Phone culture

So no headache today and a memory card in my good camera, it all meant I was on for a photo session up town trying to get some good street shots. Unfortunately an issue with my bank meant a mad dash through town trying, unsuccessfully, to find a branch which was open while the light was still good.

On another note I spent far more time than I intended to discussing Russell Brand and Paxman on facebook. Might as well finish it by sharing my $0.02 on here. I think some very pertinent points were made but sadly they were lost in a volley of overly florid rhetoric and some rambling train of thought. But people are disenfranchised with politics in general, the majority don't have any trust for politicians, particularly when they seem to be more interested in securing cushy sinecure directorships for after their political careers than they do in the public good, and many of the public are in the case I was brought up with where you feel like you're voting for the lesser of two evils rather than something genuinely good.

That said the biggest problem I have with Brand is his suggestion that people should decline to vote as a political statement. Frankly that's naive and a bit stupid. All it does is give extremists more of a voice. I firmly believe the rise of UKIP has less to do with widespread support for their policies than it does with massive voter apathy, resulting in a fanatical minority appearing to represent a far wider audience than they do in reality.

A friend was recently seriously considering standing in the next election, not out of a desire for any power, but to do it on a none of the above platform to try and engage people who wouldn't otherwise vote. In light of the social media furore over Brand's comments it seems like an increasingly like a sensible opinion, at the worst it's £500 out of pocket to make a statement.