We can't go on like this

As you might have heard, Holland isn't the only country facing general elections this year. Here in the UK we're also preparing for some good old electoral fun. Maybe the best part is that no one actually knows for sure when the elections are going to be. That's one of the perks you get when you're the leading party in the government: you get to call the precise date for the elections. All we know is that they're supposed to somewhere between now and May and that Labour will get to decide on the exact date. The benefit of this is supposed to be that you can call the elections at a moment that your party is at its most popular, how that's supposed to benefit a party that's got Gordon Brown as its most important asset beats me (and a whole lot of other people).

Meanwhile, the other parties haves already started campaigning. Well, other parties, mostly the Tories. But that's what its going to be all about anyway: who's going to lead to government for the next five years: Labour or the Conservatives? And will we keep the least popular PM ever? Gordon Brown recently got voted seventh in a poll among middle-aged women from London when asked who they'd like to see as their PM. First on the list was Barack Obama (now that's surprising), closely followed by Tory candidate and multimillionaire David 'I drink Guinness from a can' Cameron. Maybe some short notes on the leading political parties: Labour (you can compare them to PvdA), are the party of the working class and have Gordon Brown as their PM candidate. Apparently, the rest of them are even worse than Gordon. Gosh. You might want to keep in mind that the former PM, Tony Blair, was also a Labour man, and a lot more popular. The Conservatives, or Tories, (a bit like the VVD) are a party for the upper class, and are led by David Cameron (the airbrushed guy on the poster). As you might notice, this leaves the middle class, and those people are thus the aim of the Tory campaigns (though their latest campaign also focussed a bit on the working class who've lost confidence in Brown). For people who don't want to vote for these two parties, there's also some small other parties, such as the Liberal Democrats (Libdem, I'd compare them to D66), led by Nick Clegg, or the British National Party, or BNP, who could be compared to Geert Wilders (does his party have an actual name btw?).

Anyway, why am I trying to explain all this to you? Well, mostly because the Tory campaign has begun to lead a life of its own. I've never seen poster that were easier to mock. And every time they get out some new ones, everyone just starts to gloat when they see the possibilities these offer. So, on to some of my favourites:

(this would work actually)

(Boris Johnson, mayor of London)

As I'm in England now, I'm not the only one with a Doctor Who obsession

Remember Tatcher?

And that's not even as bad as it sounds: in the UK there's this district system, you don't vote for a national candidate, but for local representatives of the national party, who'll then go on to the parliament to represent their district. Scotland doesn't have any Tory candidates.

You can find more of these (and the original posters) on MyDavidCameron. They've actually got a poster with that tombstone. Yup. Now let's see what Balkenende can come up with.

Despite these posters, the Tories are still leading the polls, though Labour is gaining on them. I guess that's mostly because of some seriously stupid mistakes by the Tories. Like claiming that 58% of teenage girls in London gets pregnant. And then realising you've put the decimals wrong and that it's actually 5.8%. Yup, tiny mistake. They've done similar things with figures on crime, which Labour then uses to attack them on. Only to find that stories have leaked about Gordon Brown bullying his employees at Downing Street 10. Very nice all this. I'll just wait till the next set of Tory posters.