Beer Mats for Blair

WakeUpWithHoward.jpg

With the British election campaign underway, the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (LCLGR) worries that gay men might vote Liberal Democrat instead of Labour. So to help Tony out, the LCLGR has distributed beer mats (pdf) to gay venues across the country — the mats read "Go to bed with Charlie… wake up with Howard."

According to the Guardian "Political parties are increasingly keen to win over Britain’s estimated 2.5 million gay and lesbian voters… all three major parties, plus the SNP and Plaid Cymru, signed a pledge to run a homophobia-free campaign at the request of the gay rights group Stonewall."

Even Tory leader Michael Howard has softened his party’s traditional hostility to gay activism. As Margaret Thatcher’s Environment Minister, Howard introduced the notorious Section 28 into law in 1988. Section 28 of the Local Government Act was targeted as schools and stated that:

1) A local authority shall not:
(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality
(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship

But in a recent interview with Johann Hari, Howard now admits that introducing Section 28 was wrong. The Tory’s web site, however, still carries speeches and media releases supporting the section and condemning Labour’s attempts to repeal it (Labour eventually succeeded).

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Nabakov
Nabakov
2024 years ago

I can see the hacks on this now.

“Go to bed with Tony. Wake up feeling Blairy.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wake up feeling dirty.”

“Go to bed with Tony. Wake up with Gordon’s cigarette ash in yer ear.”

“Go to bed wih Howard. Wake up and gnaw yer arm off.”

“Go to bed with Charlie. Struggle to remember his name in the morning.”

Nabakov
Nabakov
2024 years ago

I can see the hacks on this now.

“Go to bed with Tony. Wake up feeling Blairy.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Wake up feeling dirty.”

“Go to bed with Tony. Wake up with Gordon’s cigarette ash in yer ear.”

“Go to bed wih Howard. Wake up and gnaw yer arm off.”

“Go to bed with Charlie. Struggle to remember his name in the morning.”

Nabakov
Nabakov
2024 years ago

Jeez, I can get a comment up twice in a minute, you lucky bastards.

wbb
wbb
2024 years ago

2 minutes, yer (sic) drunken poseur

Nabakov
Nabakov
2024 years ago

*draws up to full height in a very dignified pose, marred only slightly by a ciggie in each hand and booze stains on a recently-pressed suit*

I was referring, my dear wbb, to the elapsed interval between my original post and its duplicate, not my follow on comment. Clearly the likes of you who still believe in the virtues of a command economy are unable to conceive of a situation where unplanned temporal intervals during data interchange are a necessary, if not always expected, tradeoff for enjoying the fruits of capitalism’s few free droppings.

But then again, it’s probably asking too much to expect a monkey not to pick nits.

blank
blank
2024 years ago

I wonder how they arrive at 2.5 million G&L voters.

There are around 44.4 million voters in UK, so that makes G&L about 5.5% of the electorate.
Obviously there will be some constituencies with a higher proportion that that.

Is that enough to swing a seat?
Is there really a “gay vote”?

If a party is seen as being “gay friendly”, will that lose votes among the other 94.5% of the voters?

wbb
wbb
2024 years ago

If you can pick up swinging gay voters you’ll make up for any losses to Family First. The trick is to make sure each group of uncommitteds only hear the message that is meant for them.

The ALP in the last election made sure that the loggers were given the Green Policy loud and clear and in their faces. Oh dear.

Principled parties on the fringes such as the Greens don’t need to worry about finessing their message. They are only after voters on their own terms.

I’d love to see the breakdown of gay votes.

(Yes, Nab. I am a nitwit. Damn.)

Kieran
2024 years ago

Those evil Lib Dems are stealing poor Tony’s votes! They’re HIS I SAY, STOP STEALING THEM YOU THIEVING BASTARDS!!!