sometimes i really do think that i should take select writings off of this blog, make a nice portfolio of them and present myself as someone able to provide "expert comment and analysis". normally i don't rate much of me and my abilities all that highly, look you see, but it's getting to the point where i would without any debate seem able to do better than those paid an awful lot of money for insight and projections.
and all i have done to be able to do this is look at a situation from time to time, observe it and then understand it for what it is. as was, with the input of Spiros, the case with the by-election in Richmond this week.
the above is but a fraction of the campaigning literature and leaflets that Spiros has sent me from that part of the world. this fraction is in itself a mere fraction of the stuff shoved into his various mail boxes (he's a man of many addresses). it would seem on a daily basis Richmond got more election stuff through the door than the rest of the country got during the course of the entire 2015 general election.
so, to recap, Zac Goldsmith lost the election. he managed to turn his approx 23,000 majority as a Conservative MP into a loss as an Independent candidate. on the one side credit is due to him for "keeping his word" and triggering this by-election as a result of his now former party voting for a new runway at Heathrow. on the other, bigger and more important side, he should have perhaps checked if anyone was really all that bothered about the Heathrow decision, and if he was the only one working to stop the new runway happening. he made something of an oversight in both instances.
it really did look quite obvious all along that Zac was going to lose this election. and yet the reporting today is that the result is a "shock" and "surprise". no, not it wasn't. if you have a look, for example, here and here, you can see the signs always pointed to this.
yep, the above is even more of the pamphlets and flyers that Spiros has been sent in the post or handed. the letter off of Nick Clegg is a really nice touch in particular; a gesture which in fairness does make it all the more impressive that the Lib Dems won despite the reminder that Nick Clegg is one of them.
what perhaps is a shock and surprise is that "the press", as in newspapers and the twenty four hour news stations, are saying that this election result reflects or represents "a national change of mood against Brexit". no, no, it most certainly does not.
i respect the fact that the vote against Brexit in Richmond was some 70%. or if you like, 70% of Richmond voted to remain in the EU. i'd suggest that the press respect the fact that as Zac was a pro-leaver (the only thing i agree with him on) it was always going to be a harder task for him to get re-elected. Richmond is an amazing place, man, and full of some wonderful people. it does not, however, in any way, shape or form reflect what the rest of country is thinking.
best of luck to Ms Olney in representing the area as MP, then. if nothing else, we can assume that she will not be going ahead and triggering by-elections on the basis of promises that she should perhaps not have made.
as for Zac Goldsmith, well. he's been found not good enough to be London Mayor despite standing against the weakest possible alternate candidate, and he has been found not good enough for the constituents that he represented for almost 18 months. as he now presumably has more time on his hands to google himself and launch legal stuff against blogs and such, i will leave it there.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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