Manifesto Day 3: Being British

This is a tough one for three reasons.

1: I lost my Union Jack so had to use my England flag instead. I really do embrace all the home nations.

2: I haven't actually given any thought to what I'm going to write because I ended up in a beer garden last night smoking fags and drinking beer. Like a good little Brit.

3: It's hard to be patriotic in this field without coming across as a racist.

However I did have one idea previously, and I believe it to encapsulate the multi culturalism that I want to embrace (and that will probably surprise my leftie friends).

There is a big call for a new bank holiday, and many are shouting for November as the remembrance Bank Holiday. Now I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, and feel remebering those who have fallen is a very important thing to do. However I also feel that sadly the memories of these brave souls often gets utilised by the right wing as some form of propaganda. We can't have that. As the King Blues sang 'Your granddad didn't vote for fascists, he shot 'em'. He did as well.

No I propose that our new national Bank Holiday is July 7th. The 7/7 bombings in London were a terrorist atrocity that somehow galvanised this country and had the opposite effect to their intention. People lost their lives, but the city of London and the country became stronger. Many nationalities and religions were affected, and as a community and a country we pulled together and helped each other regardless of creed or colour. That is something we should celebrate, that the lives of those lost will never be forgotten. They weren't soldiers, they weren't an army and they weren't fighting any religious war: they were people co-existing and living their lives. I estimate that a large portion of this country don't care whether they live next to and Englishman, Scotsman or Indian man: they care about the personality. Lets celebrate that.

The big society? Cost cutting exercise. Sorry Tory boys but it is. The policy sounds good, but in essence the Torys don't give a toss about everyone. I met my local MP and he couldn't have cared less about me and my concerns: we need to care. Any of my MP's will be made available once a fortnight in their constituency to answer questions and concerns. Government can no longer be something conducted in the corridors of parliament: it is a whole country and everyone from Worthing to Washington has to feel like they can play a part.

I'm not going to bang on much more because my message is simple: to love your country is not the same as disliking other countries. We should be proud of what we've achieved: a relatively tolerant society. The fact the left and partial right can converse on here so freely is an indication of that. Parties that spew hate and bile shouldn't have the freedom to say what they want. The BNP are as guilty of inciting racial hatred as Abu Hamza and his crew. Whatever your political viewpoint, hate and intolerance cannot be justified.

I also propose a full referendum on the issue of Scottish and Welsh devolution. If those countries would like to break away then they should be allowed to do so: however I believe it is our strength as Great Britain that gives us our uniqueness within the EU and indeed the world. We should be joined, like three distinctively different siblings. I'm not going into the Northern Ireland issue because frankly I don't know enough about it. I'll need a briefing when I get elected

In other news I have my first two ministers (if they accept), the Deputy PM and my Minister for Time Travel and Sliced Meat Products. I welcome other applicants. I suspect I'd like my Environment Minister to be Dear B if she'd be willing to move to Britain. Or maybe she could do it using that Skype thing people talk about. I'd use Skype but a: I have few friends and b: those I do have live around the corner.

Tomorrow: Education. That should be fun.

Maybe controversial.