I want to live like Common People

Slick’s room, Friday the 14th May, 15:14

Good afternoon everyone. For all of my fellow finalists, I hope the revision is going well- and, if not, I hope this blog provides a little light relief/procrastination.

So today I’m going to tackle a subject which, so far, I have steered well clear of- as you might be able to anticipiate (given that it’s all anyone has been speaking about for the past couple of weeks)- i’m going to talk to you about politics. Now, i’ve not tackled politics before, not out of an attempt to not offend people (God knows, if anything’s going to offend people its my rampant chauvinism and repeated blasphemy) but because, quite frankly, I have always been pretty apolitical. British politics has always bored me, I have little to no faith in the system, I had no strong feelings, positive or negative, towards Tony Blair and- frankly- unlike seemingly everyone else, I neither strongly liked nor disliked Gordon Brown. Sure, the man has all the charisma of a cactus, but he always sort of seemed to know what was going on, economic crisis aside. And, I will confess, I also have no strong feelings about Margaret Thatcher- I appreciate that she made some really terrible decisions and went power-mad towards the end, but she also solved a lot of the problems she was elected to deal with, and we are not now really in a position to see what would have happened had anyone else been in charge. Besides, can any of us really say that, given the chance, we wouldn’t go power mad and want to go to war with Argentina? Didn’t think so.

However, in the weeks preceeding this years historic election, I found myself stirred, despite my natural inclinations, from my typical langour. I spent my free time voluntarily watching the leaders debate, and researching the variou parties policies, and, despite my previous lack of faith in the system, I decided who I wanted as PM: Nick Clegg. Ambitious, I know, but i’ve heard so many people say that they would vote Lib Dem, except that it would be a wasted vote- and i thought to myself, hell, someone has to start. I like the Lib Dem’s core values: as anyone who reads this blog knows, Liberal is exactly how one would describe me. I liked their stance on legalising marijuana and decriminalising some other drugs. I liked their desire for electoral reform, and I liked their long term plans for multilateral nuclear disarmament- idealistic, I know, but if you can;t be an optimist when you’re young, when can you be?

And, it seemed, more people than ever before were having the same thoughts. Some projections actually had the Lib Dems winning the election, and what a shocker that would have been! Facebook was full of pro-Clegg groups, and amusing jokes about Cameron’s snobbery and Brown’s dour nature and criticisms of labour’s time in charge. All of my friends were talking about the election, and getting excited about it in a way i never anticipated. And, wonder of wonders- Durham was a swing seat. Labour were incumbent, but in 2005 the Lib Dems weren’t that far behind: my first ever vote could, in fact, make a difference, albeit a small one, on a national scale! So, when the 6th came round, I went over to Mary’s and exercised my democratic right for the first time ever, and, later that night- nothing changed.

Durham stayed Labour. Harrogate, where I could also have voted, actually went from Lib Dem to conservative. Lib Dems lost 6 seats overall, and wound up with 60 or so, compared to Labours 250 or so (despite Lib Dems having 23% of the vote). Conservatives came out on top, as was predicted before the last-minute Lib Dem surge (or, as it turns out, lack thereof) but with no parliamentary majority. The people of Britain had spoken, and what they had said was “er…”.

Now, I’m not bitter- obviously, my impression that the Lib Dems would do well was simply a product of my environment: while me and my friends were waxing lyrical about Cleggy-Weggy (as Russel Howard reffered to him), the local inhabitants of Durham were determined to keep the conservatives out of office- and I can’t blame them. Personally, I imagine a lot of people said they would go Lib Dem, only to change their mind at the last minute and go with (one of the two) sure things.

However, what I think this election did show, with its hung parliament, is that something needs to change. Lib Dems were the third part in the race, sure, but they got a tiny number of seats due to the first past the post system. Essentially, this result seems to me as if the voters were passing judgement on the system, and they were not best pleased. That’s another reason I voted Lib Dem, incidentally- If we learn only one thing from American politics, it should be that having only 2 genuine parties in a system just leads to unhelpful partisanship and ridiculous bickering- if the conservatives (and now the Lib Dems) cock the next few years up, then Labour will get back in- for as long as they don’t cock things up. Having a third (or more) parties as genuine contenders shakes up the entire dynamic, and I can see this as only a good thing. I’m not sure how I feel about how everything worked out, to be honest. I like that Lib Dems at least have some measure of power, and that a lot of their manifesto has been adopted- I am however concerned about the possibility of the tories simply shouldering them aside over the important issues. I guess we’ll see how things pan out- at least the coalition government will (hopefully) provide a new rather than simply a repetition of the same old blue-red, red-blue system, and who knows: maybe the two parties will be forced to compromise in the interests of the public, rather thanhaving it all their own way.

So, what is to be done? Well, frankly I have no idea. I don’t have that good a grasp on the proposed alternative voting systems- and I have been informed (by the BBC) that some, such as Alternative Vote, are no more democratic than our current system. Proportional representation has potential as an idea, but, like communism, I am forced to wonder if the self-interested nature of mankind, combined with a much more varied parliament including many more independents, could ever work smoothly. The problem as I see it is balancing democracy and fairness with strength of government: idealism with pragmatism, if you will. Another problem with PR is that , unfortunately, most of the electorate is uninformed, unintelligent or a combination of the two. I don’t mean to sound elitist (although I appreciate that I probably do) but a lot of people just really don’t understand the situation, so they vote according to tradition, peer pressure, or because they have been bamboozled by superficially appealing but ultimately evil candidates (I’m looking at you, BNP). So what is to be done? Well, I have two thoughts.

