoming more nationalistic.
The SNP were scoffed at by other parties, yet they are having the last laugh now with Labour in disarray and the Tories the "joke of a party in Scotland".
I contacted every Tory candidate n the 2005 general election and said that as the English Democrats had gained an average of 1.5% in the European elections in 2004, on a policy of an English Parliament, the Tories should promise a referendum on one and capture that vote in marginals.
I even phoned up Welshman Michael Howard's campaign office, suggesting the same.
The next day he went out and said the Tories would give the Welsh the opportunity of upgrading their assembly to a parliament.
All those who responded to my suggestion rejected it. One idiot actually said "Most English people also want capital punishment, that doesn't make it right". He lost the election - as did the Tories.
If Labour ditch Brown and get an English leader, unafraid to say "England", the Tories could find themselves in trouble.
If Labour offer the English a parliament, they will win and the Tories will become the joke party in England as well as Scotland.
'People universally despised Brown and everybody wanted rid of the "regions" and some wanted rid of the Scots.'
Perhaps they did. Perhaps every single one of them felt this way. But they also care about things that the English Demotwats never, ever talk about. Hence your paltry results.
Some Germans wanted rid of "the Jews" back in the 1930s. That didn't make it right.
Oh, and I can tell you that the Conservatives in Scotland do a LOT better than the English Democrats will ever do in England.
Oh, and at the 2005 General Election, how many English electors voted for candidates who supported a separate English Parliament? Very few, and in some constituencies (i.e North Norfolk) there was a massive swing AGAINST candidates standing on this platform, so don't tell me for a second that the English Dumbs represent the English people, because they don't.
Say what you want about the last part, but it made you smile (well, unless you are John Prescott, that is). It will remain in your mind for a while, which is more than can be said for most political ads.
Great! Just what we need. Another bunch of useless arseholes bleeding us dry in another talking shop for the mentally deranged....
The video has a caption that says England is the "home of the mother of parliaments."
Not it isn't. England is the Mother of Parliaments.
If the English Democrats can't even get that right . . .
How can there be a Swing "Against" the English Democrats, in 2005, it was the first time they stood in a General Election.
What a plonker
"Oh, and at the 2005 General Election, how many English electors voted for candidates who supported a separate English Parliament? Very few, and in some constituencies (i.e North Norfolk) there was a massive swing AGAINST candidates standing on this platform, so don't tell me for a second that the English Dumbs represent the English people, because they don't."
Put this into a sentence
Facts straight post before you get
Anonymous, the candidate who stood in North Norfolk at the last election wasn't an English Democrat. Try and see if you can figure out who it was.
Get your facts right before you post, otherwise you just make yourself look silly.
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