Kate Taylor

By Kate Taylor katetaylor

The myths, the magic, the sleep deprivation. Last week saw the most important week of the year for the UK – the general election. A little after 10pm on Thursday the exit poll was released, leaving commentators, politicians and public alike reeling in shock. I was housed at Lincolnite HQ for a night long live commentary as the latest came in.

A Tory majority? In the words of Charlie Brooker, “they won the sh*t out of it”. Indeed they did, after the media ran endless theories of how a minority or coalition government could and would be run, the Conservative party secured a 12 seat majority with 331 seats.

By 8am I had developed hiccups as even my diaphragm was exhausted, so lord knows how the candidates were feeling.

The second blow to Labour came in the form of Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP who went on to take 56 seats. Sturgeon presented a strong campaign in Scotland and arguably won the television debates with her common sense, concise approach.

Meanwhile, although Nick Clegg retained his seat in Sheffield as MP, it was one of only seven kept, gaining another to take them to a despairingly low eight seat total.

So what does this mean for our glorious Great Britain? The first part of the Conservative manifesto to be tackled is the abolition of the Human Rights Act. At first glance this echoes a disaster of dystopian proportions, but if it were to be replaced with the ‘British Bill of Rights’ would it make things worse?

Many have argued at how the HRA has protected criminals and terrorists, whilst not adequately representing our British values nor helping the innocent. At rightsinfo.org, a handy infographic tells us what it is the HR Act actually does for us, and dispels ‘The 14 worst human rights myths’. Along with being created post WW2 by British lawyers, it has little to do with the European Union. Destroying British values? Well quite.

Here in Lincoln our bellwether constituency (and the oldest in the country) carried on the tradition with a comfortable majority for Karl McCartney. Although Labour’s Lucy Rigby has built up strong support over the past few years with her timely response to locals and tireless campaigning, the Conservatives had the edge on polling day.

The Lib Dems may have been mocked throughout the coalition, they may have been decimated during the election, but for many I fear they will be sorely missed sooner rather than later.

Take for example the bedroom tax, as unfathomable now as when it came into power – okay in theory but how on Earth are people supposed to survive when there are no alternatives with the correct allocation of rooms? This was implemented when they had some sort of say, what on earth will happen to the working classes and those on or below poverty line?

It is austerity that scares me. It is privatisation that scares me. It is stepping through a curtain that we cannot go back through. Let us hope that the Tory belief of hard work equals good rewards still applies.

Kate Taylor is a sociologist, mother and tea and cake lover. When not working in sociological and marketing research with her company, Galilee Research, Kate can be found talking about political philosophy on the school run.

By Kate Taylor katetaylor

This week The Lincolnite announced the upcoming Lincoln Debate, a defining moment for local and national politics in wake of the upcoming election.

As readers will have seen, candidates from Labour, the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and TUSC will be participating. Unfortunately, Karl McCartney, Lincoln’s current MP and Conservative party candidate for this year, has yet to accept.

This isn’t kept to local politics, as David Cameron is still yet to confirm whether he will take part in the nationally televised debates.

Still in talks, the PM is campaigning for the Northern Ireland parties to be included, after Scottish parties and the Green Party were added to the list. Is this down to hedging bets on another hung parliament?

Data: YouGov, Jan 28

This week’s YouGov poll sees Labour and Conservative tied at 34%, UKIP down at 14% and the Green Party beating the Lib Dems at 7% to the latter’s 6%.

The claws are already out; with Nick Clegg pondering whether the Conservative leader has extended an invitation to number 10’s tea lady yet, and Labour MPs performing chicken impressions at Prime Minister’s Questions whilst the BBC and ITV are deciding whether to put their foot down.

Meanwhile Nick Robinson, BBC’s political correspondent, believes that Cameron will keep ‘debating debates’ until the last possible moment, entering into an agreement just before the campaign starts.

So where has this sudden heartfelt gesture by the Tories come from?

Politics is changing, a major factor of this is (as always) down to the media. The digital age has given the public 24 hour insight into the world of Westminster and beyond, and whether we like it or not, does little for voter confidence.

From live news feeds to Twitter accounts such as ‘@TweetsMPsDelete’, we are inundated with the mistakes and hash ups of our politicians. Is this really down to our representatives constantly getting it wrong, or like many things in postmodern society, merely the media focussing on the negative?

Aside from debating debates, the NHS has come into focus this week, with satirists rubbing their hands in glee over the accusations of ‘weaponising’ the health service. After a volley of retorts between Milliband and Cameron,  it seems this comes down to new guidelines issued on hospitals declaring major incidents. This essentially means that a hospital is struggling with demand, and as such will issue public announcements.

As many will know, all three hospitals (Boston Pilgrim, Lincoln County and Grantham hospital) under the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust were placed on ‘black alert’ at the beginning of the month due the record number of patients attending. Statements were issued to only come to A&E in an emergency.

The new guidelines, argued Andy Burnham (Labour’s health spokesman), make it effectively impossible for a major incident to be declared. “One of the questions I have is, ‘Is that consistent with good patient safety?’”

It’s no shock that the NHS has become a major focus on the run up to the election campaign, but is it enough to have shaken the PM? It would seem that the Conservatives are contemplating high stakes; with the belief it is better to keep debating in Parliament and be tarnished with ‘bottling it’, than to go all in and risk coming out looking like they’ve gone several rounds with Jeremy Paxman.

Kate Taylor is a sociologist, mother and tea and cake lover. When not working in sociological and marketing research with her company, Galilee Research, Kate can be found talking about political philosophy on the school run.