http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20020928/od_uk_nm/oukoe_l ife_britain_loonies&e=5
As the main political parties hold their weighty annual conferences, the official lunatic fringe is meeting in the Dog and Partridge pub for a very different convention. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party has been bringing flamboyant madness to the political scene for almost 20 years, and this year's annual conference in the genteel Hampshire town of Yateley, is no exception. Friday saw a "cabinet" reshuffle. "That basically consisted of us all standing in a cabinet and being shuffled. It fell to bits so now there's a cabinet split," leader Alan "Howling Laud" Hope told Reuters by phone from the pub, where he is the landlord. The Loony Party -- called "Official" to distinguish it from what the party calls the "unofficial loony" ruling Labour and opposition Conservative and Liberal parties -- was founded by the late David "Screaming Lord" Sutch in 1983. Intending to rattle the self-importance of mainstream parties, one-time rock musician Sutch in his trademark top hat and leopard-skin coat contested 39 elections, and lost them all. But he delighted a public increasingly disillusioned with politics, adopting unlikely policies and the slogan: "Vote for Insanity -- You know it makes sense!" On Friday, the party's manifesto collator, who delights in the name of "R.U. Seerius", was mulling a variety of proposals in preparation for a general election in 2005. "Whereas in other parties you have to be a member, with us anyone can send one in," Seerius told Reuters from the pub where some 30 loyal members have been meeting since Thursday with a determined lack of agenda. Policies included improving rail safety by tying a cushion to the front of trains and teaching paintball in schools. But Loony policies do exist on more serious issues. "We're not going to join the euro," Seerius said, referring to the debate over whether Britain should join Europe's single currency. "We're going to invite all the other countries to join the pound." But among past proposals such as turning Europe's 1980s butter surplus -- or "butter mountain" as it was known -- into a ski slope, some came to look less silly as time went on. Lowering the voting age from 21 to 18, legalising commercial radio in Britain and the abolition of dog licences were Loony policies that made it onto the statutes. Sutch committed suicide in 1999, shocking a public who had only seen his buffoonish side. "He was nothing like you imagined. He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't swear," said Hope. "He was very, very quiet, he was a gentleman," he added, saying he would carry on Sutch's tradition with this year's conference -- "a giant step backward for mankind". xponent Looney Tunes Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
