Local election fever time....

It’s local election fever again in Birmingham. In areas with a large number of Pakistanis, there is evidence aplenty: from door-to-door campaigners to posters in windows. In other areas, you wouldn’t get so much as a cryptic clue that an election is looming.

Yesterday, the penultimate Sunday before the election, saw some feverish campaigning by most of the parties, in particular Galloway’s Respect and the local People’s Justice Party (the latter comprising mainly of retired/ nigh-retired Pakistani men who have failed to make headway in other parties). Galloway was himself out campaigning. As I strolled out for my Sunday walk along the Stratford Rd, who should I bump into but the intrepid Galloway himself, hugging everyone in sight (yes, even I got a hug).

A sizeable crowd gathered outside a hardware store, so a mic was thrust into Galloway’s hand to make an impromptu address. In his strong, macho accent, he asked people to vote Respect and throw out the Labour donkeys (he made a braying sound, on which there was thunderous laughter among the Pakistani ladies who probably didn’t understand what he was saying). He talked about local problems, from parking to crime and rats. Not able to resist a political jibe, he said we need to get rid of the two-legged variety of the latter as well. Standing next to him was Salma Yaqoob, the articulate young councillor who, in the 2005 general election, very nearly unseated a Labour MP who had a majority of Himalayan proportions. Galloway clearly has an eye on the parliamentary seat- hence the grassroots support building visit.

Elsewhere, I don’t think this will be a disaster for Labour in the Springfield and Sparkbrook wards. That is not because people love Blair- in fact even Labour voters hate him intensely. Rather, there is the phenomena of ‘biradriasm’ (clan identity) at play. Labour candidates hail from the same part of Mirpur, and belong to the same caste as, a large number of the voters in the area. For many people I have spoken to, that counts as more. They are keen to stress this and utter an expletive directed at the national Labour party in the same breath.

Curiously, I didn’t see any posters in windows in Small Heath, even though there was plenty of campaigning going on. My guess is that people are scared- there was a mini-riot at an election some years ago and people are afraid of having there windows done in. Who said the public is disillusioned and disengaged?