Sometimes it is difficult to sift the wheat of truth from the chafe of disinformation.

I‘ve looked through the various leaflets that have dropped through my letter box. I noticed that the Conservatives didn’t even bother!

The Scottish Greens make the claim that a vote for them is the, ‘ … clearest … way [to] demand urgent action on the climate emergency’. They are calling out the others political parties, ‘ … eye catching targets’. Fair enough.

The Liberal Democrats bombarded us with negative messages about the other three main parties – they say Labour have ‘No idea’, that there will be ‘ More chaos’ with the SNP and a ‘Bad deal’ with the Conservatives. They claim to be, ‘On the up’ and that they will, ‘Stop Brexit’ – bold claims. However, they also sent me a letter claiming to be from a ‘Polling and Elections expert’ – aye right.

The Scottish Nationalist Party, apparently, have a creditable and coherent plan to address the main issues of the day – Brexit, the NHS, Climate Change and Austerity. On Brexit they suggest that they are the only ones with, ‘ … unambiguous commitment to stopping Brexit’. They also say they are the only party that can beat the Tories.

The Labour Party are very strong in my constituency, they have won the last few elections here. The candidate is pro EU, pro UK and a very active local presence during the year. His leaflets are full of examples of his hard work and accessibility.

So, will I vote for the man or the party? Will I vote tactically? Do I vote on the issues – Brexit, the NHS, austerity, the climate emergency, the integrity of the UK?

I Posted this, state of the nation guidance on Facebook:

Graham Tennyson
1 hr ·
Well, I, for one, will be glad when the politically motivated Posts on here slow down. I couldn’t possibly guide you in how to vote though. My tuppence worth would be along the lines of:
1) You defo should vote.
2) if you are happy to continue with a government that is following a US style capitalist system, where everything is run for the benefit of the profit margin and shareholder value (and the rich give as little as possible to governments) then vote Tory.
3) Remember, it’s a UK election so if you want a change in the Westminster numbers you need to vote tactically – in Scotland that means (unless you are in safe Labour seat) vote SNP.
4) This is a strongly ideological election. Meek, fence sitting, soft centre positions wouldn’t do you any good – the parties chasing this voter are mainly political opportunists.
5) Be gentle. Take the bus that’s going in your general direction (no party will be perfect for you as an individual). Find a seat and be willing to share that seat with others that hold slightly different views.
6) Democracy is an living thing. Your vote is just part of it, it didn’t stop after you’ve cast your vote at a General Election.
Anyway, my grandfather always used to say, ‘The man at the bar, buying the drinks, gets to keep the receipt’. Mind you, he told me Tobermory was a real place!

I’m not sure if that helps. However, for the purposes of this Blog, Brexit is the big issue and that means you need to understand that particularly tricky issue, as the BBCs Political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, has said, ‘The main reason we are having this election is because of Brexit’.

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It’s Election time and the media has gone, well its sort of gone all contrary. It almost feels like they don’t want to commit themselves, content to endlessly resubmit questions that few politicians will give a straight answer to.

However, I’m not concerned with the UK General Election here – that’s for others to comment on – but I am interested to record how it is affecting my European project, and it is undoubtedly affecting this election. For example, up here in the frozen north, on the extremes of Europe, Scottish voters are being presented with the idea that , if they are Leavers AND against a second Independence referendum then they will need to vote Tory.

This is all a bit weird. What if they are pro Europe but don’t want Scottish independence, or are Brexitears (?) and want Independence for Scotland? Well. The LibDems have gone all hard Remain, but they wont back a second independence referendum (although they will be okay with a second Brexit vote), and Labour won’t give you an independence referendum but might just let you have a second Brexit referendum. The SNP, of course, are pro Europe and defo want a second independence referendum – I think that about covers it, for now!

Anyhoo, back to my project (seeking clarity on all things EU); whilst reviewing progress made I have to conclude that I am well behind schedule (and non the wiser). 2020 will need to see a more focused effort. I managed to visit 8 of the 28 member states (Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, England (sic), France, Germany, Malta and Spain) although I might have to revisit some of these to get a better picture!

So, that leaves twenty EU Member States to visit (plus some revisits). It’s a jolly good thing that the political classes are dragging their feet. Even if the UK does leave the EU on 31st January 2020 it will require quite a long Withdrawal period (Boris Johnson is promising to have sorted it all out by the end of 2020).

I will take to my post, outside the UK, for the promised Exit day – I will revisit Brussels and the EU parliament and take it from there. So far I’ve stopped two deadline dates by being out of the UK on those dates (29th March in Belgium and 31st October in Denmark) – who knows, maybe I can crash another deadline on 31st January 2020.

Stay tuned …

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