bookmark_borderX marks the spot

Outside there is the most eerie golden glow as the sun sets. Half the sky is light, half the sky is dark as the rain falls from a thick dark cloud.

The weather, it seems, is undecided which, funnily enough was my state of mind a couple of hours ago.

There I stood, pencil in hand, ready to put a cross in a box but… which one?

Sometime in the next few months I’ll be leaving this constituency, so that wasn’t a huge consideration for me and, like many others I’m sure, I know that I didn’t want to vote for the Conservatives.

There is, of course, an odd slant in my ‘online’ life where most of the people I follow have a similar mindset to mine and I’d take a fair guess at many of them voting Lib Dem, some voting Labour and others voting Green. I’m sure one or two of them voted Conservative just as I’m sure one or two of them won’t have voted at all.

All of this didn’t really help me though, looking at names I barely knew, and trying not to associate the leader with the party politics. We don’t elect a Prime Minister, we elect a party so quite why there is such a large fuss about the personalities of the party leaders still puzzles me. Yes, of course one of them will be Prime Minister in the morning but it would’ve been good if the newspapers had focussed on policy rather than the fact that, for example, Gordon Brown called a bigoted old woman a bigot.

I will probably watch a bit of the coverage on TV then retire to bed, knowing that, come what may, someone will be in charge of running the company and I won’t agree with all of their decisions and policies. I will take care of my own affairs as I always have and deal with the consequences.

Others will rant and rave, moan and complain but, ultimately, there will always be politicians and as the type of person who is usually attracted to being a politician typically ends up more interested in power and money than the people they are supposed to be representing (exceptions to every rule granted) it’s safe to say that in a few years time I’ll find myself, once again, standing ready to cast my vote without ever being completely sure if anything really ever changes.

bookmark_borderOliverian

Jamie Oliver. Love him or loathe him he has to be applauded for his current stance and activity surrounding school dinners.

Firstly I think he is a genuine guy, and even if his “cheeky charm” and “mockney” attributes put you off, if you’ve seen any of his recent series (I only saw a couple of episodes) or his last series where he took some challenging students (for want of a better term) through a chef’s course (which I followed avidly) you can’t argue that he does think he can make a difference and is passionate about what he does. For that I applaud him.

On the flipside, the cynic in me will agree with you if you state that he does get some very good publicity from these ventures (any publicity is good publicity after all) and that it is certainly a factor, but again I think he realises that he can use his celebrity status in a positive way but to do that he needs to remain a celebrity. Mind you, Sir Jamie Oliver? Not quite yet I don’t think.

However there is something that sticks in my throat, particularly concerning his recent series. Namely how out of touch our government appears to be with such simple matters. As I said elsewhere:

So the current fad is for the diet of children, that’s all well and good, but I hope it forces home a stronger point.

Parents are responsible for their children.

Simple really yet so many believe that it’s not their job to educate “that’s why they get sent to school”. Until those types of parents are held accountable for their childrens actions and education the system will continue to fail and we’ll have to rely on ‘celebrities’ to highlight these basic basic things.

Don’t get me wrong I think Mr.Oliver has done a good thing (and look at all that publicity for him as well! /cynic) but it’s a sad state of affairs when it’s NOT at the forefront of the affairs of state to worry about the future of our country.

So, bravo Jamie Oliver for raising the profile of this issue. But I do wonder if it is too late, how many generations ago should this parental malaise have been tackled? Are we into the second or third generation of the uneducated, globalised masses, and can I fit in any more grand generalisations (which apparently is my word of the month)? I don’t think it’s too late just yet, but the longer we leave it the harder it will be.

Addendum
I have to say I’m surprised that this hasn’t been fully latched onto by the political parties. Seeing as how there is an, unconfirmed, election coming soon, this kind of populist topic should be a pretty easy sell, at least I would have thought so.

This then leads me to start pondering on the future of politics and how it won’t be long until the topics of debate are generated from daytime TV (or are they already?), and how you’ll be able to phone-in to win a copy of “The Great Debates: The House of Commons discusses Burberry caps” on DVD by answering the following question:

Is the Prime Minister: A) a human being. B) a lump of coal? Calls cost £5 per second, please ensure you know how to use the phone before picking it up.

Actually, that question might be a bit too hard.