Go and Vote

Tomorrow (May 5th) is polling day in the UK. Make sure you vote. I'd be a liar if I didn't say I'd like you all to vote Lib Dem, but more important than that by far is just getting off down to the polling station and putting an 'X' in a box - virtually any box, for God's sake.

Voter apathy is appalling. 150 years ago in the UK, the Chartists were fighting for the right for working class men to get the vote, and less than 100 years ago Suffragette women were dying to get the right to vote. Fast forward to 2005 and people seem to be more prepared to vote in Pop Idol or Big Brother (and pay for the privilege) than actually making the most of their democratic freedom and voting for the good of the country! You have to wonder what Emily Davison would think of the state of affairs when you talk to young adults today about politics and you're greeted by a blank, vacant stare...

So go and vote. Don't dare say something like "Well, they're all the same, aren't they?" about the parties because they're so utterly not. You've decided to think that because it's easier than deciding what you REALLY think. Go to the BBC News website and have a look at the outlines of the parties' policies and you'll see how they differ. See which one sounds most like the principals that you hold, and vote for them. Don't be told by a newspaper how to think, make an effort to find your own beliefs.

Also, don't dare believe that a vote for anyone other than a Tory or Labour candidate is a wasted vote, and don't let Labour scare you into thinking that voting for anyone but them will result in a Tory government. Figures are massaged until they conveniently say what they want, in the same way as figures used in adverts for cosmetics are. Read the small print on those adverts and you'll find that 78% of women agree with something from a pool of as little as 49 women asked - hardly a conclusive sample but they can get away with claiming it. The current thing is that if 10% of Labour voters were to swing to vote Lib Dem, it would result in a Tory government - this would only be true if every single seat Labour holds was as marginal as the seats where Labour have a tiny majority over the Tories. It's a myth - but it creates column inches that don't mention Iraq in the run up to the election, which makes a change right now...

The only wasted vote is the vote not cast. My mum will likely be voting for the Green Party, knowing full well that the chance of them getting an MP in Gloucester is slim-to-none, but choosing to use her vote as a way of saying "Yes, this is what I believe in". It's far, far better than thinking "Oh, it's obvious Labour are going to get in, so there's no point in voting." It was thinking like this which resulted in the BNP getting their first local councillor in Tower Hamlets.

So, if I can convince you to vote Lib Dem, so much the better. It's the party I - like many educated, right-on types, it seems - have chosen, and I go some small way to help fund it as well. If I can't convince you that the Lib Dem way is for you, then at least go out and vote for the party you see most in common with. If you can't do that, then I can only hope you're not in the UK, or too young, or in prison or something.

Now stop reading this, read the policies and decide who gets your 'X'.