Coming to the party

This blog is going to be an attempt for me to join the political discussions I follow so avidly from a distance.

And I'm planning to frame my interventions around this belief I have about politics. It's good to join.

It's good to join the discussion: both to try and persuade others and find your views shaped and finessed far more by having to defend them out loud.

It's also I believe good to join a political party. Because politics isn't about throwing bottles from the back, even if they are expertly crafted art nouveau bottles. You need to work with others and you need to give and take. So my New Year's Resolution is by the end of the year I will have joined a party. I just have to decide which one.

I view this decision like getting married. Technically if it all goes tits up you can leave but you're making the decision because you're confident it won't. It should be a commitment that lasts.

The problem is I'm not sure what party to join. It won't be the BNP and I'd be highly surprised if it was the Greens, the Socialist's Workers Party or UKIP. My opportunities to vote SNP or Plaid Cymru are limited in South London so really we're talking about the big 3. I've never voted Conservative but then there are plenty of things I have believed which I don't anymore so I'm very keen to give all 3 parties a fair hearing.

So I'm going to spend the first 6 months just pontificating about the issues of the day until the point where I have worked out what manifesto I would most like to see from a party. I'll then spend six months considering the parties and understanding what I would have to give up and through it discover what are the core issues I wish to keep. Then I'll make a decision.

Simples.