The forthcoming election.

Tonight I was watching the BBC National television News at 18:00. This programme lasts for 30 minutes and is followed by a local news programme which is created and transmitted from the North-East region of England.

The main issue on the North-East broadcast concerned an Election. Not the Peresidential Election in the United States. This is taking place today but was the main issue, again, on the BBC National news.

We have had, it seems to me, countless hours of television and radio coverage of the American Presidential election process over the past few weeks. Even when the British news broadcasters  were covering  the story about the fate of those Americans living on their east coast in the face of the major storm which was called 'Sandy'. For their reporters always managed to twist their stories to include Obama and Romney. Indeed, between the United States' Presidential election and the reporting of allegations of child abuse against the late Sir Jimmy Savile (an entertainer, disc-jockey and larger-than-life charity fund-raiser) the behaviour of our British Government, its handling of our economy and other associated issues have been left largely unexamined, to the detriment; of our population.

Which may go some way to excuse what was reported tonight; an unenthusiastic attitude towards our own forthcoming election. It seems that the voters don't know what they are being asked to vote for. This is because the Coalition government is concerned not to spend money from our Government coffers, which we can't afford. So, taking a leaf from many of those blown about in the USA, campaign funds for this election must come from the candidates.

On the face of it, this would seem to be a sensible standpoint. For this British election is a 'new' one, in the sense that the posts up-for-grabs have never been available before. The responsibilities of these novel positions have, in previous years, been carried out by teams who were not paid a salary.

Now, funding an election campaign is problematic. Made the more-so because of the 'newness' of these novel posts. By definition, a newly invented post cannot have a social machine to support it. So where, then, is one to look for a machine to generate any funding at all? And this is at the root of that which will, in my view, come to bite our society in its future.

It would seem, from the report on our local news, that the solution to the funding problem; such as it has been, has fallen into, or rather has been grasped by, the hands of the established political parties! Possibly because they have people, skills and are in the invidious position of having to join-in, even if they don't philosophically agree with the pantomime, or maybe just don’t want to become involved, in case it somehow might reflect upon their own sensibilities in some future Political elections.

And what is it that that the Coalition wants us to decide? "Who do you want to be your local Police Commissioner?" Not, "Do you want to pay a salary to an individual to run your local Police Force like they do in the United States?"

What is it with the United States?

What is policing to do with Political Parties?

Furthermore, breaking its own rules of austerity, the Coalition has the Government Department known as the 'Home Office' running adverts asking us to vote! The Home Office; running adverts? And if we, the people, don't actually want to spend a fortune establishing another trench of the Noveau Riche, how do we say so?

The solution, according to those people on the television who are getting to know about the election, is just not to be bothered voting. And why would they? After all, they have no sense of 'ownership'. Which just brings the democratic exercise into further disrepute; as if we don't have enough of a problem asking people to vote for proper politicians (whatever they may be).

But then we know what politicians will say to the people who will complain, don't we? "Well, if you didn't vote, it's your own fault."

So we're going to get a set of ex-politico's on happy salaries, bunked-up into glory by their nominee politico friends. Some time in the future they'll be running around fund-raising for re-election, or not; depending upon whether they think citizens have a right to know what it is that they think they have accomplished. Which would be what? Can they invent new laws? Can they instruct the bobbies to ignore this law in order to pursue another?

Well, the Home Office advert tells us. It says that if we want the local bobbies to concentrate on something we feel strongly about, we just phone the Local Commissioner. Yo, sherrif!

I am sure that you will be forgiven if, after a moment pondering the out-come, you believe that harassing the Local Commissioner might bring his wrath, in the persons of his bobbies, down upon your head and you decide to keep well out of it.

But you should rest assured; for who in their right mind, would expect anyone to instruct a Constabulary to concentrate upon the whim of one citizen?

Unless, of course, you can prove that you were the one who voted them in.