thoughts before the scaffold

Interesting head and heart thing going on across the lefty new media sphere. The head, in the form of polling data, points to a Tory seat count of 300 or so, in minority territory. But the heart – the sad, bruised, tortured heart – seems to impel people to accept the prospect of an outright Tory majority irrespective of what the polls say and the fact that the votes ain’t in yet. It’s as though there’s an urge to know the worst at once. I think there’s also a feeling that an era as ended: not just in the policies of one particular government but in the sense that a chunk of social experience as a whole is drawing to a close and that an outright change of government is the appropriate way to acknowledge this. The general atmosphere is of people waiting in the vets office for Rover to be put out of his misery. He was a rotten old dog, bossy, smug and with a nasty habit of biting strangers. But he was ours…or at least he claimed us, when it suited him, and you got used to the smell eventually. 

I have no idea at all what will actually happen, though I get the feeling that the Tories will either do very well or very badly. They’ve been shoving very hard and meeting a lot of passive public resistance. Maybe they’ll shove the great unco-operative mass over the finish line, or maybe it’ll just flop back all over them. 

 Anyway, I might be a saddo and liveblog it. Meanwhile, have some mood music.

Comments

[ejh]

Me, I'm proposing to have an early night, not turn on the telly tomorrow morning and hopefully not find out what's happened until a long way into tomorrow. (Not as easy as you'd imagine, even in Menorca, since Spanish TV takes about a million times as much interest in the British election as British TV does in Spanish elections, and you'll never find a bar without a telly on.)

[Matthew]

I'm quite excited as Cameron's already asked me to join his government. A bit presumptuous, and not quite as glamorous as when the PM used to 'phone you up on the day after the election, but it's there in black and white (well blue and green) and I'm thinking of accepting. Nothing below Cabinet level of course.

He's also sent me a contract promising certain things which he has signed. If I sign it and return it, and vote Tory, could I legally hold him to them?

[jamie]

He's asked me to join his government too. And I can have my own school. I asked a Tory canvasser whether that meant I could make all the kids build a life size model of Angkor Wat out of matchsticks. And you know what? he wouldn't give a a straight answer.

[Richard J]

Angkor Wat is perhaps a bit ambitious to start with. Chichen Itza might be an easier place to start with, if you favour a lost jungle city recreation-based education.

[Chris Williams]

And who doesn't? If this comments thread threatens to be silly enough, I might even uncork the Laphroig and to hell with tomorrow's seminar.