Local Voters Got It Right

Robbie had a bit of a close call when it came to voting on Thursday. Laura and I had voted earlier in the day but Robbie left for work before the polling stations opened and he went to visit his friend in hospital after work, so we had a last minute dash to the polling station when he got back to Northampton. He made it with ten minutes to spare.

I was fairly happy with the result locally, our MP lost her seat. She was a complete waste of space, she was only interested in headlines and photo opportunities, there was no substance and no respect for real people. When she attended school events she was always late arriving and as soon as she had elbowed her way into the newspaper photo she was gone before the camera flash died away. Other important visitors took time to talk to the children, but she was to 'important' for that! When Emily was in middle school she wrote to her and the other local MP about a proposed change from a three tier to a two tier education system. The other MP replied with a personal letter and followed up as more information became available. but all our MP managed was a printed postcard to say she had received the letter. People have long memories and that insignificant schoolgirl is now a voter!

I think we must have been a target seat for the Liberals, I certainly felt targeted, in fact it felt like harassment! They waged a war of paper against the voters, almost every day we got more junk mail from them and as the election loomed we got two or three items a day. What a waste, we didn't read them, our recycling bin is conveniently located next to our post box! They get a thumbs down from me for not being green and an even bigger thumbs down for being annoying. I had to laugh, after all that effort they still came third!

X Marks the Spot

I have been sick and tired of the election hype for weeks. I tend to think that the desire to hold high public office generally means that the person is totally unsuitable. I have been lied to by experts (have you met Robbie?) I am not easily persuaded that any of them deserve to be trusted with the care of a goldfish, let alone trusted with the running of the country! However jaded I feel about those standing for election there is one thing I am absolutely sure about, I must vote. We often forget that the right to vote was hard won and in the case of women it was not until 2nd July 1928 that the right for all women to vote on the same terms as men became law. It is a right that was hard won at great cost to many.