Unexpected excitement

Regular readers will have noticed that we’ve settled into a fairly regular one-post-per-month rhythm here at SLS, as I try to cling to the illusion that I am still an active blogger, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I was all set to make April’s post on our traditional 4/20 theme – probably something about the good news from Canada – but I’ve been jolted into action a couple of days early by the somewhat surprising news that we are to have a General Election in June, three years ahead of schedule.

Theresa May’s reasoning – go to the country now, before the full disastrous reality of Brexit becomes apparent, and while the opposition are a shambles – may be transparently cynical, but it is undeniably smart, since it is very difficult to imagine any outcome other than a solid Tory majority, which would give her the personal mandate she needs to take the country even further to the right.

So I’m not exactly optimistic right now, but I’m not hopeless either. Labour may be well behind in the national polls, but the support they have is geographically concentrated, and their recent turn to the left has brought in a new and energised layer of supporters, so there is a chance that they might manage to hang on to more of their seats than expected. The SNP are likely to sweep the board again in Scotland, which will deliver another block of anti-conservative MPs, not to mention unstoppable momentum for another Independence referendum.

Interesting times ahead for sure…