Towards the end of May

Lots of talk about politics and society this weekend. For a change..

It's always surprising how the fortunes of political parties and individual politicians can shift so rapidly. We can put it down to the strong influence and domination of the media in our lives, certain platforms especially, people's tendency to latch onto soundbites, limited time to engage deeply on issues, the viral and instantaneous nature of much of our communication and the fickle impressionable nature of human beings. This mix of ingredients has parallels with other phenomena that we know well: fads and crazes that pass as rapidly as they arrived, and shocking news events that quickly fall from consciousness.

I don't want to get carried away and think the general election will deliver a huge upset from what we would have anticipated the day it was called, but there seems to be a useful late surge of popular socialist support. This will hopefully result in a more evenly balanced parliament and more impetus to tackle issues that seem very unfair such as gross profiteering of public sector services, skewed funding cuts that hit the poorest hardest and nepotistic tax loopholes.

As I'll be on the road and will miss the fever pitch of Election Day itself, I have sent my postal vote nice and early.