Political joke of the day.

[baratron]

So I went to vote with my mum, and afterwards she occupied both me and my computer for an hour looking on "Boggle" for the Latin name of the plant "Red Robin". I found three: potentilla fruticosa, polygonum aviculare and photinia x fraseri. They're all completely different types of plants, so I hope she's able to work out which is the right one...

Then I had a quick look at uk.transport.london, and discovered that someone had posted a rather funny joke there. Thought I'd repost it here rather than emailing it to you all:

Three candidates arrive at a house where on the gate is a large "BEWARE OF THE DOG".

The Liberal candidate says "You wait here, my party is friendly to animals" as he opens the gate and walks up the path.

No sooner has the Liberal rang the door when around the corner comes a huge rottweiller which duly chases the candidate over the fence leaving only a piece of trousers as a memento.

The Conservative says "You've got to be firm with animals", and holding his umbrella ready to fend off an attack walks calmly toward the door. But alas, the rottweiller is having none of it and just like the other candidate, the Tory is left umbrella-less, with a torn suit and damaged pride.

The Labour candidate says to the others "You're going about this the wrong way, it's all to do with presentation! Hand me your pen!". He writes on his hand, jumps over the gate and as the dog rushes toward him, thrusts his hand into its mouth.

The two other candidate watch horrified as the animal starts to bite the hand, but suddenly the rottweiller yelps, spits out the hand and runs away.

The Liberal and Conservative wait in bewilderment for the Labour candidate to finish talking at the door, and as he opens the gate they both ask: "How did you do that?". The labour candidate shows them his hand:

"NO NEW TAXES"

"Not even a rottweiller would swallow that!"

I voted Lib Dem, by the way. I know some of my friends voted Conservative, and I wish they hadn't. I used to be a Tory myself, but I started to become disillusioned when William Hague took over, and the Section 28 fiasco was the last straw. Added to which I'm not really sure about their policies on Europe - I tend to think on the whole that the euro is a good thing. The biggest problem is that as the Labour party have gone from left to right-wing, the Conservatives have gone even more right-wing than they were already - and I was always on the left side of the party before. (I remember having a big argument with most of the people in my local branch of the Young Conservatives when they wanted to scrap prescription charges and have everyone pay the market price of the drug - I pointed out that I wouldn't be able to afford to stay alive if that was the case).

I feel somewhat sorry for having laughed at Lib Dem supporters in the past. Certainly this time round they were the only party I could support. Ah well.

Comments

[inquis.livejournal.com]

I was always a liberal supporter, there was never any question of me voting otherwise, unless someone suddenly decided it was worth starting up a communist party in Surrey :o) I was really pleased with the results in Surrey Heath (which is where I voted cos I was still registered at Mum and Dad's), because for the second election running, there was a swing towards the Lib Dems, and for the first time, the Tory guy won with less than 50% of the vote :o) I don't agree with anything he says - he's one of those politicians who has totally opposing views to mine.

Charles Kennedy has impressed me. Having been a member of the Lib Dems at the leadership election, I voted, and he was about my second or third choice, as I was definitely in the Simon Hughes camp (you were left of right wing, I am left of left wing :o) ), but Charles Kennedy has totally won me over. Not once has he come across as anything but sincere, honest, witty and bright, and I am thoroughly impressed.

I think it's a real shame Hague has stepped down as tory leader - he was doing such a brilliant job of making the conservatives unelectable ;o) It will be interesting to see which way they go now, whether they decide to go totally right wing (I reckon they could reduce their popularity quite significantly if they go for John Redwood), or whether they go for the inevitable Portillo option. That would also be good as it would be political suicide for whoever takes the job now, and I think Portillo's their only hope at clawing back popularity, so if he takes it now, it'll kill any chances he had of being a successful tory. Vindictive? Moi? ;o)