And we're off…

No sooner am I cloistered in academic conclave (the British Association of Canadian Studies conference) than a general election's announced. My attention will be unhappily divided between the polite rivalries of academic life and the rather less civilised discourse of a political world bereft of ideological values but replete with ambition, greed and hatred.

Now the election's upon us, my feelings are clear: I'd like a hung parliament with Labour depending on the votes of actual socialists to remain in government: a coalition with the Greens (if Caroline Lucas is elected), Plaid Cymru and the SNP. Labour on its own is tired and hopelessly compromised. The Conservative Party remains despicable, run by jolly toffs who, not far underneath, are less than jolly. They'll screw the poor, the black, the foreign, the young and the old. They aren't honest, or a breath of fresh air. Cameron is a US-style 'minimal government' freak with the conference that comes with Eton and £30 millions in the bank. He and his colleagues have never queued for benefits, looked for out-of-date food, faced a job interview with worry, used the NHS, attended a state school, been afraid of the bank manager or landlord, depended on a library or faced any problem which can't be solved with a credit card. This is why they should be stopped. Their world is not ours; their interests are not ours; their purposes are not ours.

I'll be online occasionally to update you on the latest in literary thinking on Canadianness and related matters (there are lots of other disciplines here, and I'll find it difficult to resist the politics panels. Right now, I'm listening to a fascinating paper on Canadian/Balkan literature and Orpheus by Milena Marinkova from Leeds: interesting texts and a much firmer grasp of theory than I could manage…