I may have missed the boat this time round, but I think for the next general election I'm going to set up a new party. I will call it the 'No Vote Party'. They say that if you don't vote, it's a wasted vote, but I simply don't agree with that...why should you vote for someone who you don't believe in, whose party's policies are not those that you don't want? So I'd like to set up a party and have candidates in every constituency so that people who don't like what they're being offered can register their dissatisfaction. There's no point in me voting in our constituency, because it is true blue through and through...but I don't want to vote for any old random party just to be able to say I have put a X in the box...I'd much rather register my disatisfaction by voting for the No Vote Party.
It does feel that the major parties are hardly distinguishable, and face up to each other with small changes of policy that don't really bring the change that's needed. It looks as though the two parties that will do best (not vote size) will be the SNP and UKIP - they're two parties that I can't agree with at any level...but they each have a vision and people understand and want that...it is such a shame that the other parties don't or can't see it. Anyway, I do so hope I can count on your vote in 2020.
I was deeply saddened and upset whilst I was away to learn of the death of a friend. I mentioned his wife a year or so ago. I had known her in my early career, and we had been good friends, but there was a disagreement based on a misunderstanding, and we lost touch and even though we met up again some years later, just after the birth of The Boy, the friendship had been damaged never to be put on an even footing again. It was always a great sadness to me, and I counted it as a particular loss - she and her boyfriend (then husband) were wonderful people who touched many lives. She worked in the charity sector, doing much good, but very sadly had cancer and died a couple of years ago. On holiday I learned that her husband had died suddenly. Heart problems. He was just 55, she had barely made 50. They left three teenage children. I wonder whether he died of a broken heart. I decided to attend Lloyd's memorial service - there were over 300 people there - as I felt the need to say good bye properly...to Clare as well. I had always known that Lloyd was a good person, but what I hadn't realised was how much of his time was spent in the community - running football and rugby teams for children in the south London area. He was clearly much loved, and will be sorely missed.
It made me think about how I remember people - often there are photos, or other memorabilia, but for me the one thing that truly enables to remember the person is to remember their voice...I seem to do this for everyone I know that has died, and find it much more of an emotional connection than anything else.
