Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Other issues
An interesting item this morning on Radio Wales in which they discussed the issues that the politicians have so far resisted talking about.
Residents of Wrexham were interviewed and asked for their contribution to this debate. Amongst the issues raised were Europe, the Countryside, hunting (where have the Countryside Alliance and their threat to hound Ministers got to?) energy policy, nuclear power and Education.
Although not entirely fair the list was useful as a guide to the way that political parties approach elections. All of the main parties will have taken soundings, opinion polls and conducted focus groups to identify the issues that concern the vast majority of voters. Having done that they will then have matched them up to their own strengths and concentrated on that narrow range of issues in their campaigning. Thus the Tory Party's emphasis on immigration and the Liberal Democrats concentration on Tuition Fees, the Iraq war and civil liberties.
In all of this the views of minorities tend to get lost other than in individual constituency campaigns. The demands of the mass media and the increased pace brought about by the communications revolution means that if anything this trend will strengthen in the future. The concentration of all the parties on a few marginals also tends to work against the discussion of a plurality of issues in favour of campaigns on one or two key matters. It is not perfect but it is the only democracy we have.
Residents of Wrexham were interviewed and asked for their contribution to this debate. Amongst the issues raised were Europe, the Countryside, hunting (where have the Countryside Alliance and their threat to hound Ministers got to?) energy policy, nuclear power and Education.
Although not entirely fair the list was useful as a guide to the way that political parties approach elections. All of the main parties will have taken soundings, opinion polls and conducted focus groups to identify the issues that concern the vast majority of voters. Having done that they will then have matched them up to their own strengths and concentrated on that narrow range of issues in their campaigning. Thus the Tory Party's emphasis on immigration and the Liberal Democrats concentration on Tuition Fees, the Iraq war and civil liberties.
In all of this the views of minorities tend to get lost other than in individual constituency campaigns. The demands of the mass media and the increased pace brought about by the communications revolution means that if anything this trend will strengthen in the future. The concentration of all the parties on a few marginals also tends to work against the discussion of a plurality of issues in favour of campaigns on one or two key matters. It is not perfect but it is the only democracy we have.
