My
alarm woke me this morning. That rarely happens. I got up and for all
that "er indoors TM" and "Furry
Face TM" were snoring, little Rolo was
raring to go. He didn't seem at all bothered by the torrential rain
outside, and after five minutes I had to go out to fetch him in. It
was only when I went out that he actually started doing that for
which I'd sent him out. He'd just been playing in the rain.
Over
brekkie I watched the episode of "Dad's Army" that
the SkyPlus box had recorded last weekend. It kept me amused for half
an hour. I then sparked up my lap-top and was rather disappointed to
find that the email I'd sent trying to win a dirty weekend in
Wiltshire had bounced back. I sent another email from a different
email account, and that bounced back too. Oh well, I doubt my back
would have been up to the stresses of a dirty weekend in Wiltshire
anyway.
I
popped up the road to the polling station to cast my vote. Whilst I
was there I watched a minor commotion. Some idiot was loudly shouting
that his allocated polling station was fifty yards in the wrong
direction; he was walking past this polling station on his way to
work. Why couldn't he cast his vote in this one?
I
watched the spectacle for a while. I was tempted to make the
observation that the polling station we were in was actually fifty
yards in the wrong direction for me as well. Maybe we might do a
swap?
But
I'd already drawn my "X", and what is fifty yards for
democracy anyway?
I
then made my way to work. As I drove the radio made the announcement
that most gay people are still afraid to tell anyone that
they are gay. Is our society still so intolerant?
I
got to work where there was a slight kerfuffle. "Luscious
Luke" (as he calls himself) had been harangued on his
way to work by a gaggle of children who had got a bicycle stuck up a
tree. It never occurred to Luke to ask exactly how these children got
the bike stuck up a tree, nor why they expected him to retrieve it
for them. But he spent ten minutes getting it out for them, and then
spent a little while regaling us with the story.
Had
I been the one asked for help I would have taken a photo or two...
And
that was my day.. but I shall still have a little rant. Today was the
euro-referendum. Some voted in, some voted out. We'll know if the
right choice was made tomorrow. But in the meantime there is uproar
about pencils being
used in polling stations. Apparently using a pencil makes it
easier for MI5 to change the votes which have been cast.... (takes
a deep breath)
Now
I have no idea which utterly brain-dead retard first came up with
this pathetically ridiculous notion, but it worries me just how
seriously such half-witted rubbish has gained popular acceptance.
Just think it through. Take Dover for example - purely because it was
the first one that came up on a
Google search. There are over fifty polling stations in Dover.
Each one with (at least) two members of staff on duty. So if
there is shenanigans at that point there would be a lot of people in
the know. A lot of peoople to be bribed to keep quiet; surely too
many to bump off without things looking susspicious.
Each
station will (when polling closes) have the ballot boxes
sealed before collection, and inspected on arrival at the counting
centre. This would (in my opinion) be the best time for MI5 to
nobble the ballot but there is a rather stringent process in place to
specifically avoid such nobbling.
And
again with so many boxes being collected there would be a lot of
people in the know. A lot of peoople to be bribed to keep quiet;
surely too many to bump off without things looking susspicious.
As
for the counting, it is done in the open under the supervision of
accredited observers of both sides. It would be difficult to maintain
the secrecy of anyone fiddling the result there.
And
that's just Dover. The process is repeated all over the country. Just
how many peoople would have to be in on this to actually affect the
outcome of the result? And if vote-rigging actually was going on,
just how likely is it that not one person wouldn't let something
slip? Does anyone *seriously* think that enough people could
secretly be in on a vote-rigging scheme that would actually swing the
result?
But
*loads* of people have been expressing concern about pencils
in polling stations. For myself I'm used to it. after all I've been
voting for over thirty years.
It
strikes me that there can be only two reasons for anyone to find
voting by pencil surprising. Either they've not voted before... or...
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