First, what about some sort of voter awareness test? Not an intelligence test- that would be unforgivably anti-democratic- but a short, easy test to establish whether an individual voter has a basic grasp of the issues at hand, and the various party’s stances. If a voter is unable to prove that they know anything about what they’re voting for, they can be asked to read up a little and try again when they’re better informed. This would, ideally, insure that people at least knew what they were getting themselves into.

Alternatively,  we could all acknowledge what we’ve known secretly for a long time: democracy sucks. Scrap the whole thing and appoint me President for life.

I am not a crook,

Slick

P.s Vote Slick, independent candidate for Harrogate and Knaresbrough, 2015. Because I know what’s best!

You’ve got a lot of nerve, to say you are my friend

Slick’s room, Monday the 3rd of May, 15:50

Howdy y’all! Slick here. Have internet, will blog…

I’ve had something i’ve been meaning to blog about for some time. Now, just by way of a heads up, this blog might end up being… well, a little morose, and perhaps containing more behind-the-scenes personal stuff than usual (if you can imagine!) SO, being that forewarned is forearmed, i’m just gonna get right into it.

Today i’d like to talk about friendship- or, more specifically (and this is where the morose part comes in) the endings of friendships. In other words, what makes people go from being friends, to not being friends?

Well, I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately, and, it seems to me, that friendships are even more like more conventional romantic relationships than I have previously given them credit for. In other words, often the reason a friendship ends is something seemingly very innocuous: convenience. My friends today are very different from my friends in primary school because, simply put, I live in a different town surrounded by different people and, much like a long-distance relationship, long distance friendships are a bitch to maintain. Thankfully, the internet (especially things like facebook) make it a lot easier to keep in touch with old friends, but, the bottom line is that we only have so much time in our lives for our friends, so to be friends with someone who is, say, geographically distant, or otherwise maybe just super-busy with not a lot of time to hang out, takes a disproportionate amount of effort. Now, i’m not saying such friendships are impossible- I know of people who are still best friends, despite living in different countries sometimes, and often they are some of the closest friendships of all- but these kinds of friendships are the exception, rather than the rule- much like long-distance relationships. It’s not totally doomed, but it has to be two very special people involved to make it work. Think about it: how many of your friends have that status simply because they live near you? Sure, you like them as people, but there are probably people in the next town over who would be just as good, if not better friends to you- but, tellingly, you are simply not exposed to these people on a regular basis.

Secondly, another strong parallel between friendships and relationships is that, sometimes, slowly over a period of time, or even suddenly when you wake up one morning, you can feel differently about the person involved. One day you’re happily married, then in a few short years you’re holding a screaming kid, wondering what you’re secondary school boyfriend is up to and if you ever really loved the person you’re with. Equally, one day you might get a call from your friend asking if you want to go get a drink, and think to yourself- actually, I don’t. Not any more. Now, all of this is a result of the inevitable fact that human being change over time- our values, goals, tastes etc are all in a state of flux- so someone who suits you so well now might simply be unappealing to spend time with a year or so down the line.

Often, in both the drifting apart due to distance and the changing personality thing, the feeling is mutual- it is simply quietly accepted that you are different people, and that there is no real point in you hanging out anymore. However, (and once again the parallels to a relationship are unmistakable) sometimes the feeling is one-sided. Sometimes two friends will move apart, and one of them will be willing to put in the effort to make the friendship work but the other wont. Or one friend will change and simply see no value in the friendship anymore, and try to move on, while the other friend, unaware that anything has changed at all, is left behind, brimful of confusion and hurt, feeling like the person who knew them best has essentially judged them unworthy. Yeah, sounds a lot like the end of a relationship to me.

So, what is to be done if we wish to escape the seemingly inevitable conclusion that all human relationships are held together by geographical proximity, common interests, and sheer bloody mindedness? Well, it’s tricky, i’ll admit. I think that the key, really, is communication. Any amount of geographical distance can be overcome if both friends are willing to put the effort in to keep in touch, and even shifting tastes, attitudes etc can be, to some extent, reconciled if people just talk to each other, and find the common ground which once made the friendship. Sure, its possible that two people can go from best friends to comparative strangers, but this usually requires a great deal of time, vastly different life-experiences, and, sometimes, simply a failure to give people a chance before dismissing them as too changed, too irrelevant to our new lives.

I guess then the overall message is that a good friendship is like being in love- there are obvious, sometimes seemingly insurmountable difficulties involved, and sometimes it feels like way too much effort to go to, when everything will be different anyway, ten years down the line. On the other hand, with a little time, effort, and understanding, a good friendship can survive the odd bit of international travel or minor personality change, so long as those involved are willing to put in a little friendship elbow-grease, and the rewards are simply beyond my ability as a writer (and, I would humbly suggest, anyone’s ability) to fully convey.

In other words, like all of the best things in life, friendship (real, long term close friendship at any rate- having acquaintances is easy) is hard- so deal with it. Give someone you haven’t spoken to in ages a call, or try and remember why you were once so close to someone you’ve subsequently lost touch with-  or enjoy being disillusioned/surrounded by people you don’t care about much now, or won’t in a few years and a few miles down the line.

Well, I warned you it would be morose. But, as always, there’s hope out there for those willing to look for it,

Yours in friendship,

Slick