One of those weeks: European Elections 2009

Well the past few weeks haven't been great for me, and neither have the results of the European Elections.

I joked to a friend of mine that the Guardian's headline should have been "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

Firstly, the Eurosceptics are doing well.The Tories gained the most votes on a eurosceptic manifesto, while the United Kingdom Independence Party came second, in front of Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

I agree that a lot of the decisions made at European level are wrong, but the same is true of a lot of decisions made at Westminster.

The European Union is also undemocratic, but what is needed here is people prepared to become MEP's and force change from the inside.

I do not believe that withdrawing from the EU will help, especially at a time when European countries need to work together to solve the financial crisis.

Leaving Europe will only push us further into the alleged special relationship between us and America.

Secondly, the British National Party gained two MEP's, Nick Griffin and the less well known Andrew Brons, despite having a lower share of the vote than in 2004.

The rise of the far right was repeated across Europe. In Hungary, the nationalist party Jobbik won 3 seats with almost 15% of the vote, while in Austria and Slovakia far right parties also made big gains.

Thirdly, Britain is being governed by a party preoccupied with in fighting. It is not good for the country when cabinet ministers are engaged in a costly power battle and the prime minister is clinging on.

A leadership election needs to be fought within the Labour Party so once and for all people have a strong leader.

During the farcical leadership election of 2007, I was sceptical about people's faith in Gordon Brown. I now feel sorry for him. I didn't agree with many of his actions as Chancellor under Tony Blair, or many of his actions now, but he isn't totally immoral, just incompetent.

Here's a lesson for the Labour Party: when you have someone ready to take over, put up a competent challenger from inside the cabinet so it is a real victory. Don't leave it to people like Michael Meacher to offer a democratic challenge.

So to cheer us all up, here is an interesting blog on the Euro elections by an observer in Northern Ireland.

Now the way forward is often hard to see.

Just like washing your hair or tidying yourself up can make one feel a bit better, I think back to 1945, forty one years before I was born, and remember that after a world war the British people voted for one of the greatest governments this country has seen.

Although they saddled us with Trident, they built schools and hospitals and gave ordinary people rights.

We need to find a way of keeping the good aspects of 2009: better racial and sexual equality, less class divisions, while getting rid of the materialism, corruption and social decay that sees young children carry weapons and the media cover our minds with celebrity stories.

One way is to do your bit and refuse to become interested in something because it is popular culture.

Don't just buy something because it was reviewed in the Metro (the publication that has done more to make British culture banal than any other) or wear something because a footballer has.

Develop your own interests and your personality and social conscience will then improve.

Sometimes, when I'm commuting into work, I look around at all the people shoving Metro's against others' backs and I have a vision of zombies crowded onto the tube, each holding a Metro and dressed in designer clothes.

When they get home, they sit on news sites leaving moronic comments as satirised in Private Eye's excellent "From the Messageboards" column, while the latest Home Box Office DVD blares out from the 55 inch television glued to a plastic trophy.

And while the zombies mill around, Britain's first British National Party prime minister, the former National Front chairman and MEP Andrew Brons, gazes out over a once proud land.

I don't want this to happen. We need to rebuilt British society, starting with ourselves.

As a caveat, I should also add that I don't think leaving comments on a news site is a bad thing, simply that moronic ones are not clever.

And I would also add that Speak Your Branes can sometimes be rather less neutral than is good.