BORED ALREADY

I'm not going to listen to the Today programme or watch the 10 o'clock news until after the election. I can't bear it.

I can't even bear thinking about it.

I went to see Asian Dub Foundation on Monday night. Vote them out, they exhorted us, and we cheered. And if your issues are Iraq and immigration policy, that certainly seems like the thing to do.

But 1. I have other issues too. The 'war on terror' issue is huge - both the war itself and the implications for human rights and civil liberties - and has exposed some frightening realities at the heart of government. But it is not the only thing we are voting on. There are many areas where the Labour government has made big steps in the right direction. Think child poverty targets, think National Minimum Wage, think dropping (some of) the debt of the world's poorest countries, think free museums, think Disability Rights Commission, think citizenship education. Lots of small things that have benefited the more vulnerable and less powerful, who were systematically screwed during the Thatcher years.

Which leads onto 2. If you vote them out, who on earth are you going to vote in? Michael Howard? That pillar of liberalism and tolerance? Yeah, right. I can remember what Tory governments were like, and I don't want another one.

I would like half a vote this time. I know where I would cast half a vote, but I feel very uncomfortable about casting a full one.

But that's all I'm going to say on the matter, before I start boring *myself*.

joella