venta

( Some disjointed thoughts about the UK election )

And on the plus side, at least we can have an election in 7 weeks. America, take note ;)

Shall we have a little unscheduled boogie?

I think we shall.

Hefner - The Day That Thatcher Dies [link to mp3 expired]

Do I think it's right to celebrate someone's death? Actually, no, I don't. You might celebrate someone's removal from power, say, if it was brought about by their death. But I don't feel comfortable celebrating someone's death.

Especially not the death of someone who, despite the shadow they cast over my childhood, is borderline irrelevant on the political stage today.

It's a good song, though.

So, very shortly after the election I used the handy http://theyworkforyou.com mechanism to write to my MP.

She didn't answer, but I thought OK, fair enough, it's barely after the election, her mechanisms for these things probably aren't properly set up yet.

I wrote to her again today, asking her to sign EDM 210. The EDM is only relevant prior to the budget, and I realise I left it a bit late, but thought it was worth a shot - after all, she might get through her email to read mine in time to sign the EDM.

I've just received a reply from someone whom I infer to be a secretary, or similar, which has a twiddly graphic of the House of Commons portcullis and my MP's details on it, and says:

"If you are a constituent wishing to raise concerns or comments with me, please do so in writing (House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA). Please include your full postal address, telephone number and all relevant details."

So... er... my MP won't respond to email?

That's a bit rubbish.

Update I wrote to theyworkforyou, and they tell me that they were using a different email address for Angie Bray, and that they've updated their records now to use the one on her website.

So, last night a controversial bill passed its third reading. This isn't obvious: even the BBC carries only a mashed-over story covering people's comment on what would happen if the bill were passed, with a sentence buried a couple of paragraphs in mentioning that it was passed last night by a majority of 142. Is there a rule about not reporting such stories until the Queen's corgi has formally licked it or something ?

As far as I can tell, via a friendly Guardian blog, the only people who showed up to the actual debate part were those who were against and Stephen Timms, the fantastically-titled Minister for Digital Britain; everyone else just trundled in at the end to vote with the Whips.

Can anyone tell me how to deduce which way my MP voted ? Public Whip doesn't seem to be having April yet.

Well, well, well. Mr Brown (Gordon, in this case) has issued the apology we were talking about the other day. According to the BBC, he agrees that the treatment meted out to Turing as a result of his homosexuality was - though legal - "utterly unfair".

A spokesperson for Outrage! has, quite reasonably, pointed out that if you're going to apologise to Turing you should apologise to the 100,000 less famous Britons who suffered similarly. And, though he doesn't mention it, presumably also to Oscar Wilde who is rather more famous.

The full text of the apology can be read in the Telegraph. It does make a passing mention of the many others similarly convicted, but stops short of apologising to all.

On balance, I think I like what Brown has written. Perhaps I should have signed that petition.

All together now:

Ten cabinet ministers, sitting on wall...

I've only just got round to reading the details of the local election results in Oxford. I voted, but I have to admit I found it terribly hard to care very much about these recent elections. My ward re-elected its Green councillor, but even had there been a switch to the close-running second (Labour), I doubt it would seriously have affected my life. Somehow it's difficult to believe that even had the council changed from NOC to one party that there would have been any appreciable impact on day-to-day life.

Whenever elections come round, I'm always reminded that I've only ever cared deeply about the result of an election once in my life, and that was the general election in 1987. I waited for the outcome of that vote in utter terror; I was ten at the time.

( Junior school politics )