Almost There Now ...

You know how it is when somebody important or famous dies, or when a great tragedy - such as the bombing in Manchester the other week - occurs? For a while there's little else in the news and all thought seems to be dominated by this one event.  It's the same at the moment with the General Election.  After all the build-up, I think everyone will breathe a sigh of relief when Thursday evening comes and it's all over.  Certainly that's the feeling among teams on the ground, whether engaged in canvassing, delivering leaflets, or the planning, printing, stuffing envelopes or sorting that goes on behind the scenes.

Yes, it will soon be over; but one important thing remains.  I hope my readers will not ignore their hard-won right to vote in the election.  If you aren't a staunch supporter of one party or another, perhaps the choice of who to vote for is still a difficult decision yet to be made.  One way is to draw up a list of the various claims of each party standing, decide which of their policies you agree with and which not, and simply vote for the party with the most likes.

Some may advise you to vote tactically: to vote for the party most likely to defeat the one with your most dislikes.  This might be effective under our present electoral system, but has always seemed to me to be disloyal to the values I hold dear.  When proportional representation comes - as, sooner or later, it must - there will be no need for tactical voting because, wherever your sympathies lie, a vote for your preferred choices will not be wasted.

One friend told me the other week that "so-and-so candidate is a sweetie, so he gets my vote, otherwise I would have voted for your party."   I don't particularly like my party's candidate, but I've voted for her because of the policies she espouses, not because of her personal appeal ... or lack of it. After all, it doesn't matter whether it's warm water or cold that you use to pressure-wash your yard, so long as the pressure is there to do the job.

I'm reminded of an incident that (fortunately?) occurred so many years ago that all of the people involved are now dead.  It happened while I was a teenager working in a grocer's shop during the school holidays.  A customer had been bewailing the fact that no suitable toilet rolls were available on the shelves.  There were blue rolls, green rolls, yellow and white rolls, but this lady was interested only in pink ones, of which there were none.  After a lengthy discussion on the matter, she left ... disappointed and empty-handed.  As the door closed behind her, one assistant turned to the other and remarked, "I don't know about you, but my bum doesn't mind what colour wipes it!"