Paul Speller’s Election Diary
September 3-9 (Two weeks until the Election)
The past week has been taken up mostly with talking to people around the island or attending election meetings and listening to candidates.
So the diary is divided into two parts: Things I Have Learned in the Past Week and Things I Already Knew (But Have Had Confirmed in the Past Week).
Things I Have Learned in the Past Week
If you are wandering around, with a colleague, holding a microphone and or/camera, obviously looking to ask people questions, the following behaviours can be observed:
- Some pedestrians will increase their pace and stare firmly at something, approximately 100 metres behind you and at least two metres higher than you.
- Some will slow down in the hope that you point the microphone/camera at them.
- Some will cross the road to avoid us. (Doesn’t necessarily work, we can just cross over too.)
- We thought dog owners would be great people to talk to, building a relationship by praising their pet. But more often than not we’d spend 10 minutes talking to and about the dog and then get a “no thank you” when we asked the owner whether they wanted to discuss the election. Fortunately, we like dogs, so not a complete waste of time.
People’s reasons for not talking to you tend to be along the lines of:
“I can’t because my bosses would not like it.”
“I work for the government.”
“I’m here on my holidays.”
“What election?”
Sometimes they can be succinct, particularly when they see a camera, and the reaction is very friendly but along the lines of: “You want to record this? No ****ing chance.”
That said, nearly everyone has been pleasant enough and nearly all of them knew there was an election on the way.
And it has been enlightening and genuinely enjoyable to speak to real people experiencing real life issues.
Things I Already Knew (But Have Had Confirmed in the Past Week)
1a. Not knowing your policy on a major issue that affects everyone is not a very good look.
1b. Admitting you don’t have any idea on a major issue that affects everyone is an even worse look. (A politician who cannot bluff when the going gets tough probably isn’t going to cut it, no matter how refreshing we find honesty.)
1c. Still not knowing the above a few days later, probably should make you question your decision to stand.
2. When you are assessing the merits of candidates, look beyond the label they attach to themselves and listen to what they actually say.
While there is a smattering of political parties taking part in this election, the Isle of Man is not, culturally, party political. We are not like larger jurisdictions and it is not unusual for politicians to curate their policies from different areas of the political spectrum.
There is not necessarily anything wrong with this, we live in a country that is unique and a bespoke political approach is more likely to work than off-the-shelf stuff imported from elsewhere.
3. When people come up with big picture slogans like reducing spending or expanding services, make sure they give specifics. And see if they tell you how they will do it.
As a veteran of many elections, I have heard more vague promises and commitments than I care to remember, but the number of specific ideas quoted by candidates ahead of election is much smaller. Questions and challenges such as “what?” and “how?” or even “give me an example!” can be employed usefully.
4. But anyone who does not even have the vaguest idea at all of what their approach to a big picture issue would be probably isn’t going to contribute much when in the theatre of policy making.
And in case you missed it, here is last week’s edition of the Election Diary.
Do You Care About This Election as Much as We Do? – Manx.News