Z falls off the fence (though not for long)

There seems to have been more in the local paper about the Norwich election than the EU parliament one – though I haven’t yet read today’s local paper, it’ll wait until I get it soggy in the bath.  We had leaflets delivered (by post, not volunteers) from the Conservatives, the Greens and the Labour party, so I was quite surprised when I looked at my voting slip and found a long list of parties, several of which I’d never heard about and most of those apparently being simply anti-EU.  UKIP was at the bottom of the paper, another similar-sounding party was at the top – I don’t know how the order is selected, but it seemed confusing to me.

I’ve always been quite EU-sceptic, and I acknowledge that much of that is because I didn’t rate Ted Heath highly and he was the Prime Minister who took us into the Common Market, declaring at the time that it was simply a trading agreement, but years later acknowledging that it was obviously much more and anyone who didn’t know that was naïve.  I feel very European and I just dislike the extra layers of bureaucracy.  However, I’m coming briefly off the non-political fence to say that UKIP has influenced me quite strongly.  It’s turned me from Euro-sceptic to Europhile.

I’m not sure that the pundits, who say that the Conservatives are losing votes to UKIP are entirely correct, however, or at any rate, they only have part of the story.  I listen a lot more than I say in political matters, and most of the people I know who say “He has a point, you know” are people who have normally voted Labour in the past, but are in low-paid jobs and are afraid of losing them.  I can hardly feel that any success the party has is anything but protest voting, mind you – i think most people vote realistically at a General Election, for a government rather than on a whim.

In other news, today I’ve mostly been scrubbing the big greenhouse.  I feel very dirty.  Well, I am very dirty.  I’m off to have a bath Right Now.

20 comments on “Z falls off the fence (though not for long)

  1. tim

    I voted Green, because I agree with most of what they say. UKIP are just negative. The others don’t even know what they think (or won’t own up).

    Reply
  2. Pontillius

    Several years ago I once turned up at the polling station at 9:55pm only to find that my vote had been cast. I had read about vote rigging but never believed it could be done. I now think that the people in charge look down the list near closing time and use the unused voters names to vote for their favourite party. Of course I can’t prove this, but it take away my right to a vote that year.

    So now I go early to vote. Today I looked down the long list and didn’t see any party that actually does anything useful for the peasants of this country. I was going to vote UKIP, but they have had a few MEPs already and their main directive is to get us out of the EU, but as far as I can ascertain they have done nothing about it. The are quite happy to draw their salaries, expenses and allowances, but do nothing to get us out. So I had three options, 1. to spoil my paper by scribbling all over it, 2. Put a cross against every name (that way I would get the right candidate!), or 3. Vote for the most unlikely candidate who stood absolutely no chance at all. I opted for number 3, so the BNP would at least get one vote!

    Reply
  3. Mike Horner

    I didn’t vote – not because I’m uncaring about our country’s future, but because I have no faith in the honesty or honour of any of our present politicians. REMEMBER THE EXPENSES SCANDAL!
    Not one of those involved felt enough guilt about the matter to resign.

    Reply
  4. Scarlet

    You know how we keep getting the same results in those Facebook quizzes…. I think I am beginning to understand why!
    Merci beaucoup!
    Sx

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      I’m hoping to visit Pat this year, maybe we could meet up and see if we really are alike? If you’re not able to come to the blog party, that is!

      Reply
        1. Z Post author

          Oh love, blogs tell the story of who you are, whether you think you are doing it or not. I was terribly nervous of my first blog meet, now I know that the worst that happens is that we’ll have a pleasant time and not try to repeat the experience. But I’m happy to say that this has not happened yet – I’ve really liked all the blog friends I’ve met.

          Reply
  5. PixieMum

    I always vote, missed once when in hospital after a car accident, we had council elections here yesterday, I voted for a person and disregarded their political party. Others must have done the same, quite a few wards have elected councillors from both parties.

    When DD voted in the European election she realised one of the candidates was her friend’s mother.

    Reply
  6. Liz

    I think the order of the ballot paper is merely alphabetical.

    Sir Bruin and I went along and voted. I cannot speak for him, but I voted for the party who I believe is the least worst.

    I always try and vote; it is a privilege that many people in the world still do not have.

    Reply
  7. johng1962

    I’m a practising Euro-sceptic, and think we should be out. But if I vote UKIP, that’ll put Labour back in,which would wreck the country again! Catch- 22! 🙂

    Reply
  8. Z Post author

    Thank you all for your comments and I can see I’m sensible not to give political opinions normally. We don’t have any council elections here this time – people who live in rural areas have fewer opportunities to vote than town-dwellers. i agree with Madeleine that I disregard party politics in local elections and vote for the person. I always vote for the same reason as Liz. But they weren’t in alphabetical order, or the BNP would have been first and a party with a name very like, but not just the same as, UKIP’s was first – like enough for me to think ‘oh, is that their official name?’ before I saw them down at the bottom. I’ve never had the experience of someone taking my vote (and it wouldn’t work anyway here, because I know both the people who give out the papers) but once i was left off the paper and so was Russell – it didn’t affect us at an election, but it meant we couldn’t vote on the previous EU referendum. We had certainly filled in the paper and sent it back, we were very indignant.

    Reply
  9. 63mago

    At the national elections here the order of the parties’ names on the list is a direct result of in which order they put in a legal “Wahlvorschlag” to the “Wahlleiter”: Who comes first is number one on the list.
    I looked at the German list of parties and found some very strange organisations. I think the European project heads to a kind of make-or-brake-point, and when I look at the personnel … It’s all still in the making, I am not sure what we really vote about in the end. There will be a lot of horsetrading afterwards.

    Reply
    1. Z Post author

      A lot of parties I’d never heard of – I trust they have to pay a good deal of money to enter the poll.

      Reply
    1. Z Post author

      If the candidate I want is not likely to win, I look to see what is the most effective way of stopping the worst one.

      Reply
  10. sablonneuse

    France votes for MEPs on Sunday. We received a sheaf of papers by post and I feel I should vote but there are no names that mean anything to me and their aims are only briefly mentioned. I’ve made a shortlist and hope to decide before tomorrow.

    How I wish I could come to your party but trips to England are out of the question for me: can’t leave the invalids and the animals.

    It sounds as though a great time will be had by all. ENJOY!!!

    Reply
  11. allotmentqueen

    Yes it is alphabetical – by candidate surname, which is probably the fairest way of doing it.

    We had local elections as well, although now we have a (by now deeply unpopular) mayor then one of the big questions was why bother as the councillors effectively have very little power now.

    Reply
  12. Z Post author

    Since we have to vote for the party, not the person, and since that system has been brought into operation I’ve had no clue who is supposed to be representing me, I don’t know a single name of any candidate. In usual elections, the person’s name comes first, I think, but in the EU election the party does. I didn’t even look at the names!

    I’m mug enough to have been a school governor for over 25 years, but even I have never been stupid enough to stand as councillor.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to 63mago Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.