This is not a single issue election.

A few thoughts on th choice we need to make in seven weeks, having slept on the issue and chewed the cud. Firstly, this isnot a single issue election, although Brexit is a big issue. If in 5 years time we have no NHS to speak of, a privatised education system and an even more inequitable society, Brexit will seem like a sideshow. The hard right of the Tories are seeing this as a golden opportunity to reshape the UK into a neocon fairyland. We have served article 50, so the Brexit negotiations will be done and dusted in 23 months. That means that whoever wins, will have another three years after that to do what they like, especially if they secure a large majority. Whilst I believe May was right to seek a mandate, she was highly dishonest about why she made the decision. She claimed that she had too much parliamentary resistance to her proposals, but anyone who follows Westminister will know she got a remarkably easy ride on passing the Brexit bill. Labour by and large had accepted the result of the referendum and was not being obstructive. Remember the difficulties John Major had with Maastricht treaty, if you want to talk difficult Parliaments. This is all about political gain and opportunism on behalf of the Tory Party.

As for Labour. There is a dispondence among many, especially on the Blairite wing.  They really need to man up. If they don't support Labour candidates, then they are behaving in a reprehensible manner. Labour needs an infusion of new MP's, because it is clear that many of the current ones are out of step with the party membership. Having said that, it will be bad for the country if there is no opposition so to speak of, therefore support the person you've got, not the person you want. In Barnet seats, candidates such as Sarah Sackman are clearly the face of the future for Labour. I agree that it is highly unlikely that Jeremy Corbyn will be the next PM, therefore we need intelligent and articulate people like Sarah to help shape the post Corbyn era. I suspect that the best any Labour supporter can realistically hope for is a Labour lead coalition. I suspect that Corbyn would not lead that, although that is a guess. But seven weeks is an eternity in Politics. Yesterday I was sitting here eating my porridge for breakfast thinking "what on earth will I be blogging abut this week". With May clearly being highly dishonest about her reasons for calling the election, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the campaign will expose her as a shifty and untrustworthy politician who is also not noted as being a great campaigner. There is also a msss of young people who have swept Corbyn into power, who may well energise the campaign and deliver a shock. The received wisdom was that Remain would win and Clinton would brush Trump aside. The electorate had different ideas. Who's to say that it won't happen again.

The Lib Dems have an opportunity. Many good MP's lost their seats in the electoral purge that resulted from voters getting their revenge. However bad they may have seemed, to me it seems that what has followed is a million times worse. We need a strong voice for the 48% who believe in a future in partnership with Europe. Only the Lib Dems are speaking up for this. The Tories seem to be painting the Lib Dems as the party that is still stuck fighting the referendum, when the country has moved on. The trouble with this strategy is that I doubt many of the 48% have moved on and I also suspect a goodly percentage of the 52% may be having second thoughts. The Tories won a majority because they won dozens of seats from the Lib Dems. If the Lib Dems win these back, then the Tories dreams of huge majority may well prove to be a pipe dream and the concept that this election was a masterstroke may now look like David Camerons cunning plan to hold a referendum to shut up the leavers in the Tory Party. It is key to me that Lib Dems are the joker in the pack. I would be amazed if the Tory strategists don't have a cunning plan to shaft the Lib Dems, but we've seen how well they work.

Not that it affects Barnet, but we also have the SNP into the mix.  Will they maintain their stranglehold on Scottish politics. I suspect they'll lose a few seats, but will still be the dominant force north of the border. In the event of a coalition, they may well be the nemisis of Jeremy Corbyn. At the last election, Cameron won by scaring the life out of us with tales of Nicloa Sturgeon. I doubt that will work again.

Some have said that they are so disillusioned with the opposition that they are considering spoiling their ballot papers. This is the politics of the playground. If you spoil your ballot paper because you are not happy with Labour or don't like the Lib Dems, you are in effect voting Tory. No one counts spoilt ballot pappers, they just make your Tory candidate look more popular. That is your choice, but my Dad who was a staunch Tory voter once said "Spolit ballots are the politics of spoilt brats who are too immature to understand that politics is always about compromise and you are never voting for someone who is perfect". itotally agree. I feel the same about non voters who moan that "Voting changes nothing". If all of those who didn't vote actually bothered, we'd have a completely different set of politicians running the country.  Voting is a privelige that ony a few have on planet Earth. Use it wisely.

To recall the Chinese proverb. Brexit, Trump, Korea, Putin, Assad, Syria, etc, etc. We crtainly live in interesting times.