It’s often quipped that a week in politics is a lifetime, which makes Labour’s rout in this Thursday’s election make it seem like a draft obituary impatient to be published because the deceased won’t die.
A lesson in life that the Grumpy Vegan learnt in his professional involvement with animal protection organizations is that there are times when it’s important to move on to new challenges. The same is true for all those who lead political parties and governments and, indeed, animal rights groups.
The challenge that Prime Minister Gordon Brown confronts is considerable. He must reposition Labour as the most deserving party to be elected in the next general election that must be held on or before June 3, 2010. The British Labour Government led by Tony Blair was originally elected in 1997.
Mercifully for all, the Grumpy Vegan isn’t Britain’s Prime Minister. Nor does he want the job even if he had the opportunity. Managing my life is enough, thank you very much. But in living my life I try to adhere to my four core values: truth, nonviolence, compassion and Interbeing, the understanding that everything is interrelated. My idea of what the Labour Party should be — not what it is — is what I work for as a member. My contribution to the party is as a local member and in support of its outstanding track record on animal welfare. Further, my commitment is to help ensure future Labour governments pass laws and adopt regulations in the interests of animals.
The little bit of canvassing I did recently showed me that in a local election national issues often but not always trump local concerns. No one raised an animal issue on the doorstep. But animal protection is an issue that many people care about. It’s alarming that one pledge Conservative Party David Cameron has made is that if they are elected to be the next government there will be a free vote in Parliament on the Hunting Act abolishing bloodsports. If that doesn’t mean that Labour must be re-elected, well, I don’t know what does.
