3 for 2, Coalition. Image: Rob Watling
The voice of the British public is due to be heard on 7 May 2015, and its intent should be reasonably clear by the end of the next day. News media are agog at this reconfirmation of “democracy in action”, churning out clichés about the “circus”, the “theatre”, the “drama” of elections - and yet, in this instance there is something distinctive even about the clichés. They seem hyperbolic. There is more than usual focalizing of leadership performances, in the sense of putting on a good or bad act rather than having done something ill or well. We have leaders of the public (it used to be servants) acting out their claims.
Admittedly a particle of the faceless electorate such as I, with little more than the news and the usual propaganda material to go by, can always be misguided. But this particle, at any rate, feels more informed than necessary about trivia concerning certain fellow citizens with public-facing faces: about David Cameron’s burger-eating habits and smugness before deciding to save the union in eleven days; Ed Miliband’s photogenic charms and fan-base; Nick Clegg’s midlife crisis; Nicola Sturgeon’s penchant for counting her chickens before they are hatched; Nigel Farage’s colour-blind colour-coding; the bugs that get to Natalie Bennett when interviewed.
