August 13-19 (Five Weeks Until the Election)
Purdah-tory
When I had the bright idea of running an Election Diary for the six weeks until we go to the polls, I forgot that once the dissolution of the House of Keys had taken place, the government and its officers practise, or mostly practise, the concept of purdah. This means they keep their gobs shut from saying anything that could be interpreted as favouring one candidate over another, whether that be a candidate who was an MHK two weeks ago, or a candidate hoping to become an MHK for the first time.
Now, for most government departments, any opportunity to give a reason not to comment on something, is usually most welcome. Therefore, not so bad for them.
The media tries to be responsible during purdah, also. It normally means trying to ensure fair balance on every story and that, in itself, normally leads to, once the nominations have been confirmed, not mentioning one candidate in a story without mentioning all the others for that constituency.
To be honest, it’s a pain in the backside.
But it does concentrate your mind on whether what comes out of the mouth of a candidate is worth the effort of reporting.
No laughing matter
A first-time voter, having shown great interest in the recent UK by-election in Clacton, asked me: “Do they ever have joke candidates in Isle of Man elections?”*
“Not intentionally,” I replied.
(This fits within the self-imposed media purdah rules in that it is across the board in either a positive or negative way, depending on your point of view.)
*The first-time voter also clarified his initial reference: “When I say joke candidates, I mean like Nigel.”
No comment.
Getting your priorities right
A diary enthusiast* contacted me, in a state of serious excitement, to point out that we’d all been missing the real big issue at this election. Is it education? Is it health? Is it how many dry docks the Steam Packet can fill at the same time?
No, it’s motorhomes.
In a thread, admittedly in a motorhomes social media group, one candidate has been urged to treat as a ‘priority’ the issue over finding somewhere to park a motor home for a day or longer. Similar lobbying of other candidates has taken place across the field.
Now I’m not demeaning the difficulty of parking a motorhome in a disc zone, for example, but I never realised the importance. Quite frankly, any candidate who comes to my door (not beyond it, remember) better have listed motor homes as a priority.
*In a continuation of my asterisk frenzy, I need to make clear the diary enthusiast to whom I refer is not the election candidate who was urged the aforementioned. It wasn’t any candidate. In the interests of purdah-tory balance, I’m ignoring them all.
We’re better than that
Finally, on a serious note.
Inevitably, depressingly, some of the public discourse about the qualities of candidates crosses a line.
Muttered thoughts under the breath these days make can make their way onto social media for us all to have to suffer; and this election campaign is proving no different.
It’s not everywhere, but the fact it is anywhere is cause for sadness. Hopefully, it may also lead to some reflection.
I’m not talking about criticism of the policies or actions of people. Nor valid criticism of their record. That’s all legitimate.
Debate the policies.
You might be able to guess what I’m talking about.
The dog whistle is much more audible and carries to a wider group than it used to. Those for whom it is not intended can hear it also, even if they would rather not.
This has been demonstrated by an unwelcome minority who love the amplification that social media gives to their views.
Race, gender, sexual orientation, skin colour. None of these should be brought into political debate, no matter how subtle you might think you are being.
Come on Isle of Man, we’re better than that.
If this week’s edition of the Election Diary was not enough for you, catch up on last week’s musings here: