We knew it was coming but now we know, even if surprised by the timing – the UK will be holding a General Election on 04 July 2024. The announcement comes soon after the recent local elections where the Tories (in power) did predictably badly (see here).

No doubt our news reporting will be dominated by election related news up to time of the election, where Labour are odds on favourites to oust the Conservatives from power. While Labour did particularly well in the May local elections, it is noticable in the last by-election that not only did a non-main party representative win it but that an Independent came second. Is the tide turning with more people waking up that we have a broken system and we can’t trust our politicians? A recent interview featuring Tucker Carlson and Russell Brand (see here) is one of many examples I am seeing where this is being demonstrated, here in a positive way. It is not my intention to go over events (I suggest, do a simple Google search on the subject or watch the news and you will be inundated). I offer this grumpy old man, politically neutral view, as one who has lived most of his life in Southend, on those issues I feel people ought to consider.  

Just under a year ago, I posted on my blog an article titled “My political journey and perspectives” where I offer my thoughts on the political system and the parties that contend for power, and it was all pretty depressing (as the second half of the above meme suggests) and especially as any decent alternative to the current Labour-Conservative dominance hardly stand a chance in our first past the post system when it comes to how we elect politicians.

I was umming and ahing when to blog on the subject but reading yesterday’s Southend Echo piece: “Southend Labour hopeful confident he could win Tory seat” was just the spur I needed to post my thoughts as my contribution in deciding who to vote for this important election, given what is at stake. The Southend hopeful in question is Aston Line who is a victim in the local civil war that has taken place in Southend Labour but, notwithstanding, hoped he would still be the Labour candidate in the General Election and Labour’s best chance to win what up to now was a safe Conservative seat now eminently winnable. He would have been up against Anna Firth, currently MP for Southend West. Besides being a lifelong Southender, most of that time I lived in the East of the town, now city, but, in their wisdom, the electoral commissioners have decided that my ward (St. Lukes) should be assigned to the West rather than the East, with Anna and Aston (if he had made it) being the two front runners most likely to win the seat when contested on July 4^th.

I like both Anna and Aston – seriously. Anna has proven to be a good constituency MP – people who I respect have spoken highly of her (I like the way she has supported some local ventures I have been involved in and our local football club)! I have yet to meet Anna but have met Aston on several occasions and he has impressed me as an honourable man despite attempting to ingratiate himself to all and sundry, and has struck me as having the qualities needed to be a good, effective MP, including the ability to bring onside the disparate members of our community. A few years back, ahead of the last election, he was up against the late Sir David Amess and, while I preferred David over Aston, he did better at the hustings that were held. Interestingly, both he and Anna put the NHS at the top of their list of priorities, although when I received a letter (as did all her constituents) that made the point how much Anna and her Conservative colleagues had done and will do for the NHS, notably our local hospital, I felt I was rather fobbed off, being merely given a case number, when I tried to engage with her on the matter.

Much as I like Anna and Aston, they are no David or Teddy. Sir David Amess (who represented Southend West) and Sir Teddy Taylor (who represented Southend East), both despite being in the wrong party (maybe), I would always vote for because they had character and shared many of my values. Moreover, they were their own men and prepared to play the price when resisting their leaders. Whether the current candidates want to talk to me about issues I care about, as politicians egged in by the mainstream media continue to hark on concerning issues like the NHS, remains to be seen. If I’m lucky, some of the social justice issues that I have long been concerned about and tried to address, like rough sleeping, will be discussed. But politicians typically avoid many issues I see as important. Moreover, there seems little real difference between the parties, and rather squabble over the scraps, with the electorate being short changed. Since beginning writing, we now know that Aston will not be the Labour candidate for Southend West, which imho is a travesty and shows up the rottenness at the top Labour leadership. To his credit Aston has acted with dignity and decorum.

But here goes – here are probably the issues I particularly care about most. I would like to know what my (or any other) candidates think and are prepared to do if elected before deciding whether or not to vote for him or her. I doubt though whether these will get much coverage as politicians typically focus on those issues that will get them votes and those that the complicit media would have voters focus upon. One reason I admired Sir Teddy and Sir David is they would have tackled some of these issues, regardless of party policy. Those who ask pertinent questions are too few, sadly, and media heavyweights are too full of their own egos and controlled by the Unholy Trinity that include media moguls to ask them. I write to help guide those who read this of some of the key, not exhaustive, list of questions that prospective candidates ought to be asked:

Covid

For two years we were locked down based on a false flag. How would you do things differently if a similar situation arises in the future?

