Here in the UK there were elections on Thursday. Quite what elections those were depended on whereabouts in the UK you live, but, in different places, there were elections for local councillors, for Police & Crime Commissioners and for various city Mayors, as well as one by-election for an MP.
Although it was popular in my youth to say, “Don’t vote: the government always gets in,” I was brought up by parents who believed that if you have a vote you should use it.
I imagine that a fair number of people will have chosen to vote by post in order to minimise the risk of catching Covid in a busy polling station, which might explain why, apart from the staff on duty, the church hall was completely empty when I went to do my civic duty early in the day. There wasn’t even the usual officious non-official waiting at the door with a clipboard to keep tabs on who had turned up so that no-shows could be chivvied along later in the day.
Realistically, I have little to say about the election or about the results. It’s been quite tiresome trying to follow the updates, which have come in in dribs and drabs as everything is taking longer due to social distancing and other pandemic precautions. Indeed, for my area, although the Councillors were all counted and accounted for yesterday, I don’t think we expect news until tomorrow about who we have chosen as Police & Crime Commissioner for the next few years. I’m not really sure why the PCC candidates need to be affiliated to political parties: most politicians seem corrupt enough without actually having someone commissioning crime.
Incidentally, yesterday was the 22nd anniversary of my father’s death and I don’t think he’d be very proud of some of the things that have happened in this country – or indeed in the world – this century. The torrential rain yesterday that accompanied the slow roll out of results reminded me of one of his favourite sayings:
Bad governments bring bad weather.
don't confuse the narrator 