Apologies to any Dickens fans for that title...
Well, it's been a while. But, like the best of friendships I'm hoping we can be straight back to being comfortable with each other right away, as if the gap had never happened. Right?
Its a little over four weeks since I wrote and it's just been so busy that I haven't had the time. Am typing this on train to work, but imagine I will not finish it until lunchtime, but I've been busy enough that any time I've had with a clear diary I've either needed to do the shopping/washing etc, or I have needed to sleep.
So, what have I been doing you ask? Plenty of rehearsals - for gigs with Voxcetera - gig Saturday 13th - come along, Albert Hall gigs, and Ukulele gigs too (less rehearsing for these to be fair). Plus socialising, trying to make the most of the nice weather - which seems to be back today - by getting out and about and thinking about / planning Christmas things.
As ever, the thought of buying Christmas presents fills me with dread and panic. 'Oh, it's the thought that counts' is a phrase I have always viewed with as much suspicion as 'size isn't important', 'it's what's on the inside that counts' etc.
At least with kids you get a list - and adding a surprise or two to that isn't difficult. This year, not only have I got a list from one, he has helpfully (no irony intended - I mean this) linked it to the relevant Amazon entries. If only he could have done it as a wish list, he could have saved me six clicks, but pretty good. And the others just want money, which is a pretty dull present but I was the same as a teenager.
Parents (who have everything they need and dislike clutter etc, so don't want to have things they don't need) are a difficult one though. But easy compared to friends - I'm not going to get disinherited for a 4/10 Xmas gift...
Mind you, I can't be an easy person to buy for. A book or music you think? Yes, but a good chance I've got or borrowed it already. Unless it involves Russell Brand. But if you know me well enough to buy a present you would know not to buy that.
If somebody asks me what I would like, I honestly have no idea at all. It's not particularly that I want to be surprised, it's just that my mind is a blank in that area. And that is an area very adjacent to the 'good ideas for presents for others' and indeed seems to share the same tumbleweeds.
Given I'm not going down the route of The Voucher (other than perhaps for those who are geographically remote) my strategy is to walk up and down the aisles of shops until I receive some sort of divine inspiration. Which just, short term, exchanges the uncertainty over what to buy with one for whether I bought the right thing. Which will by 25/12 be itself replaced with the knowledge that I didn't, or an uncertainty as to whether it was really appreciated or they were just saying that.
Be honest - am I over-analysing here? I am, aren't I?
Right - first 20 minutes of lunchtime used up in posting this - off to wander the Whitgift centre now in search of ideas. Wish me luck.
Showing posts with label Russell Brand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russell Brand. Show all posts
Friday, 5 December 2014
Thursday, 8 May 2014
It isn't easy...
You may have guessed from past posts that I am not UKIP's greatest fan. You may also have guessed that I find professional politicians to be a depressing bunch; self-serving, dogmatic, inflexible etc. Hey some of us write blogs to utilise those parts of our character, rather than being paid by the public to do it.
And, yes, I accept there are some very decent, able and well meaning individuals in the wide political landscape (I include unions, campaigners and pressure groups here), even if their half-life in parliament seems a little shorter than you would wish.
But I felt the need to say a bit more, lest you view me as some sort of messianic Russell Brand-like figure, leading you in a Hamleinian Pied-Piperesque progress away from the Victorian voting booths (you see Russell - it's easy to use big words and tautology).
It is important that we all vote. I'm not one for mandatory voting like they have in Australia, because I don't like compulsion (dangerously libertarian argument there). But I think that the right to moan about it comes with the obligation to do something about it.
If you think a party represents a majority of your views across the spectrum (and the rest isn't egregiously nasty) then it may make sense to vote for them in everything. (If 'your' party represents all your views 100%, then you are either Vladimir Putin or you haven't really thought at all.)
But there is no reason why you have to sign up on the list for life. Different parties may appeal differently for different things.
Let me give the example of me. It's a London-centric example, but if you don't like that, wait for a local sheep to write a blog and read that instead.
