(Actually, there is another blog run by a Mr Grindo Forks, but he may well have been awake as well)!
Daffodils are such a wonderful flower to brighten the beginning of the end of winter, and yesterday, Mrs Scrobs bought her Marie Curie emblem, which was then subsequently mauled by various grand-daughters,, but at least one of them has learned the name of a new flower!
Of course, everyone over The Severn Bridge will have a great day - Bor-eh dah, and I'll play this song, because it looks like he's walking along Camber Sands...
.... nice flowers, but one does wonder what the results would have been without all the dodgy unaccountable postal votes (which IMHO should be banned forthwith; no show, no vote).
ReplyDeleteNever really thought about them, Reevers!
ReplyDeleteEastleigh is not that inspiring a place, but is the hub of a lot of quite pleasant villages, and I suppose they could have made a difference.
I like daffodils, but ours aren't out yet - still too chilly up here I suppose. Even the snowdrops seem to be struggling.
ReplyDeleteThat's a pity Mr AH, because they really should be in bloom by now...
ReplyDeleteWhat part of Scandinavia do you hail from...
;0)
I'm instinctively with Reevers on postal votes except that I've been bedridden/unable to walk to vote. So provision must be made for the housebound/disabled, no? Trouble is, such provision is rife for abuse.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support Pip. Sorry to hear you are unwell; get well soon.
ReplyDeleteYou hit it on the head with 'rife for abuse'.
That is exactly the problem - and especially in this particular election where the Libdems not only hold all the local council seats (and can thus rapidly get round the entire constituency and rustle up all those postal votes), but nationwide the Party has form (and I believe convictions) in at least three elections for vote rigging.
I hope UKIP put somebody - preferably a non-local policeperson on the job of checking the validity of all those voting papers as I read somewhere that no less than 40% of their votes arrived by post. Now, I am not a fishmonger, but .....
Reevers - many thanks for your good wishes. Happily my medical probs were some time ago and today I actually got a response from a job application, yay!!
ReplyDeleteI have counted votes in an election and am honest as I believe others there in the hall were too. It was open and visible. But I had nothing to do with postal votes. And if I had I don't know how you would distinguish a real vote from a false one just by opening the letter and counting it? I mean, if it looked ok.... ?Each vote would have to be checked against a database to ensure one real person one vote. That would take resources, of people and time. I don't know if this is done as the final date for postal voting would have to be some time before the count for attended voting, to allow the checking to be done. I assume it is done.
And if all that IS done, you've still got the prob of coercion in the form of voting on behalf of those who wouldn't normally bother? Seems small fry doesn't it but how many old peoples homes are in the borough? How easy would it be easy to check the census and search on age? And those would appear real! Without popping by and asking, how would you check? By looking at the trend I guess.
40% is a lot isn't it?
Hi Pip,
ReplyDeleteLike you I do not know the answers to your questions, but too many results seem to be being swayed by absentee voters (cf Ed Balls in Morley). I suppose there are ways and means eg do postal voting slips contain names? If so that rather defeats the idea of a secret vote - although we all know that normal voting slips are perforated with tiny holes in the shape of numbers, which are replicated on the Register of names. It is thus very easy for those whose who want to to find out who voted how and is at liberty to discover the information. But I think you are right, a quick trot round care homes, hospitals, shift workers etc might throw up a few anomalies.
On a brighter note, many many years ago in a different incarnation I was asked to join a team of international election invigilators/observers in an African country holding its first ever general election. I still have my badge somewhere too!
My duties were to be at a certain polling station in the middle of nowhere at opening time (7am)and make sure everything was in order and the officials from all parties were present. Happily, it all went very well and the locals enjoyed the day. They all went home with indelible ink on the index fingers of both hands to show they had voted and my colleague and I enjoyed waggling two fingers at them and getting a similar response. I had to cover about 10 stations unannounced during the course of the day, again just to make sure everything was in order and that there was no mayhem or mischief. Local policemen were of course also present at each station.
When the booths closed I had to supervise the count at the station of my choice, which was carried out scrupulously, half way up a mountain in the eerie glow of Tilley lamps, in front of witnesses from all the contesting parties. Then when everything had been agreed and signed off, I had to escort the "returning officer" for that station back to a central point where all the results were co-ordinated.
All in all the whole thing throughout the country went very well with very few reports of any funny business - although there were tales of the local thugs browbeating the natives on which way they should vote.
The cherry on this particular cake was that one of the MPs from England who was sent to join the international observers team, was my MP - with whom purely by chance I happened to be having dinner at our hotel. When I mentioned this fact, the MP paid for my dinner (including a naughty glass of wine!).
No doubt, given what we have learned of these people in the interim, that went on the expenses claim!
Good luck with your new job.