No geek
is an island

Monday’s opinion poll in the Guardian shows that a large proportion of people think the Prime Minister should stand down before the next election. This isn’t surprising: the Government misled the electorate over tuition fees, continues to support the Tories’ Council Tax system, and, most significantly, backed America’s deeply divisive war in Iraq.

But Tony Blair’s party won only 40.7% of the vote in the 2001 general election. So, even then, 59.3% of voters didn’t want him to be Prime Minister (and that’s not including the Labour Party voters who didn’t want him as their leader). Take a poll of the general population and you should expect to find that most people don’t support the Government - not because they have withdrawn their support since 2001, but because the Government never had the support of the majority of the country. Even in 1997, when Labour swept to power on a legendary tidal wave of popular support, only 43.2% of voters backed them - 56.8% were against.

Although I would like to see MPs elected by a system of proportional representation, that’s not my main point here. Rather, it’s that opinion polls showing that a majority of people (and the 46% in the Guardian isn’t even a majority) oppose either Tony Blair or the Government should be taken with a pinch of salt, since the Labour Party was opposed by a majority of voters at the last General Election and still runs the country. More significant are voting intention polls and polls establishing the public’s views on specific individual issues, although even with these it’s important to know what questions were asked. But revealing that the PM doesn’t have the backing of most of the population isn’t news.

The campaigns listed by doctorvee have my full support.

Once again the UK’s post-Eurovision coverage has been full of reports of block voting, countries backing their neighbours, etc., etc. In pointedly noting the douze points vote swapping between Greece and Cyprus, these stories have forgotten we were as much a party to the “love thy neighbour” principle. The only points, seven, that saved Ireland from a well-deserved nul points were from their neighbours: us. And they were one of the few countries to give us any points.

Much of this friendly voting cancels itself out, and it takes more than local support to win. Let’s not pretend that the ten points we gave to Cyprus had nothing to do with the nationality of the 16-year-old from Kent who performed the (tedious and warbling, but oh so worthy) Cypriot entry. It is not as if we didn’t give points (five) to the eventual winners, or that we didn’t give any to second place Serbia (three) or third place Greece (we gave them the maximum twelve).

Of course some of the voting is political, but there is also good reason for countries from the same region to support each other. Many nations - Serbia was a notable example -enter songs that represent their own culture. Eastern Europe has a different cultural background from Western Europe and that is reflected in those countries’ traditional music. It is hardly surprising if Macedonia or Bosnia recognises positively aspects of Serbia’s entry, just as the UK is more inclined to vote for upbeat pop or cheesy ballads sung by teenagers.

Blair’s position on Iraq has undoubtedly lost us votes the last two years, although potential Eurovision failure was probably the worst argument against a pre-emptive, bilateral, dubiously legal attack. The UK’s problem with countries voting for their friends is that we have precious few.

Now there has been the suggestion that we should follow the examples of the USSR and Yugoslavia: break up into several states (or submit separate entries from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England) and thereby contribute four times the votes, which we can shower on each other. An alternative would be to choose the winner on a popular vote across the whole of Europe, rather than allowing tiny Monaco the same number of votes as sprawling Russia. But this would mean doing away with the clumsy voting from each country which is half the fun.

So I have a cunning plan to secure our success next year: the UK should enter a better song.

Picked up two singles yesterday: Graham Coxon’s Bittersweet Bundle of Misery and Morrissey’s Irish Blood, English Heart. Coxon’s has more than a passing musical similarity to Coffee & TV and the lyrics sounds like they may have been co-written with a 12-year-old. It’s nice and jaunty though, so that’s OK.

Morrissey, on the other hand, has produced a criminally good comeback single, the crime probably being that it’s only 2 mins 39 secs long. Great, slightly wistful tune, and the pointed and stylish lyrics that made him famous. Easily vying with Franz Ferdinand for Best Single of the Year so far.

And now to undermine that carefully cultivated indie cred by mentioning that it’s Eurovision tonight. I’ve had a flutter but I was quite thrown by the results of the semi-final so I’m not going to try to predict how the viewers will vote across Europe. And I still think we’d do better if had classically-trained actor James Fox representing us.

You can view all the entries on the Eurovision website, which also reveals that research at the University of Leiden has discovered that one of the “most used words by Eurovision fans in connection with the song contest” is “Eurovision”.

Indie rock! You’re my most favourite type of music… Your music channels lots of emotion. On the top it seems simple, but underneath there’s always a deep meaning… As your name you’re independent from most of music! Stay that way! Good on you! There’s so much variation in your style…from deep and thoughtful like The Stills, to happy go lucky like Belle & Sebastian, to dancy and catchy Franz Ferdinand, and back to boogie down Hot Hot Heat and The Rapture…

What genre of rock are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

A cunning quiz this as it included a question along the lines of “What type of rock do you like?”

Nod: Rob Tiffen

My RecipRoll tells me I’ve got a new linker. Kelvin is kind enough to say that I take time for “decent pop culture”. I may be sitting here in a Suede t-shirt but I don’t think that can make up for the mention I just gave to Eurovision.