Murphy's letter from Edinburgh

 

Fed up with this kind of electioneering

The British media has gone into overdrive and they have become almost obsessed with the American elections just now.  There is not much more on our news or topical discussion programs apart from who is going to win the American election and who is not.

I don't understand why we are getting so much coverage of the American elections which has been going on almost for the last two month.  This when we do not get as much coverage of our own elections.

Each correspondent reporting to the British public has a different slant on what way the American people are going to vote, but at the end of the day no one seems to be any wiser as to what way the American people are going to vote.

Well I am quite prepared to wait and see what the results are without listening to all the spin from anyone who has anything to say about these elections.  No one really knows what's going to happen until the votes are cast and counted, that's why democratic countries hold elections.  It's the people of the country holding the elections that it effects, and that's why election are held.  They are the people who will have the final say and make the final decision.

I am quite sure the American people will make up their own minds as to who they want as their leader without the world media getting into a spin and going into overdrive about it.

No doubt the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are the big issues on a lot of people's minds and it might have an strong bearing on the way the voters of America might vote.  The same as it might effect our elections, although I still say that the actions that were taken were right.

The British people go to elections next year, and if I thought the media was going to broadcast so much on our own elections I would be very surprised.

In Britain the turnouts at the ballot box are always low by the people who can't be bothered to vote, or those who turn around and say "nothing will change anyway". Even if they don't vote, things will still change as it always does with time, no matter who's in office.

I will always cast my vote as long as I am able to do so.  Not to vote would be tantamount to me stating that I am not interested in how my country is run.  Well I do care how my country is run and how its people are treated, and that's why I cast my vote.

I just hope the American people get out there and vote without being influenced by world events, and when it comes to our turn I hope the British people do exactly the same.

The casting of the votes and the counting I'll leave to people who it effects without going into overdrive as to who will win and who won't.

The reason for that is because I just don't know who's going to win, and neither does the media.  No one will know that until the elections are over.

Written by Andrew Murphy 1 November 2004

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