Is Politics Boring?
Of course it is......
if you like to discuss David Beckham's
latest crisis or what is happening in
Eastenders, instead of subjects like the
Health Service, Social Security,
Education, Transport, Defence, safer
streets, care for the elderly, the sick and
the needy!
My ballot papers for the local election came this morning. This was something of a surprise, so I attempted to sift through the assorted kitchen and hallway junk to find some more pertinent, political junk. In this quest for an informed decision, I found
- A Residents' Survey - Tory
- "Conservative Common Sense for Surrey Heath" - A faux newspaper
- A leaflet about "Your Councillor Margaret Moher" - Labour
It's about as much help as I thought it'd be. I still don't know who to vote for. Apparently I vote for no more than two candidates, and my initial response is "anyone except the tories", but having read their newsletter, I am not inclined to be so instinctive. Things which they are taking credit for:
- Giving "grants worth £100,000s" to dial-a-ride, meals on wheels, the CAB and others which didn't grab my attention.
- Also grants to improve villages centres. Free parking to encourage their use.
- Setting up a Youth Council, from which they have organised a "Council run Skate Fest at Christmas" and an annual Battle of the Bands at the Camberley Theatre.
- Reduced the power consumption of the council offices.
- Invested in the improvements of local parks.
And things which they say they plan to do:
- Improve the Rail service from Camberley.
- Youth facilities such as skate parks, teen shelters(?), sports walls and "Basketball hoops".
These are good things which particularly struck me. However, Margaret Moher, who is one of our congregation at St. Martin's says that the actual charges for meals on wheels and for dial-a-ride are up 7%. Hmm. She also implies that "over £600,000 of your money in subsidies to the Camberley Theatre" has not benefitted anyone. I think I'm in favour of local investment in the arts, but I'm not sure. Fay Storey, one of the conservative candidates, defected from the labour party in 2002, which is interesting - she "discovered that the Conservatives care more about the people of Old Dean", it says here. At this point I was considering voting for Storey, and another candidate, liberal or labour. Margaret was a distinct possibility, but I wanted to avoid voting for someone 'merely' because I know them. I asked Dad for his input, and he said that Margaret was being very thorough in spotting things like broken lamp-posts and other such nit and grit, and was working very hard on local issues, presumably focused on the estate itself. He also said that he thought Storey was a good egg, but not that he would vote for her, for reasons which it seems sensible to omit, but which I can assure you are not scandalous.
This I pondered partially whilst hanging the washing out. Neil's arriving for a slightly longer break from Loyes some time today.
N.B. I seem to have lost the pound sign for the moment. The keyboard's lost track of which country it's meant to be in, so quotation marks are a bit awkward too. Ah well. Update: fixed. You have to wonder why the English and American keyboard configurations are different anyway.
