Fuel for fire

Check out politics.co.uk to find out what seat you're in, the results from the 2001 GE, and the various candidates standing. It also has an excellent section on policy; a list of various policy issues, with the various parties intentions (it's quite funny how many empty spaces there are under the Conservative name). It's a relatively balanced way of hearing what the parties' policies are without having to trawl through lots of electioneering. Link on the right.

The Tory candidate for Hallam is called Spencer Pitfield, whom, a friend of mine pointed out, sounds like a 19th century serial killer.

All breakages must be paid for

Right, sorry about banging on (why am I apologising, this is my blog. Yeah, listen to what I'm saying!), but if you want to get a sense of the voting in your seat, check out www.vote-2005.co.uk. It has a thread on each seat, and the comments seem to populated by people who know what they're talking about. The Hallam one was quite interesting.

Also, forgot to say, walked past Dick Caborn today! He was doing a photo shoot down at the peace gardens. Go sport!

The new M Ward album is fucking good.

The human cannonball

Yo! I've just found out that the Lib Dem lead in Hallam is bigger than I thought, so I may not need to tactically vote after all! Woo-hoo!

I found this information at a website called Tactical Voter (I've put a link on the right), which aims to inform the voter on how they can vote tactically, with the aim of not only keeping the Tories out, but de-seating a few more of the greasy twats!
As a guide, I'll put down the results of the last general election in Sheffield below, but check out the site, it's cool. Most of the seats in Sheffield are fairly safe, so it doesn't make much difference, but hey ho. Obviously, these figures are rounded off, usually to the nearest 500.

Sheffield Attercliffe: Lab 24,500 Con 5,200 Lib Dem 5,000
Sheffield Brightside: Lab 19,500 Con 2,500 Lib Dem 2,000
Sheffield Central: Lab 18,500 Lib Dem 6,000 Con 3,000
Sheffield Hallam: Lib Dem 21,000 Con 12,000 Lab 5,000
Sheffield Heeley: Lab 19,000 Lib Dem 7,500 Con 5,000
Sheffield Hillsborough Lab 24,500 Lib Dem 9,500 Con 7,500

Apres ski!

Hello! I am back from the land of the Swiss, where I've been lapping up the apres ski culture! Oh yes baby, I strapped on my boots and goggles, found a snowboard to carry around and danced around with the other public school twats. What a bunch of nobheads.

It was fun though. Went up a mountain on a cable car! Which was quite scary.

To bring me back down to normal life, I've just gone and bought myself a few Cds. Got the Joanna Newsom album finally, which I've been meaning to get for ages (and it's sounding as good as I'd hoped), the new Brendon Benson, the new M Ward, the new Laura Veirs, and Cash at Folsom.

Ooh, and I've got some work for monday morning! Working in an insurance company! Get in! I really have fucking made it.

I think the way forward, I've decided, is to go skipping around various countries, living a life of coffee and paper reading. And watching Newcastle every now and again. I could work in Irish bars everywhere I go, hence avoiding the whole language issue.

Apres ski!

Tactical voting

Right. On principle, I have always been appalled and offended by the idea of tactical voting, but in Sheffield Hallam, it is a reality I have to face up to. With the Tories and Lib Dems fighting for the seat, and Labour lying in a very distant third, the Labour-supporting, lets-make-sure-the-Tories-don't-get-in, tactical voter would logically vote for the Lib Dems to ensure the seat is saved from the Conservatives, with the conclusion that a Labour vote is a wasted vote. If I vote for Labour, I give a vote to the Tories, I hear the tactical voter say in my ear. Hmmm. It is very difficult for me to get away from this logic, but it bloody well niggles on me that I would be voting for a party I don't believe in.

What do people think? Is tactical voting evil? Or a pragmatic use of the vote?
Hallam is a seat the Tories will have their eyes on, and they seem to be running a successful campaign. I honestly think they'll mobilise voters successfully, and their MPs seemed to be talking in a very upbeat manner (I can bet th focus groups are telling them something good). They could seriously cut the Labour majority severely. Maybe even force a hung parliament? Although that would require both the TOries and the Lib Dems to take seats off Labour and not just scrap over ones like Hallam where they're fighting against each other.

Bateman

Just finished Series 4 of The West Wing. John Goodman is President. Crazy.

It's my last day tomorrow.

Wilco on Sunday at Rock City (buy 'A Ghost Is Born'. Buy it).

I'm going to Geneva Monday morning. Coming back Thursday.

I bought the Futureheads album a few days ago. Rah post-punk.

Your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments

What a beautiful day!

I have, to the right of your screen, placed some links to a few rather lovely websites, that you may, or may not, appreciate.

Ariston

2001 Labour 167 maj.
1997 Labour 179 maj.
1992 Conservative 21 maj.
1987 Conservative 102 maj.
1983 Conservative 144 maj.
1979 Conservative 43 maj.
Oct 1974 Labour tiny maj.
Feb 1974 Labour hung parliament.
1970 Conservative 31 maj.
1966 Labour 98 maj.
1964 Labour 4 maj.
1959 Conservative 100 maj.
1955 Conservative 54 maj.
1951 Conservative 17 maj.
1950 Labour 5 maj.
1945 Labour 145 maj.
1935 Conservative 167 maj.
1931 Conservative 327 maj.
1929 Labour hung parliament.
1924 Conservative 210 maj.
1923 Labour hung parliament.
1922 Conservative 73 maj.
1918 Conservative tiny maj.
Dec 1910 Liberal hung parliament.
Jan 1910 Liberal hung parliament.
1906 Liberal

All those ancient curses

On Sunday night, I decided to finally trawl through the newspapers I've been hoarding, and cut out all the articles I want to keep. A rather foolish mistake. Once I'd collected them all from the various corners of our flat, I realised that they date back to last September. I managed to go through about a month and a half on Sunday night (sticking all the pleasing articles in a clean, white artists' pad provided by my wife), then proceeded to spend my entire day off going through another few months. I've still got some of January and all of February to get through. It was starting to make me a little dizzy, whilst in the background on the Parliament channel, Charles Clarke tried to convince the House that he wasn't a fascist. I've got Polly Toynbee's Labour-loving plees and Naomi Klein's anti-globalisation (rather articulate) rants swimming through my head. I think from now on I'll cut out articles day to day.