News from the provinces

Conservative leadership hopeful* David Davis visited Aberdeen yesterday. Around 15 people turned up to hear what he had to say. To put this in perspective, Aberdeen has a population of around 210,000 and average earnings are significantly higher than the Scottish average. The city does have a long history of strong Conservative support, particulary in Aberdeen South, my own constituency, where a Conservative MP has been elected many times since 1945. Not recently though. Aberdeen is one of the places where signs of a Conservative revival in Scotland would be most likely to be in evidence. It clearly isn't. In fact, I suspect it'd be easier to revive a dead dog.

Still, only 15 people? That really is very embarrassing. It might reflect the fact that the people of Aberdeen are even more disinterested in politics than the UK average, but 15 people? I wonder if DD thought the trip was worthwhile?

As a side note to this, I couldn't help but notice that the Press and Journal report quoted several of the 15 people in attendance. An 80 year old gentleman, his 72 year old wife and another lady described as a "pensioner" were all asked for their views. A representative of the Aberdeen University Conservative and Unionist Association was also quoted, although his age and pension status were not mentioned. I'd love to know whether this was an accurate reflection of the age of the audience or whether it was the P&J playing around with a stereotype. My money's on a combination of the two.

Also in today's Press and Journal was yet another letter attacking the unprincipled attitudes of the opposition in voting against the 90 day detention proposal of the Blair. It's the fourth one down, "Opposition attitudes". This one is specifically aimed at the opportunism of Charles Kennedy. Oh dear. I wonder if anyone has explained basic Liberal Democrat principles** to the author. I've already mentioned this but to argue that the Liberal Democrats voted against this proposal simply in order to embarrass the government is just exposing your own ignorance and prejudice. Shame on you sir.

* Hurray for cliches. Where would we be without them?

** Yes, they do exist. I believe they are usually kept in a vault on an uninhabited Scottish island and are very rarely seen in public.