Politics

I don't usually get involved in politics because in the past, on the few occasions when I have the result has most often been an opportunity for paid politicians to set about point scoring with no tangible benefit to the cause I am supporting. As a result I firmly believe Billy Connolly ("The Big Yin") got it 100% right when he said that the extent of person's desire to be a politician should be measured as the reason for them being banned from ever being one... or something to that effect. In my jaundiced eyes politicians, whether local, national or EEC/MEP are only after two things. One - money and lining their own pockets. Two - points and votes, as in points off their opposite number and votes to keep them in a position to achieve point #1.

Now I love filling in on-line surveys when I find them or get invited to complete one. They can be good fun and I love silly or not-so-obvious responses. Anyway, I recently completed a survey about my views on Europe - Should Cameron do.... x, y, z? Being devil's advocate I responded with all the options that would 'make the buggers work'. I selected all the difficult to do answers, all the hard options. In response I got a letter from Ms Emma McClarkin MEP thanking me for 'telling me what you think' which was very nice of her so I looked up images of her on Google. Seems that she must be doing OK as an MEP because she has piled on the pounds a bit since starting out in politics, but still, not a bad looker. Good old Wikipedia tells me she was (at 30) the youngest British MEP so she must have some brains to go with the 'out of a bottle' blonde good looks.

Now it turns out that I wasn't alone in my responses because 83% of the 13,500 respondees agreed Cameron should 'negotiate a fresh settlement with the EU' and 91% agreed he should 'cut the EU budget' - both of which I see as 'hard work' tasks. Oh, and 90% supported action to 'reduce net immigration' (which I understand he can achieve by letting fewer immigrants into Britain or financially supporting us Brits to leave England and move to sunnier/warmer/less stressed climes) while 97% support the work permit rules.

That's all very entertaining but a consequence of participating has been emails from Tory HQ asking me to go onto Twitter, Facebook and all the social media sites and 'like' various statements. Well what can I say to an invite like that? I'll tell you what, not a hope in hell. There's more chance of me swimming to the moon!