The animal is the same everywhere?

The front page editorial of the New Zealand Herald recently asked the question, "When is the Government going to get this message: democracy is not a device to keep the Labour Party in power?"

Last year the Labour Government there distributed electoral pledge cards, financed out of public funds. Eventually they backed down in the face of protest from all directions, and refunded the money. This year there are bills to restrict politics largely to registered parties, who will be able to use parliamentary funds for election campaigns. The bills also make law the provision of public funds for election purposes - something ruled improper by the Auditor General after the last election.

Do you see a parallel here in the UK? Daily attacks by the Guardian on Lord Ashcroft, today for allowing friends to use his aircraft, - duly and properly recorded in "members' interests", and the partisan intention to seek to hamper other parties financially while retaining their Trade Union finance intact and above question, seem to suggest that the animal is everywhere the same.

The Labour Party membership is at something of an all- time low, and wealthy backers are more reluctant to "invest" after the honours scandal. With fewer activist foot-soldiers ands wealthy backers, the name of the game seems to be to "hobble the others".