Monday 14 August 2017

Muddle in the Middle

Following on from my previous post, after a few interesting days…

One of the inevitable effects of so-called 'centrist' parties is that they are, in effect, opposing everyone else, both Left and Right. I suspect that a realisation of this is what might have deterred Arron Banks from launching his own rumoured centrist party. He must have sussed out, surely, that he'd not only be in actuality but also publicly perceived as 'against everyone' and his efforts would thus be dismissed as negative and as being irrelevant to tackling any actual issues. One cannot (in general) fight a war on two fronts – especially when one's opponents have only a singly 'enemy' (the Left or the Right) each.

This is always going to be the problem with such parties or movements – not that the idea is without merit, but in the real world it cannot work. This is why even mainstream parties that wish (or even need) to do well in the 'middle ground' still pitch themselves as centre-left or centre-right. There is a good reason for it, y'see.

James Chapman's proposed new party – provisionally to be called either the Democrats, the UK Democrats, or the New Democrats – has been tweeting for the past three days; and if one were to look through their several hundred tweets already (including many re-tweets of others' contributions) as I have done to some extent, one would find a very strange mix, with some home-brew threads that really seem off-the-wall.

I encountered one such thread about the devil and the law, which is frankly impenetrable and gives the impression (probably incorrectly) of a drug-fuelled mini-rant. It certainly doesn't make any sense that I can deduce. Meanwhile, their 'anti everyone' stance in other tweets and commentary elsewhere produces a very muddled and unclear policy outlook.

As I mentioned before, even their proposed form of name is in complete contrast to their actual policy placement, as their primary goal is to overturn a democratic decision in favour of their own preference. This is the referendum result that was a vote to leave the European Union.

Okay, so it is currently the annual 'silly season' where just about anything can happen – and this seems to be this year's biggest contribution toward maintaining that perennial reputation. For all I know, this might be just be a parody, and will be declared as such any day now. If not, though…

I suspect this will end up like Veritas, Respect and the other non Union-driven fringe parties such as the English Democrats – and where UKIP currently seems to be heading as well (just as I predicted several years ago and ever since) as a dead end that will no doubt have a flurry of publicity, and will then vegetate and slowly die.

It might not; but I can't see it going anywhere, as there is no sense or positive purpose in it.

UPDATE: soon after I wrote this, it transpired that the aforementioned James Chapman was having 'mental issues' and commentators were asked not to add anything for the time being. I have waited four weeks since reading anything about this, and merely mention it now, for information.

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