COMMENT


COMMENT


The People’s Choice? I


’ve mentioned before, the severe limitations of writing in print-based media when outside influences work faster than even the quickest of printers can.


Fiona Russell-Horne Editor-in-Chief - BMJ


“


Five years later, they elected another one just like him, and really it was amazing how intelligent people kept on making the same mistakes.


Terry Pratchett ” INFO PANEL


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Thus, there is, of course, little point in my writing anything this month about politics or Westminster or the Government or even yet again, Brexit. Although the time of writing is the beginning of December, by the time you read this we will be heading to the polls, clutching our polling cards in our hot little hands - those of us who still can’t quite get our heads round the idea of postal voting yet, that is. I assume it’s an age thing, but I can’t quite get over the idea that if I haven’t gone into the little booth in my local church hall and physically made my mark with a pencil that’s attached to the desk by a piece of string then I haven’t really voted at all. I’m quite happy to confirm my status on the electoral roll every October by text, rather than handing the form to a little old lady who come to the door to collect it, but when it comes to the actual vote, it has to be done in person.


I suspect that the generations behind me may view it all slightly differently. To a generation that’s more used to dealing with other people through the medium of a little glass box in their hands, such an active participation in democracy probably seems achingly old-fashioned.


Small wonder that there has been such a concerted push on social media to get the younger generation to register to vote. In the few days running up to the registration deadline, every interesting-looking headline on Twitter it seems was click-bait to opening up the voter-registration portal. And indeed, if rumours are true, 3.2millioon people have registered to vote since the General Election was called.


However, it’s not enough just to register. There still has to be a cross put in a box next to a


candidate’s name. As long as those people who have recently registered have done so because they feel sufficiently engaged in the political process then they will make sure that they act to try and make a difference. If they think it’s all too much hassle, or that they can’t trust anyone or they don’t know for whom they wish to vote, then they’re just numbers on a list.


Of course, it can still all go wrong. Remember back in 2010, when so many people decided at the last minute - possibly in the pub or on their way back from work - to go and vote only to find that the queues were too long and that the polling stations closed before they could make their marks? There was much debate at the time about the antiquated way that we cast our votes and talk of bringing in text and email voting. This, it was argued, would also work as a way of bringing in younger people who may feel these old-fashioned ways with a pencil and paper are off-putting and irrelevant to them.


There again, this is the generation that is shunning traditional chose-and-pay retail in favour of ‘experience-retail’ according to Howard Saunders, a retail futurist (no, me neither) who spoke at the NBG Conference in Glasgow last month. More from him next issue, but, maybe the polling-booth and having to post your completed, folded voting paper into a big, locked black box will prove enough of an experience to get those 3.2m people out there. Although I often think the polling clerks are missing a bit of a trick by not issuing you with ‘I’ve voted, have you?’ stickers afterwards. A bit like going to the dentist as a child.


! don’t know what or who we will end up with in Number 10. All I do know is that it won’t be the end of the mess we’re in, nor even the beginning of the end of it.


Right, where’s my polling card. I’m off.


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