Seriously, it was dreadful to see just how few folks bothered to get off their fat arses and go and vote. They are all happy to moan in the pub about how bad a job the politicians are doing and how they never listen to anyone, but can’t actually bother to go and vote. If you didn’t bother to vote then you ain’t got no grounds to bitch about the buggers!



The good news is that, thanks largely to the second or list vote and its proportional representational component, those of us who did bother to vote actually did change things. We changed the normal big party rules of British politics. We have a brace of Green MSPs, Scottish Socialists and several independents, one of whom stood in my parent’s constituency in order to defend a major hospital in Glasgow. What’s so important about this hospital? Apart from the fact that closing it due to ‘reorganisation’ will mean north Glasgow and the towns around it will have to go a lot further for emergency treatment (pretty crucial in an emergency) and a big deal considering the huge population in and around Glasgow. The hospital - Stobhill - is also a site of historical significance, largely due to the fact that in 1967 I was born there. People using the system to voice the arguments they want, not what the spin doctors want and try to effect change. The big parties are going to have brakes applied to their ideologies and have to be more responsive to the people - just a pity more of the people didn’t actually vote. Still, at least we don’t have a bunch of smegging neo-Nazi BNP hatemongers.