penwing.site

So, I live in Warrington - this is a town half way between Manchester and Liverpool with a public transport system courtesy of the fairy godmother - the trains turn into carrots at midnight. As such I don't know the gay scene very well at either city and consequently have very few gay friends. This has little actual bearing at what's coming up, it's just a general moan. Manchester is obviously well known for it's gay village and annual pride event.

I've not blogged much recently despite wanting to say quite a bit. Other voices can sometimes say it better than I can and I do try and share those voices on my twitter stream.

David Laws resigned from the cabinet the other week after the Telegraph revealed he had been claiming expenses for rent paid to his partner against the rules. They claim that they weren't intending to reveal that his partner was male and therefore pull Laws out of the closet but it's hard to see how that could work in any meaningful way.

I live in the Warrington North constituency (since the boundary changes). A quick look at YourNextMP shows I have 4 candidates to choose from (this will be confirmed once nominations have closed):

• Derek Clark - UKIP (until very recentl YNMP was suggesting Jack Kirkham) [UPDATE: No UKIP Candidate listed on the formal Warrington North List]
• Paul Campbell - Conservatives

So, with the elections coming up, it's time to start thinking about who I want to vote for. And therein lies a problem. I'm embarassed by all the parties (that is a polite understatement of my true feelings) and live in an ultra-safe constituency. On the one hand, there is Labour who have produced a more and more authoratarian, Orwellian state and who appear to equate liberation with equality with quotas, who abuse parliament and hold the public in utter contempt. On the other are the Conservatives.

Many of us watching the #DEBill debate over the past couple of days (yes I was that sad) came away feeling betrayed. Not just because the bill had passed, but because of the disgusting processes which had been exposed. I have an idealised image of what an MP should do and a rather more realistic vision of what I think they are able to do, a rather more cynical vision of what they actually do all from following the Civil Partnerships Act, the Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations and the Equalities Bill (also passed during wash up in the previous days).

I am still at a loss as to what the recording industry think they've gotten with the Digital Economy Bill which passed the Commons late last night. MPs have been throwing around industry figures in the hundreds of millions of pounds lost due to piracy. They seem to be willfully ignoring the argument that one download does not equal one lost sale (and may indeed lead to multiple extra purchases).

The other side of politics I've been discussing tonight (see last entry)was The Equality Bill and the Tories. A brief discussion with @lawandsexuality through the medium of Facebook comments about where the Tories would likely go with Equality.

I really shouldn't discuss politics late at night. I always end up with ideas running through my head that stop me from sleeping. Still this is what my blog is for, surely 8-).

Earlier this week I tweeted about the "Enjoy England" advert which suggested an enjoyable way of spending an hour was to take a train journey. My tweet was "Enjoy England are seriously suggesting a train ride as a way to enjoy England...there's a group that's never been on a train...". Friends tried to suggest there are some nice scenic routes out there, and there are, but our train system is in such a shambles I wouldn't call using the service enjoyable.

Warrington, where I live, is split into two parliamentary constituencies the boundary being, pretty much, the Mersey. They are represented by "the Helens" - Jones for the North and Southworth for the South. Apparently there's going to be some major work on redirecting the Mersey as we will be switching Helens at the next election. Both Helens are in fairly safe seats - I normally get no election publicity except from the very fringe parties.