h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am not allowed to tell you who to vote for here. But they should have been campainging where you are at the moment I have been inundated with paper. FC recioeved her postal ballots this morning and I trust she is voting for me.

I jsut suggest that if the BNP are statnding and you don't want them to win vote for the candidate most likely to win if you ahve no preference as that will be the best in the first past the post system we have at the moment to ensure you have representation.

With that I declare my allegiences ho hum.

Even if you did attempt to tell me who to vote for, what do *you* think the chances of me listening are?

Nope. No campaigning. I barely realised that there was a local election on...luckily the BNP propaganda enlightened me on that side of things.

Incredibly slack political parties I guess. I'll probably vote Lib Dem. Labour will probably win (yet again) so I would rather not compromise my values. It's not like the BNP even have a chance in this city...stilll...

Oh blah. I resign on this adult thing. I want to be 17 again.

Fair enough. Unfortunately there is talk off lowering the age to 16 so 15 would avoid voting responsibilities.

Well that's a bad idea. Most people (although not me) learn their political knowledge between 16-18ish...

I wouldn't want to be 15 again anyway.

So did I I guess.

"Most people (although not me) learn their political knowledge between 16-18ish"

I'd say more like political *awareness* starts around that age. "Reasoned" decisions come later. I don't think I could profess "knowledge" even now, bejobbed and bemortgaged as I am at the ripe old age of th(humph)ty(humph). Wasn't it Churchill who said "anyone who isn't a socialist at eighteen has no heart. And anyone who isn't a Tory at forty has no brain."

(I'm intrigued where that leaves Shaun Woodward, who defected from the Tories to Labour in December 1999, aged 41... )

The more I learn, the less I want to have to do with the whole thing, and the more cynical and fatalistic I get. Another nail in the coffin was reading "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore - a book I highly recommend. Which brings me neatly onto...

Wampus: if you voted for Nader, it *IS* your fault!

H.

Mine started at 9 years old. Go figure.



And I started out socialist. Now look where I am.

Incidentally Hoo, didn't Churchill also say "Women have no use, and no inclination for the vote"???

Did he?

He did say rather a lot, after all... one of the greats of course being "And you're ugly, but in the morning I'll be sober." I love that one.

I remember when I was 17 my girlfriend at the time was doing Sociology O level (presumably because she wasn't very bright - a observation corroborated by her status as my girlfriend, presumably...) and I vividly remember looking at one of her textbooks, which blithely stated that "most women vote Conservative". And I remember clearly:

1. being amazed that a textbook could make such a sweeping generalisation
2. thinking that made it a bit unfair on Labour, given that they were more committed to equality and all the ungrateful women were doing was voting for the other side
3. thanking Bod that I was doing proper A levels instead of p**sing my time away doing waste of space non-subjects like sociology.

So you started out socialist... where are you now?

H.

Libertarian I guess. According to other folks analysis.

So where does that leave you scrawling your X on a current British voting form?

H.

Still don't know. I will probably head for the Lib Dems. Or whichever name my crayon falls on first. I'll decide tomorrow.

Not considering tactical voting then? Or don't you need to bother? (I've no idea what the politics of Bristol are/is so I wouldn't know whether you'd be splitting a close run vote going LibDem. Read 'Stupid White Men', you'll love it AND it'll give you something to get angry about, and I know how you love that... )

H.

Bristol is Labour controlled, but recently they have p**ssed everyone off by doing...well nothing...and "reforming"...well, everything. Hence the BNP canvassing, and the group called the Bristolians that sprung up sometime recently from the depths of our white urban ghetto (we have a black one too, and I would rather live there than in the white one : in fact, I have). The Lib Dems and the Green party, and the Conservatives are people I have not heard a whimper out of. Let alone the independant candidate. Very odd.

And this is my *first* chance to vote too. What a dilemma.

And I am sure Bob will come along at some point later on, and disagree with absolutely everything I have said.

I was once eleven days too young to vote in a general election...

Isn't there a Silly Party candidate you could vote for to register a protest?

And if there isn't, doesn't that suggest a gap in the market you could fill next time around?

H.

Ah that "DIY idea"

Maybe.

I wouldn't waste my vote on a silly party. I am tempted to not bother at all, but that would be going against my morals big time. Stupid local elections.

The pondering continues.

Mind you, you've got to watch out if you're standing as a joke candidate. Lest we forget, Hangus the Monkey (the local football team mascot) stood for mayor of Hartlepool (Peter Mandelson's constituency, of course)... and won.

H.

Yeh, and the people actually got upset when he was seen wearing a suit and tie and not the monkey suit...

It would be something to do I guess. But I doubt I ever would. Politics involve some resemblance of uniformity and pandering to the people to get voted. I would explode. Or be lynched.

"Politics involve some resemblance of uniformity and pandering to the people to get voted."

No it doesn't. Particularly if you're only standing to represent a "protest" alternative to a candidate you know is going to win. If you've got a situation (such as you appear to have in Bristol) where there's a "safe" seat, a candidate for whom a vote clearly and solely represents a specific protest AGAINST the majority party (and specifically not FOR any other) can send a message - or at least give the people the opportunity to send a message.

Also - "uniformity"? Tell that to Screaming Lord Sutch.

H.