In a story which the mainstream media seems to have missed entirely, Mr. Nosemonkey speculated that there might be a snap general election.
Nonsense! I said to no one in particular. However, this morning I received this (opens in new window): a letter asking me if I was available on Thursdays during November - bearing in mind that I’d acted as a polling officer and poll counter at the local elections in May. Mr. Nosemonkey may be onto something…..
I’m not sure I’d do it again. Being a poll counter was thoroughly depressing: I ended up counting the returns from the only ward in the entire district where the BNP had put up a candidate. Now, I believe in the democratic process and would never undercount or lose votes in his name, if nothing else because one of his “friends” spent the entire count sitting directly opposite me, eyeballing me in a way that a sensitive flower such as myself might consider “fucking menacing”. The only reason for this was a simple off the cuff remark before the count started. We counters had been talking amongst ourselves about the vote the day before. I recounted a story that I’d been admonished for wearing a bluish shirt, which might subliminally make people vote Tory.
“Well, technically, you really should have worn a neutral colour like beige or brown.” One of the other counters said.
“Ah yes,” I countered, “but if I was wearing a brown shirt people would think I was something to do with the BNP.”
This was overheard by the BNP candidate who didn’t like the remark. The fact that none of the other counters got the reference is a shocking indictment on the teaching of fascism in our schools. I’m sure the BNP would sort that out.
The word ‘prudent’ appears in the letter. Was it written by Gordon Brown himself?
Maybe if it was “prudent and sensible” and a “new kind of election warning letter that marks a break with the past”…..
I was once an observer at a count (this was when I was a teenager, I think that was about the height of entertainment in the dreary place I lived in), and spent an evening watching over some poor counter like a hawk (and was also principled enough to point out they’d put a sheet for the Other Party’s candidate in the wrong pile).
So, has Staffordshire Moorlands Council achieved excellence yet?
MP: Oh this was one of these weird “you may vote for up to 3 of the 13 candidates” votes. So you had to count them up and fill in the numbers on seperate sheets. It was a pain in the arse, but a hundred quid for four hours work.
Well the letters from May said they were “Aiming for Excellence” and we have had some new bins since then… And that’s pretty much as far as excellence gets in these parts - there’s not much left from taxes after you’ve paid someone 25 quid an hour to sit opposite a member of the BNP, quietly counting in German… Gosh, but those people are so tetchy!
The link to the letter is now 404?
Stands next to server with screwdriver in hand and innocent look on face…… Armin, I don’t know what you were talking about….
Just because it’s so distracting… why the stars on your name?
And why is there a pretzel over a pelican on Staffs Moors’s paperwork?
The stars are because I’m a star / big girl (delete as…..)
It’s a Stafford knot over a Curlew, obviously. Tsk.