To boldly go

Politics can be depressingly like football. Both seem to encourage polarisation, both seem to acquire supporters who delight in the yobbish behaviour so decried by all political parties and football supporters (so who does it, then?) and both seem to work towards the lowest common denominator in terms of message.

It doesn't have to be like that, of course, as last night's debate between Cable, Osbourne and Darling demonstrated, but the simple fact is that most people who unreservedly support a political party do so without using their brains.  It's easy, after all, to re-print swathes of the Daily Torygraph, or masses from any right-wing publication and swallow it hook, line and sinker (to escape from the unremitting football analogies for a moment) but real life isn't like that.  The fact is that whomever wins the next General Election is going to do broadly similar things: increase taxes, cut back services and make most people poorer.  Why? Because the UK can't simply do its own thing any more. We're in thrall to the very people who're responsible for the mess we're in - the Banks. 

And as if that wasn't depressing enough, the EU has multiple conditions to ensure we don't go our own merry way, no matter how much politicians like the egregious Osborne would have us believe they can. Anyone who says otherwise is sadly uninformed.

But for light relief,  Star Trek aficionados might be interested in the current trend of matching a character from the Next Generation & ST:DS9 to our current contenders.

Thus far, Brown is matched with Worf, while Cameron is matched with Data.  Neither is a flattering comparison, so feel free to contribute any ideas you might have. 

Per ardua ad asda, as they say in Basingstoke...