Girls Aloud On Politics

Knox_Harrington · December 14, 2006

A call for a higher, hypothecated tax regime, the return of grammar schools and party political messages during TV advert breaks is today made by a group of people who have hitherto remained largely absent from the political arena. Talking to the New Statesman in what is thought to be their first political interview, Girls Aloud, better known for annoyingly good pop ("shoulda known, shoulda cared/ shoulda hung around the kitchen in my underwear"), are forthright.

Sarah Harding tells the magazine: "We need to make politics more user-friendly." The singer continues: "It just isn't talked about in normal magazines and papers. We never get asked who we would vote for. It could be a general question to ask us in an interview, but it isn't."

So what do Harding and her bandmates Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Nadine Coyle and Kimberley Walsh really think?

On getting the message across, Cole believes: "There should be adverts in the breaks during Coronation Street spelling it out in bullet points: this is what the Conservatives stand for, this is what Labour stands for."

Roberts meanwhile, aiming a dagger right at the heart of Newsnight's duty editors, adds: "I know there are programmes on late at night, aren't there, when they have like debates and stuff.

"But young people are not going to sit there and choose to watch them. It's boring."

The band are anti-war but broadly Labour and favour higher, hypothecated taxation. "You'd happily pay taxes if you thought, I'm paying them so a fireman or a nurse can have a decent wage," said Walsh. "People just want to know it's going to the right people."

On education Cole, believes: "You can't help the fact that some kids are just not going to be as bright as others ... They should definitely bring back grammar schools. Then you can say to low achievers: you can get there if you work hard."

Cole seems irritated by David Cameron's recent answer to a question about who he fancied most. "Politicians know that we get listened to by more young fans than they do. That's why David Cameron said he fancied me. He was just trying to be cool ... Do I fancy him? No! Politicians should stop trying to be cool and get on with running the country."

The band blame the media for the aspiration of some young girls to be a footballer's wife. "Footballers' wives are just as bad as benefit scroungers - it's just a higher class of sponger," said Cole, wife of Chelsea left back Ashley Cole.

Des · December 14, 2006

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