< rant >I've not let much of the hypocrisy and ignorance on display during this General Election campaign get to me, but the leaflet I got through the door from the Publican Party wound me up something rotten and I want to get it off my chest. The Publican Party is a single-issue party set up by a couple of bar owners in Inverness who are opposed to the forthcoming legislation from the Scottish Executive banning smoking in public places, like in Ireland.

I first came face to face with the Publican Party's idiocy when I went into one of the bars owned by the guys behind the campaign, Hootananny's, and on the huge blackboard beside the bar was the legend "Ventilation Eliminates Carcinogens". One of Scottish politics' snappiest matras? Up there with "It's Scotland's Oil" and "Free By '93", perhaps? I can hear the chanting on the streets already.

Anyway, I really got irritated by the leaflet I was sent for the following reasons:
1 – health is nothing to do with this election – health, including fag bans, is an issue devolved to the Scottish Parliament, and is of no relevance to the Westminster Parliament in London, for which this election is being held. It's like standing for the local council on a platform of reforming European legislation on coffee subsidies.
2 – what exactly does the Publican Party stand for? – other than campaigning on an issue that nobody at Westminster can do anything about, the only text I can find in the leaflet to anything other than the ban mentions that the candidate will "raise issues and concerns on other areas of your lives". Excellent. Glad we've cleared that up, then.
3 – use of English – the leaflet is full of errors of syntax and punctuation. For example, the front of the leaflet declares "What next? No sex!" when really they mean "What next? No sex?" I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a nazi when it comes to using language correctly, and this just shows the Publican Party up to be… well, a bit thick, I'm afraid.
4 – Sex in public places – the "What next? No sex!" slogan implies that smokers will be banned from smoking anywhere. Which they won't. Either that, or the Publican Party supports legalising sex in public places such as bars.

I gave up being political when I was at university, and really try to bite my tongue on this sort of thing these days. But sometimes, the occasional ignorance crops up that makes me laugh, scream, cry and just generally want to throttle those who are in our political elite or who aspire to be.

< /rant >

In other news, some of my Newburgh photos are up on the photos page.