I
woke this morning determined to stop the whinging which has been most of my
last week. I made toast and had my usual look at the Internet as I do. It was
much the same as ever; today’s most impressive bitter argument was whether or
not a photograph from the original series of “Star Trek” had been
photoshopped. It was a matter of the utmost indifference to me, but there were
those who felt it to be a matter of life and death.
As
a first step to stopping the whinging I thought I might get back into the habit
of a morning dog walk. Despite the forecast rain I took three dogs up to Kings
Wood where I’d had reports of a missing geocache. Sadly it wasn’t one which was
anywhere near a car park, but replacing it made for a good walk.
As
we walked Bailey found a bone to crunch on. I wish she hadn’t.
According
to my watch we walked for just over five miles today. Perhaps a little much for
a first time back… is it really only a week or so since I last gave the dogs a
decent walk round the woods? At the end of the walk my watch told me I’d done
eleven thousand steps; it was under one thousand yesterday.
As
we drove home there was a rather interesting program on the radio about the
right to protest. Professional people who get arrested for protesting are
facing the loss of their professional registration for protesting. If you have
a professional registration and get arrested you are legally obliged to tell
the registration body and there will be an investigation in case you are
bringing the profession into disrepute. There were interviews with ex-nurses
and ex-doctors who claimed they’d been struck off for noisily waving placards.
We
came home; I had a little sleep, then struggled with geo-puzzles for the
afternoon. Here’s a question. How many letters are there in the phrase “jam
roll”? Seven? I thought so, but no. There’s six. You count the two “l”s
as only one distinct letter. One lives and learns.
We
had a rather good bit of dinner, and as I’m typing this, the Masked Singer is
on the telly. I’ve not seen it before; what a load of tripe.
And
in closing today, don’t forget to vote tomorrow. As
I said the other day I’ve got a choice of six candidates at next week’s
general election. With less than a day to go, only four of them have stuck
their propaganda through the letterbox to let me know where they stand.
I’ve read the literature carefully. At first sight as
is the case at every election, those currently in power (nationally and
locally) say sh*t is sugar to stay in power, and the opposition politicians
have all adopted “vote for me – I’m not as crap as them” as their
political position.
But here’s what they have to say for themselves…
Our current MP (Conservative) is claiming he
will do all sorts of things that he has already had fourteen years to do and
hasn’t, and has spent quite a bit of time posing on social media recently
trying to take the credit for other people’s efforts.
The Green candidate openly admits that she hasn’t got
a whelk’s chance in a supernova (as Ford Prefect once remarked), but
says that if elected she would hold the (presumably Labour) government
to account. Seriously? With the polls predicting the Labour party
having more than three times the MPs of all the other parties put together, Sir
Kier ain’t going to listen to anyone, is he?
The Consensus/Independent chap has put quite a lot of
paper through the letterbox, but has said a lot without actually saying
anything. I messaged him to ask what his policies are on a range of issues. He
didn’t even reply, so as far as I’m concerned he can get bent.
The Labour chap talks a good fight. He actually talks
sense, but a vote for him is a vote for all that comes with the Labour party.
I’ve always felt that the Labour party is such a good idea in theory… but in
practice is an entirely different proposition.
Sadly the Liberal Democrats and Reform UK couldn’t be
bothered to stick anything through the letterbox. Mind you neither of them
could come up with a candidate who lives locally so I suppose they don’t see
themselves as contenders?
So who do I vote for? In a novel break with tradition
for me I’d like to vote sensibly. When I talk about “sensible voting” I
mean that I want to form an opinion based on careful consideration of the issues
being voted about.
Mind you, I have to wonder if doing so is worth the
effort. The trouble we have in the UK is that the carefully considered opinion
of someone who has spent time forming this opinion is of no more worth than the
passing whim of a half-wit…
Here’s some examples of “sensible voting” from
people I know…
Voting Labour for twenty-five years until you get
promoted to supervisor then voting Conservative because Labour is for workers
and Conservative is for managers.
Voting Conservative because your father once said you
are a “true blue” even though you don’t agree with a single thing they
stand for and everything with which you agree is Labour party policy.
Checking the latest opinion poll before the election
and voting for the party seeming to be in the lead as a vote for the losing
party is a vote wasted.
Voting for Brexit as your manager thinks it is a bad
idea.
Voting against Brexit as your manager thinks it is a
good idea.
Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever because that’s
what the newspaper’s headline said to do.
Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever because your mum
told you to do so.
Voting Conservative/Labour/whatever because your
latest main squeeze is a mad-keen Conservative/Labour/whatever supporter and
being very loud about their chosen party will increase your chances of doing
the dirty deed with/at/on them.
Voting for Brexit so that a particular brand of New
Zealand cheese will be back in the shops… even though the dairy packed up over
forty years ago.
So who am I going to vote for? At the moment I’m
probably going to draw a picture of a huge cock and balls on the ballot sheet.
Admittedly it’s hardly a “sensible” vote, but with the predicted
landslide Labour victory it is as good as any other political stance.
Mind you, if any of my loyal readers are undecided,
here’s a half-way
decent website which asks your opinion on a range
of subjects and might help you make your mind up. Interestingly it doesn’t
advocate drawing a picture of a huge cock and balls on the ballot sheet as a
political stance.
But
whoever gets in will make some good decisions which will go utterly unnoticed,
some bad ones which will be pasted over every headline, and will get lambasted
in this diary with annoying regularity.
As
part of my trying not to be so negative, I might just see if I can periodically
highlight some of the good things that they might do.
