Rodents

At the moment my flat has a rodent problem. Its not so much that I'm scared of mice and rats, just that I find it impossible to sleep if I can hear them, so I got about half an hour's sleep last night, I'm pretty crabby and irritable today and almost got asked to leave Borders this morning for shouting at someone who was being difficult with politics.

Anyhoo, I voted the other day in the EU electiony thing, and for possibly the first time in my entire voting life the party I voted for won some seats, that'll be UKIP.

Personally I think that the UK shouldn't be part of the European Union and UKIP are the most agreeable party that take this stance. There are other parties that want the UK out of the EU, but they are disagreeable.

When it comes to election time, it shouldn't be a matter of politicians persuading you to vote for them, or making you change you mind and your beliefs to vote for them, I reckon it should just be a case of voting of the party that most closely matches your own views.

Anyhoo, my friend who I was bickering with accusingly asked why I voted for UKIP, and I started to explain the previous paragraph.

But the thing is, my friend hadn't himself voted. Like about 65% of the UK electorate. Congratulations, his position was in the majority. But it doesn't count.

You can moan about parties that you don't support winning seats, but it seems a bit hollow. Sure, those 65% can smugly say that they didn't vote for the whichever party they find disagreeable, but that's not how the voting system works. Not voting doesn't count.

I think my point is that its not fair to moan about people voting for specific parties you find disagreeable, its small-minded and wrong-headed to think that everyone should vote for only parties you agree with, the way we get neat bits of progress it to have a wide variety of opinions round the table, on the agenda to discuss, that's a good thing.

The biggest failing is where the majority of people, the winning opinion isn't on the agenda, they don't count.

"I didn't like any of the parties on the ballot paper, so I didn't vote." in my opinion, its a crap excuse. You gotta find the one that matches your opinion the closest, even if they're a country mile from your own exact preferences*. Otherwise the parties on the ballot paper you find most disagreeable will win.

*you're never going to find a party that 100% matches your own views, unless you stand yourself.