Paul Speller’s Election Diary
August 20-26 (Four Weeks Until the Election)
Time enough
So, the deadline for nominations has passed.
Now we know. Or we think we know.
The past week turned into something of a merry go round. We had candidates announcing. We had candidates withdrawing. We had candidates announcing and withdrawing.
We had some very familiar names popping up at the last moment.
On the matter of late announcements, it is for us all to judge for ourselves what we think of them.
Are they evidence of political skill in trying to gain maximum impact at the most important moment?
Are they evidence of old egos being flattered?
Are they genuine responses to public demand?
Or do they suggest someone hasn’t really thought it through after someone else suggested it in the pub?
I offer no specific comment at this time. After all, I talked about electoral purdah-tory last week.
But in a few weeks, we’ll be able to go into a lot more detail on our thoughts about the run-up to nominations day – and not just the late announcements.
For now, feel free to ask yourself any of the questions above when considering your choices.
And speaking of questions …
Some things just don’t add up
Lots of organisations are coming forward and, quite legitimately, suggesting what they think we should all be asking candidates.
Good for them.
Feel free to pick and choose which, if any, of their questions you think you should be asking.
And remember that any question you think of for yourself is no less legitimate, in fact it is almost certainly more legitimate than anything anyone else may suggest.
It’s your vote.
But these suggestions from other groups do add ingredients into our food for thought.
That doesn’t mean that they are foolproof.
My favourite missive so far from one of the increasing number of groups contributing was a document that came with an accompanying explanatory note saying there were a certain number of key questions.
I read through said document several times and, on every occasion, I found that the number of key questions in the document was greater than the number mentioned in the accompanying communication.
I pass no judgement on the questions themselves. Unless any involve very specific maths, it’s not an issue.
And I’m not foolish enough to not expect to have my next minor arithmetical failing pointed out to me in due course. Rightly so.
But it is a very useful reminder, when organisations are telling you what questions you should ask, to ask yourself how much stock you put into the opinions and motivations of those organisations themselves.
It matters what you ask any candidate. If successful, they hold your future, our futures, in their hands.
We need to choose wisely.
Dorian Gray
A fun pastime for election onlookers can be to guess from where the candidates dug out their photograph.
Or, in some instances, from when.
There are plenty of new, suspiciously studio quality pictures that have accompanied announcements.
But there are plenty of others where the picture we’ve been seeing may not be the most recent of likenesses. A kind of Reverse Dorian Gray Effect.
Then there are pictures that we have cause to ponder whether they may have had a little bit of AI assistance.
Also, on some occasions, there is the case of: where even is the picture?
Just remember, there will be no soft focus on election night.
Last week’s diary entry: