Good morning.
Slept like a log last night, all the way through to 7am. That's the great outdoors for you. A five hour windy walk. I think I will have the day off today. I'll finish the litter picking on that particular stretch of road tomorrow.
Here's a thought. If you are taking part in a competition and you need people to vote for you, what do you do to boost your chances of winning? Ten years ago I entered Shed of the Year, with my self build shed/summerhouse. It was all a harmless bit of fun, so I put out the call on various social media channels asking the people I knew to vote for my shed. We were given three weeks to garner as many votes as we could. There were eight categories with four in each category.
One of my blog readers was a school teacher and encouraged her class of kiddos to vote for my shed. That gave the numbers a boost, which propelled me towards the finals. Little did I know until the presentation that my shed beat the other three. Were we cheating? I don't know, it was a bit of fun.
Voting for the person you want to win is how selecting usually takes place. Those with the biggest number of followers usually have a better chance. Sometimes it pays to be the life and soul of the party, to gather a large number of fans, and make promises about what you are going to do if you should win. It's important to appeal to those who might elevate you to the position of authority.
And so it happened yesterday, apparently. A green party candidate made it to the final to win her seat in the election, somewhere around Manchester I think. Families throughout the area flocked to the polling booths to cast their votes. Mum, dad, and ten kids. Seems it was a good turnout.
You can read about it here.
Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip. ilona
That is just awful. But why on earth did they wait for the polls to close before reporting this. CArrie
ReplyDeleteYour shed award was well deserved. Enjoy your day off, I know for you that does not mean you won’t keep yourself busy at home. Have you ever had just a lay about day, other than a sick day? Love the new header picture. Have a great day. Rainy here in my part West Virginia US.
ReplyDeleteI can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to keep my hands and my brain busy. I have very few sick days.
DeleteSame thing happened in Runcorn and Helsby in 2025, where Reform won by just 6 votes. But, no big stink was made about it, even though the same group of election observers (democracyvolunteers.org) reported on it. Turns out it's a widespread problem in England--people disobeying the law and no election authorities willing to step in and do their jobs. You can read all about it on their website, from those who were actually observing. And about the shed competition, it's one thing to rope in your adult friends to vote for you, but for a teacher to coerce her students to vote for you is just plain wrong. And I use the word coercion because of the power dynamic between teacher and students. It was inappropriate. And you just blow it off as a bit of fun. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteIs it anything to do with English being a 2nd language there (or perhaps not understood at all by older family members as 1/4 of the constituents are Asian?) Not being racist here, just wondering if that could be the reason, from a practical point of view. The family member is helping the non-bilingal one.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, the Greens distributed a lot of election material in Urdu, so at least some of the constituents not fluent in English should have known what the Greens were promising.
DeleteAh, they were on the case then, and judging from your post below, are not the fluffy, tree-hugging party they used to apparently be!
DeleteWill knows what's going on. The Greens won because they welcome newcomers. Rupert Lowe will struggle to get elected because he wants to keep them out.
DeleteBut isn't that good news? Mr Lowe wants to turn us into pearl clutching Little Britain, full of narrow minded, easily scared people forever twitching our net curtains. Remember, it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
DeleteAnonymous is talking bollocks again.
DeleteI wonder how many of the 14.9k votes cast for Hannah were cast by individuals who had actually read the "manifesto" promises of the Green Party? I think that quite a lot of people still see the Greens as a bunch of tree hugging eco nutters, not the virulently Marxist sectarian party that they have become?
ReplyDeleteHow many people really want decriminalisation of crack cocaine and heroin, guaranteed houses for all immigrants, legal and illegal (and just where do they imagine that those houses will come from, given the already dire shortages) etc....
Coupled with rampant voting fraud, this latest incarnation of the greens is certainly one we could well do without.
You could say the same with all elections though Will. how many people who vote have read the manifestos of each party or understand them even if they have read them. Lee
DeleteI think you have to remember that different cultures have different dynamics when it comes to family life. The head of the house, usually the man, makes the important decisions, and the wife, plus the children, have to follow orders, for want of a better word. The women may not have the freedom to vote independently.
DeleteWill, you need to try to understand the definition of Marxist. And, my advice to you would be to stop reading from Trumps' playbook. Rampant voting fraud indeed. Try to form your own ideas rather parroting someone else's
DeleteAnonymous is looking for a punch up. Don't bite. Ignore Anonymous.
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