Thursday 18 September 2014

A win for an engaged electorate!

Very late last night.

I am, weirdly listening to the radio for any clues as to how the Scottish vote is going. What ever else it has succeeded in engaging our interest....I actually care about how this is going to turn out!

The number of people voting is something of a phenomena.. Such a high percentage is astonishing!

I am also remembering the election process we enjoyed in North Wales. I only lived there for three years but it gave me a picture of another way of doing things.

The first council election was distinguished by all three candidates coming to canvass our votes together..

We had Labour, Conservative and PliedCymru on our doorstep together being very polite and begging us to actually vote. This all happened again in the general election some time later...

A year after that we were canvassed again for a referendum on whether Clywd should go dry! The thought that the local pubs might close every Sunday got most of us out to vote....Clywd stayed wet!

Tonight the coverage is amazing but I suppose that if any country goes to the electorate to decide whether their country is going to be independent it would get our interest. But Scotland isn't just any old country...it's part of us...and much loved for all sorts of reasons

It's going to be a long night....a cliff hanger no less!

Early morning.

I am listening to the speeches of the great and good all of whom have behaved with dignity and good humour.

I am relieved that the no vote won the day but the turnout of the electorate means that a great deal of thought has now to be spent on how best to go forward together hand in hand rather than chucking rocks at each other! Hadrians Wall is still redundant.

 

4 comments:

Ray Barnes said...

I also am very relieved that the "NO" vote won. It was a close thing but happily for the UK as a whole, the right decision was made.
Great Britain is geographically at the hub of World politics and would have no recognisable voice without its component parts.
Each of its individual sectors, Ireland Scotland Wales has its own distinct personality but it is in its united form that it has most impact.
United we stand. T B T G.

Revjeanrolt said...

I maybe ought to add to your list. Home rule for Cornwall comes up quite often!

Revjeanrolt said...

Sorry Ray....once again I deleted your reply by accident....
Here it is...
Yes you're right. Cornwall is indeed very individual. Which in a way proves my point. If all these very separate identities can be successfully melded into one good whole then Great Britain we are and hopefully always will be.

UKViewer said...

For me the concept of the UK is indivisible, I find the prospect of losing any part of it to be quite troubling. Natlionalism is quite a narrow perspective, which is why I find the claims of UKIP to be so tasteless. It's also divisive and racist in many cases and brings out all sorts of unpleasant prejudices that are harmful to the people holding them, let alone those that they damage by their views and actions.

I'm delighted that Scotland will remain a full member of the UK, but also want the Government to take seriously their lack of disengagement until the last minute, when political expediency drew them in with emergency announcements, which will be the cause of enormous constitutional change in the space of the next 8 months until the general election.

Frankly, I agree that devo+ is needed for both Wales and Scotland, but it mustn't ignore the regional aspirations of Northern Ireland and England, particularly England, which acts as the foundation for the Union, funds the current devolution of both Wales anad Scotland but is itself as much abused by Westminster politicians, and has huge areas of regional deprivation, Cornwall, being among them. We in the so called Afluent south east suffer from the same. Areas of Kent suffer high unemployment, social deprivation and poverty as areas in the North East and North West which are better at making a noise about their plight than the south east.

Good for the Scots, they will benefit hugely from their political engagement, but ignoring the rest of the UK might well lead to unrest and dissatisfaction from the wider electorate, who are fed up with being ignored.