In an electoral cycle, I get to vote for:
Take the Mayor of London. (Please, take him.) OK, take the election. The last two have really been a straight choice between a newt-fancying Evening Standard hating, Blur-song-narrating* leftie, and a Bullingdon, blond, cycling lothario. (Check for libel). A vote for the Libdems, or the Greens is a waste. My choice is, depending on your view and you can guess mine, either the candidate I like more, or the one I hate less. Ken or Boris, Boris or Ken. If I don't vote for my 'favourite' then I've increased the chances of the other winning.
Pretty much the same goes for my UK constituency - Labour - not safe but not marginal. Tories closish second, everyone else - don't bother.
But then look at Europe. All of London is one constituency, with 8 seats. Elected by Party List Vote (d'Hondt system if you care, which you don't). This basically means that you need to get one eight of the votes to get a seat. So if the Tories got 25% straight off and Labour got 37.5%, they would get 2 and three respectively. You then redistribute surpluses, eliminate the hindmost and reallocate quotas until you get to 8 elected. (I used to be a Students Union vote counter you know.)
So for, say, the BNP to get a seat they perhaps only need to get 12.5% to get a seat straight off, but can end up getting a seat with perhaps 8%. So your vote really can make a difference for smaller parties.
Which would allow you to vote with my conscience rather than using the Least-worst option discussed above.
This is a long post already. Next time, I'll extend this thinking to local elections, and might even discuss how I am thinking of voting (though there is a huge clue in this post for those who look). And if you put BNP? in the comments, f*ck off now.
*Ernold Same on the Great Escape
And, yes, I accept there are some very decent, able and well meaning individuals in the wide political landscape (I include unions, campaigners and pressure groups here), even if their half-life in parliament seems a little shorter than you would wish.
But I felt the need to say a bit more, lest you view me as some sort of messianic Russell Brand-like figure, leading you in a Hamleinian Pied-Piperesque progress away from the Victorian voting booths (you see Russell - it's easy to use big words and tautology).
It is important that we all vote. I'm not one for mandatory voting like they have in Australia, because I don't like compulsion (dangerously libertarian argument there). But I think that the right to moan about it comes with the obligation to do something about it.
If you think a party represents a majority of your views across the spectrum (and the rest isn't egregiously nasty) then it may make sense to vote for them in everything. (If 'your' party represents all your views 100%, then you are either Vladimir Putin or you haven't really thought at all.)
But there is no reason why you have to sign up on the list for life. Different parties may appeal differently for different things.
Let me give the example of me. It's a London-centric example, but if you don't like that, wait for a local sheep to write a blog and read that instead.
In an electoral cycle, I get to vote for:
- The UK parliament (once every five years or less)
- Wandsworth Council (once every four years)
- The Mayor of London (every four)
- The London Assembly (every four)
- The European Parliament (every five)
Take the Mayor of London. (Please, take him.) OK, take the election. The last two have really been a straight choice between a newt-fancying Evening Standard hating, Blur-song-narrating* leftie, and a Bullingdon, blond, cycling lothario. (Check for libel). A vote for the Libdems, or the Greens is a waste. My choice is, depending on your view and you can guess mine, either the candidate I like more, or the one I hate less. Ken or Boris, Boris or Ken. If I don't vote for my 'favourite' then I've increased the chances of the other winning.
Pretty much the same goes for my UK constituency - Labour - not safe but not marginal. Tories closish second, everyone else - don't bother.
But then look at Europe. All of London is one constituency, with 8 seats. Elected by Party List Vote (d'Hondt system if you care, which you don't). This basically means that you need to get one eight of the votes to get a seat. So if the Tories got 25% straight off and Labour got 37.5%, they would get 2 and three respectively. You then redistribute surpluses, eliminate the hindmost and reallocate quotas until you get to 8 elected. (I used to be a Students Union vote counter you know.)
So for, say, the BNP to get a seat they perhaps only need to get 12.5% to get a seat straight off, but can end up getting a seat with perhaps 8%. So your vote really can make a difference for smaller parties.
Which would allow you to vote with my conscience rather than using the Least-worst option discussed above.
This is a long post already. Next time, I'll extend this thinking to local elections, and might even discuss how I am thinking of voting (though there is a huge clue in this post for those who look). And if you put BNP? in the comments, f*ck off now.
*Ernold Same on the Great Escape
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