Vaccines

One consequence of the Covid scamdemic is we have been urged to take the jab and punished if we don’t. Yet parliamentary scrutiny on vaccine related harm and deaths is mainly missing as evidenced by the lack of interest in recent debates. How would you change that?

Ukraine

We are told that Russia are the bad guys and Ukraine the good guys in the current conflict and we send huge amounts of money and resources to help Ukraine and carry on a proxy war. We are being exposed to a barrage of fear mongering hype of being or soon to be at a real war with Russia. What would you do to change things?

Abortion

Allowing and disallowing termination of pregnancies (and at what stage) has been a huge issue ever since the law was passed in 1967 to allow abortions. What is your position?

Transhumanism

Assigning alternative gender identities, even just on a child’s say so, is now welcomed and promoted, even among the young, e.g. in our schools, and those who disagree are accused of bigotry. Also, there is the notion (no longer a conspiracy theory) of wiring up humans to machines. What will you do, if anything, to turn the tide?

Climate Change

The fixation with a climate emergency that as I see it is another ruse to control us by the global elite has had and will have huge effects, e.g. moves to renewable energy and phasing out of fossil fuels, 15-minute cities and ULEZ. What would be your approach?  

Free Speech

There have been many instances of people expressing views that are frowned upon and suffering as a result of being penalized, e.g. arresting street preachers or sacking those who express views that are disapproved of by those in authority. The recent passing of the online safety act could be the thin end of the wedge. What would you do to change things so people who question the official narrative can speak freely on matters of conscience?   

Globalism

Keir Starmer has said he prefers Davos to Westminster and Rishi Sunak has been described as the globalist puppet that replaced the set up to fall hapless Liz Truss. There are moves that have long been afoot toward globalism and a New World Order, like signing up to the WHO pandemic treaty. How would you do things differently?

Education

Tony Blair once famously said that his priority was “education, education, education”. Yet there are many parents who are disillusioned with the school system because our children are being indoctrinated rather than educated. More than anything, I see a situation where children are being brainwashed into accepting that which is not right and the schools are partly culpable. What changes would you like to see made to our education system?

Electoral system

As things stand, the chances of any other than those belonging to one of the main parties are minimal and as a result many feel disenfranchised. What would you do to change things?

Immigration

One observation has been we do too little to help genuine asylum seekers while at the same letting the wrong foreigners into our country, often showing little regard to “British values”, because of political expediency as much as humanitarian concern, and we are dissuaded to criticise government policy or else be labelled as racist. What would you do to change things?

Brexit

Boris famously called the last election because he wanted to get Brexit done. While Brexit happened, many would say it is far from being done. What would you do to remedy this?

Israel

Israel has been in the headlines ever since the October 2023 Gaza attacks. Opinions are sharply divided between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine. What is your opinion on how the UK should respond?

The NHS

Undoubtedly, the NHS will be a key issue as political battle lines are drawn. Some insiders say the NHS is broken. What would you do differently to what is already being done to improve matters?

Homelessness

There are many social justice issues and one that particularly concerned me in recent years when it was an important part of my community activism was the amount of rough sleeping, something some argue as having worsened. How do you view rough sleeping and what would you do to reduce or eliminate it?

Southend

The reality is there is little MPs can do to change things, tied in as they are to a broken system and being required to support the policies of their parties, but history shows that they can do a lot of advocating for and supporting of their constituents and local community. How would you go about doing this if elected?

While I am disillusioned with both Labour and Conservative, I see Greens and LibDems, if anything, as being worse. While I liked some of what UKIP stood for when they did stand and I liked the Reform Party in the early days, they have since gone on and blotted their copy books. As for the so called alternative right parties, Heritage stands out for me. I know nothing about Ben Downton, the Southend West Heritage candidate. Other than favouring some of Heritage’s ideas, I have little else to go on. As things stand, my vote will be probably for my friend, James Miller, representing the locally based Confelicity Party, who methinks would be a good MP and serve our community well, despite my reticence with a party with an ideology of trying to keep as many people happy as possible.

Sadly, given the way the voting system is, the chances are near zero of either Ben or James (my top two favoured candidates) getting elected, although I still hope for a Great Awakening to counter the Great Reset. As for David Burton-Sampson (the chap that Labour installed ahead of Aston, concerning whom there is much popular support) and Anna Firth (the two front-runners) I am unlikely to vote for either one of them but I invite them to try and change my mind. As for my history of political punditry, it is poor, so I dare not predict outcomes. yet urge people to vote and to do so intelligently.