The Brits are going to the polls - today. From afar it would seem that the outcome is far from certain. Perhaps worse still, the repercussions from whomever wins may be considerable and widespread - even beyond the shores of the United Kingdom.
"This is a curious election for anyone who cares about Britain. If David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, is returned to office, the country will face a referendum in 2017 that could take the United Kingdom out of the European Union and into strategic irrelevance. Two years will be lost to a paralyzing debate in which the worst of anti-European British bigotry will have free rein.
If Ed Miliband, the Labour Party leader, becomes prime minister, he will have in some form to rely on the support of the surging Scottish National Party (S.N.P.), which wants to break up Britain. Miliband vows that he will not succumb to the whims of Nicola Sturgeon, the S.N.P. leader, but this is a man whose determination to reach Downing Street has already seen the political equivalent of fratricide. His promises should be viewed in that cold light.
Pay your money and take your pick: a Britain outside Europe or a rump Britain. Of course, it’s not that simple. Cameron could prevail in his muddled attempt to keep the country in Europe while “repatriating” greater, as yet unspecified powers from Brussels. He may control the malign little-England genie he’s let out of the bottle to appease the right of his Tory party. Miliband may be able to make use of the S.N.P. without becoming its hostage. The worst is not inevitable.
Still, these unhappy choices point to an uneasy and divided Britain. Cameron has overseen an economic recovery that is the envy of continental Europe. Unemployment is at its lowest rate in several years. Jobless French and Spanish youths flock to Britain to find work. The prime minister has steadied the ship.
Very few, however, are partying aboard. The recovery has not translated into a sense of well-being or confidence. Income disparity is growing. Booming, purring London, with its glittering central districts full of bivouacked billionaires excavating ever deeper basements for their staff, has left the rest of the country behind and become a resented symbol of division. The S.N.P. has done very well out of its portrayal, however skewed, of a Tory anti-European England given over to ruthless free enterprise and Mammon.
The election on Thursday will be close. A hung parliament, as in 2010, appears likely, with no single party able to command a majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. British politics are taking an Israeli turn. The vote itself is a mere prelude to the real business of coalition building."
"This is a curious election for anyone who cares about Britain. If David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister, is returned to office, the country will face a referendum in 2017 that could take the United Kingdom out of the European Union and into strategic irrelevance. Two years will be lost to a paralyzing debate in which the worst of anti-European British bigotry will have free rein.
If Ed Miliband, the Labour Party leader, becomes prime minister, he will have in some form to rely on the support of the surging Scottish National Party (S.N.P.), which wants to break up Britain. Miliband vows that he will not succumb to the whims of Nicola Sturgeon, the S.N.P. leader, but this is a man whose determination to reach Downing Street has already seen the political equivalent of fratricide. His promises should be viewed in that cold light.
Pay your money and take your pick: a Britain outside Europe or a rump Britain. Of course, it’s not that simple. Cameron could prevail in his muddled attempt to keep the country in Europe while “repatriating” greater, as yet unspecified powers from Brussels. He may control the malign little-England genie he’s let out of the bottle to appease the right of his Tory party. Miliband may be able to make use of the S.N.P. without becoming its hostage. The worst is not inevitable.
Still, these unhappy choices point to an uneasy and divided Britain. Cameron has overseen an economic recovery that is the envy of continental Europe. Unemployment is at its lowest rate in several years. Jobless French and Spanish youths flock to Britain to find work. The prime minister has steadied the ship.
Very few, however, are partying aboard. The recovery has not translated into a sense of well-being or confidence. Income disparity is growing. Booming, purring London, with its glittering central districts full of bivouacked billionaires excavating ever deeper basements for their staff, has left the rest of the country behind and become a resented symbol of division. The S.N.P. has done very well out of its portrayal, however skewed, of a Tory anti-European England given over to ruthless free enterprise and Mammon.
The election on Thursday will be close. A hung parliament, as in 2010, appears likely, with no single party able to command a majority in the 650-seat House of Commons. British politics are taking an Israeli turn. The vote itself is a mere prelude to the real business of coalition building."
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