Monday 30 June 2008

Happy Canada Day

At least as being kept in Trafalgar Square a day early, for some reason.

All the same, God Save The Queen.

14 comments:

  1. Have you ever heard of the generalist party?

    http://www.generalistparty.co.uk/index.html

    I'd not come across them before, but they seem quite similar in many ways to the BPA, and they're making some strong moves under the radar where I live and in a few other marginal constituencies near me. Garnered a fair bit of positive news coverage with local press. And they seem to be fully registered with the Electoral Commission as well, which is surely a positive sign for your forthcoming approval?

    harry

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  2. Well-meaning, I'm sure...

    There is no statement of aims in their Constitution, whereas ours begins with quite a long explanation of our identity (pretty much the article that I had published on Harry's Place), and then proceeds to several detailed aims and objectives.

    I'm not surprised that they have had no trouble from the Electoral Commission. As their name suggests, they don't appear to stand for anything specific.

    Whereas we stand for lots of very specific things indeed.

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  3. Yes, I'm sure that's true. But my point is that they seem to be a good model for the BPA - as I've said, they're making a lot of waves under the radar in some key marginal seats, whereas I haven't seen anything about the BPA yet in any of the local press round here In a head to head, of course the BPA would win.

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  4. I'm not sure how they can be making waves when they don't appear to say anything.

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  5. I don't know what to say - obviously I'm not a fan, but they have picked up considerable local interest - anecdotal I know, but when I was in the post office the other day I heard two people talking about thwem and saying that this was the only party they'd now vote for, having previously abstained. And I saw one of their posters outside my local Tesco.

    You seem slightly threatened by them - I was poitning it out as something positive - clearly, there are other parties out there working the local under the radar route to attract those majority who don't currently vote, so it is bound to be succesful when the BPA make their launch, no?

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  6. Well, what do these posters actually say?

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  7. The poster I saw just had their name, and their logo and slogan underneath - something like "A Great Britain". It was that which first struck me about the similarity between them and the BPA - both stand for a return to traditional values. It was in a pretty prominent position, though only mocked up on a home computer -they're clearly still small scale despite their large profile.

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  8. Well, that doesn't really say anything, does it?

    Good luck to them if they really do want to return to traditional values, but I can't find any trace of that (or anything else) on their website.

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  9. I think I saw a similar poster - it was "A Greater Britain", not "A Great Britain", unless I'm much mistaken. Where do you live, Harry? I'm in Nottingham.

    Anyway, I thought they looked quite an impressive outfit - they've given a bit of thought to their communications strategy, and it looks like it's starting to pay off for them.

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  10. No, you're right, it doesn't - and yet they're still v popular. So just think what the BPA could do when it launches with all its policy details for people! Looking forward to it.

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  11. I'm not exactly enthralled by the Generalist Party message, but I note that they do at least have a proper website and three declared supporters, as well as registration with the Electoral Commission.

    Whereas to this day I've yet to see any hard, independently verifiable evidence that the BPA amounts to more than a single individual taking advantage of a free Blogspot account.

    Perhaps people might take it more seriously if it actually attempted to look like a serious operation? Just a thought.

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  12. Gribble, don't be so silly - of *course* the Generalist Party was registered, they don't pose any threat to the established order. That's why the BPA haven't been, and why their very existence is denied. It's all so horribly plausible.

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  13. Hi george - I live a fair way from you, down in the South West. You're right, the slogan was "a Greater Britain"

    I agree, they do seem to have put some thought into their communication strategy - I've been keeping an eye out for them, and heard a couple of people in the pub last night mention them. Very low level, but very succesful.

    But as I said, I fully expect the BPA to wipe them out of existence when they launch.

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  14. The Electoral Commission is now very clear in its absolute determination not to register us.

    It no longer even acknowledges receipt of the latest rounds of repetitive paperwork that it demands, and would presumably tell enquirers that it had never heard of us. I wonder why.

    Oh well, I can't say that I wasn't warned.

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