Have the political lunatics escaped from the asylum? Make Politicians History? Catch a Grip.

I’m fairly disgusted by the Make Politicians History campaign that posted an envelope containing a postcard through my letterbox this morning in Belfast.

Why am I upset?

Is it the Make Politicians History policies? Some of the wisdom being presented by “Rainbow George” Weiss includes:

• renaming Belfast to Best City after George Best;
• calling for the introduction of a new electronic currency “the Wonder” (apparently, 1 wonder = 100 gasps);
• bringing the 2020 Olympics to Belfast;
• making Belfast a self-governing city;
• creating a Rainbow Republic to unite the British and Irish peoples, and call it “The Emerald Rainbow Islands”.

Is it the launch of their (music) album? Which explains why Ronnie Carroll was in town and being interviewed on Kim Lenaghan’s early morning show Radio Ulster last Sunday.

Is it the spelling mistake on the postcards? Though the MPH organisers need to learn to spell transform before they start doing it, and check their publicity proofs before getting them printed.

Is the focus on Belfast? At the expense of the 50%+ of the Northern Ireland population who live outside the Greater Belfast area. Not everyone lives in cities.

Is it the paradox of a political movement trying to make politicians redundant?

No. It’s the hijacking of the Make Poverty History moniker. While the white band campaign may have its faults and weaknesses, it is aiming for a virtuous goal. In contrast, Make Politicians History is a campaign that has grown out of the forgotten Let’s Tick Together party from a few years ago.

And it’s the stupidity of wasting money posting out 200,000 misspelt postcards to the Belfast electorate, asking them to tick them and post them back, when they don’t even explain what the campaign is about, and making it fairly tedious to see what they’re up to from one of the most web inaccessible websites that I’ve seen in years.

To quote from their website:

On the 13th December, 1984, representing The Mystically Directed
"Rainbow Connection Movement", Captain Rainbows' Universal Party, championed by the movements spokesperson George Weiss, advocating the abolition of parliament , the introduction of direct democracy and the transformation of Britain and Ireland into a republic to be called the "Emerald Rainbow Islands", received 48 votes at the Enfield Southgate by-election that brought Michael Portillo to the House Of Commons.

48 votes was all they deserved - both then and now.