"I agree with Nick" probably has to be one of the most memorable phrases to come out of this year's election campaign - spoken by Gordon Brown during the first of the televised debates. The TV debates were a first for this country, and rather shook things up in an interesting way, as Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader (oh! ha! I just typed Demoncrat - I really did!) came out of them rather better than expected, making the election a three-horse-race (as they say) and raising a strong possibility of a 'hung parliament'. Whoever 'wins', they will be sure that more people didn't vote for them than did. Such a strange system!By the time you read this, it may well be clear what the new shape of government in the UK is to be. As for me, I agree with Nick (well, he's the dishiest of the three anyway!) but unfortunately in this constituency that won't get me very far. Shipley is traditionally a Tory seat, though by no means as strongly so now as it used to be.
Whatever happens, I am just so grateful that I can potter along to vote in the local Methodist church hall (shown above) - a modest building, staffed by helpful and smiley people. The young Labour activist outside was courteous when he asked me for my registration number. There were no armed guards, no need for purple-inked fingertips, no suspicious packages or car bombs reported anywhere (as at 6pm Thursday anyway!). The UKIP leader was almost killed in a plane crash - but it seems to have been caused by a tangled banner rather than anything more sinister. I thank God that I live in a democracy like this, even if it does look a bit wonky sometimes.
I followed all the thing on TV. That's the first time that we have in France, the possibility to follow a vote in such a clear way. I like political quotes, the best remaining Obama's "Yes, we can"!
ReplyDeleteI feel very sorry for Nick - what happened to all those voters? Why did so many lie to the pollsters? .... or perhaps we should stop taking any notice of opinion polls.
ReplyDeleteIs there a reason why your photograph is leaning to the left? We deserve to be told.
ReplyDeleteBit of a mess, and to think I stayed up till 2.30 hoping for some kind of result. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteGood post! Someone once said that democracy was a terrible political system -- but the best there is. I think we see that every day.
ReplyDeleteIt's always amazing to me how many people don't even bother to vote!
ReplyDeleteWe have compulsory voting here and we found it hard to believe that some people over there couldn't vote as too many people turned up to vote or that they ran out of ballot papers.
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