Phew! Made it! Just in time, mind. And not without a rather costly rearrangement of the flights back from the Far East, I might add. And a holiday cut short as a result of a lamentable slip of the memory. But all worth it, in the end. Like you, I suspect, I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d missed the chance to vote in this week’s crucial local government elections.
As with most people, rarely a day goes by without my pondering what, exactly, is the best formula for calculating the amount which should be raised through rates, or the council charge, or council tax, for provision of our local services. Is my particular district eligible for a Rate Support Grant? Do they still have the Rate Support Grant? What, exactly, was the Rate Support Grant in the first place?
And then there’s the Issues. In my book, one can never have enough lesbian outreach workers. Some day I hope one will outreach to me. Believe me, there are times, at the end of a long day, when everybody needs a lesbian outreach worker. And support centres – more, come on, give us more. I don’t care who they’re supporting. Just bring them on. I feel more secure, sitting at home wreathed in worry, knowing that everybody but me has a support centre to which they can turn when life gets a bit trying.
Democracy: it makes me feel fulfilled and vibrant as a human being. And we have so much more of it now. Parish, district, county-council elections. Regional assemblies, the wonderful European Parliament, national assemblies if you’re lucky enough to be Welsh, Scottish or from Ulster. And there are all those single-issue councils you can vote for, too.
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