I was in South Africa as long as the English team was. South Africa is a country of great contrasts. Each day was like a different holiday.

As well as the football, I went by cable car to the top of Table Mountain, played football in a township, night clubbed in Cape Town, wine tasted in the Cape Winelands, I went on safari, visited Robben Island and generally played the tourist.

I met lots of great people and made loads of new friends.

bafana bafana

I’ve uploaded some of my photos from South Africa. They capture the many different aspects of this trip.

The most moving day (apart from watching England get stuffed by Germany) was the trip to Robben Island. Here Nelson Mandela spent a good part of his life as a prisoner for resistance to apartheid. Now it is a museum.

We were taken a tour of the prison by en ex-political prisoner. This man was only a couple of years older than me. We would have been at University at the same time. Whilst he was organizing against apartheid on his campus, we were doing similar things in London.

great view

He spent three years in Robben Island for his ‘crimes’, I went down the pub afterwards. How different our lives have been. It makes me realise just how easy things have been for me.

South Africa has come a long way since the end of apartheid. But it still has many problems to face. The FIFA World Cup 2010 has changed the image of South Africa for me. I expect it is similar for the many that ignored the scare mongering and followed their teams.

I suspect it will have changed South Africa as well.

thank you south africa

general election 2010

11:00 I’m awake again. I can’t sleep much. I turn on the TV to catch up on the election results. What is going? What will the politicians do next?. I hope they’ve had more sleep than me.

I eat breakfast and read The Guardian online message boards. Time flies when I do this. A couple of hours later I eat dinner. I’ve not slept properly in 36 hours and everything is fuzzy.

14:30 I arrive back at Stevenage Leisure Centre. The local count’s in progress. This time I wander around. It’s a similar set up as yesterday but with each ward having a separate couple of tables.

The team I’ve spent the last month canvassing with are focussed on Manor ward. One of our councillors retired from here this year, and we’ve made a big effort to get our new guy John Mead elected.

It’s all a bit of an anti-climax after last night.

I go and check out Chells ward. I’ve been delivering leaflets in Chells, but didn’t cross paths with Gareth Steiner, our candidate there. I introduce myself to Gareth. He thanks me for all the deliveries.

Sharon Taylor, the defeated Labour candidate is there. I offer her commiserations on her defeat. She is trying to look on the bright side. Her daughter is getting married in September and she will now have more time to enjoy the wedding and preparations.

16:00 (ish) The returning officer announces the results. John wins in Manor, which was the result we were working on. Gareth has done well and increased the LibDem vote, but not good enough to take the seat. Maybe next time he will get a break through.

Everything else stays the same I think. Perhaps the Conservatives win one from Labour. I am not sure as my mind is definitely beginning to dull with lack of sleep now.

I see Stephen McPartland, out new Conservative MP. I congratulate him on his win. He says, “it’s not sunk in yet.” He looks like he hasn’t slept much either. Close up I realise how young he is. He’s only thirty-three. He says lots of positive things.

I see Howard. “Book at Bedtime,” he says.

“Wah?” I mumble.

“The one across the top”

“Huh?”

“The crossword clue we couldn’t get”

The penny drops. Was it really 34 hours ago we were doing that crossword in Fry Road?

17:00 I’m out on my feet. The talk’s of a hung parliament and in all likelihood another election soon.

Someone mentions me running as a councillor next year.

I must get some sleep first. I go home.

00:30 I leave the Red Lion and head for the count at Stevenage Leisure Centre. I am an ‘Official Counting Agent’ tonight. I’ve been advised to get there sometime after midnight, “Not much happens before then.”

As I walk from the Old Town I fall in with four guys. Three of them are Labour and one Conservative. In Stevenage You can’t tell who’ll be voting for whom from appearances. We’re definitely post-tribal.

One asks who I voted for today. I decline to say. He apologises for asking. Everyone takes the secret part of voting very seriously. They turn for the leisure park to go clubbing. I carry on to the Leisure Centre for the count. I feel very grown up and sensible.

01:00 Arrive Stevenage Leisure Centre. Some constituencies in Sunderland have already returned results! How do they do that? Sunderland’s a Labour strong hold and foregone conclusion. Maybe they just declare for Labour and go down the pub.

In Stevenage they’re still separating local ballot papers from general election ones. As most people fold their voting papers together this takes time. The local election papers are put aside to be counted in the afternoon.

I’ve been given a badge telling the world I’m an ‘Official Counting Agent’. But no one’s told me what I’m supposed to do. I decide to spend some time asking dumb questions. I’m not sure if this is part of my role, but I can’t help verify a vote if I’ve no idea what’s going on.

Every one I talk to is very helpful and willing to explain to me what they are doing and why. There’re a couple of Police officers present. I ask one why they’re here,

“It’s just in case…”

“Are you expecting trouble?”

“Not at all, we are only here as a precaution.”

“What are the plans if there’s trouble?”

“None, seriously, this is Stevenage…”

There’s also some private security present. That bothers me a bit. I recognize one from the Old Town. Apparently Labour have hired part of the Leisure Centre for a private function and the Leisure Centre have employed private security to make sure no one crashes Labour Party’s party.

I spend the next hour drinking coffee and watching the TV as the results come in. A hung parliament is predicted.

02:30 The count is starting in the main hall. There’s a large horseshoe of tables with the counting staff sitting on the inside. There’re chairs on the other side of tables from the counters for observers, agents, candidates and anyone else here to monitor the count.

The ballot papers to be counted are in bags on tables in the centre. These are fed to the counting tables where all the action is.

There’s no organization to the monitoring. All parties have agents present. All candidates are present. Independent observers can apply to be present. Basically you go stand / sit where you like. I suppose the randomness of it all ensures systematic cheating is difficult.

I decide to sit at one table for the whole count rather than wandering around. I sit down and say hello. As usual everyone is polite and friendly. I watch eagle eyed for two hours to see if I can spot any mistake by the counters. They don’t make any.

One of the counters put aside a ballot paper. It has marks in all the boxes. The supervisor passes it. I ask her to explain her decision. Everything stops on my table. This badge makes me quite important.

The paper had one tick , the rest ‘X’s. The rules are explained to me. The voter must clearly differentiate the candidate that they are voting for. So it passes.

I accept that explanation. Perhaps I’m being a pain. To me it’s due diligence, or maybe the power of the badge going to my head.

04:00 The count is over at the tables. All votes have been collected into bundles of 50. The bundles are placed on tables, 2000 to a table I think. We are sitting on the outside of the horse shoe in our party groups. It is obvious that Julia, the LibDem candidate has not won. But it is quite close between Labour and the Conservatives.

05:00 Stevenage declares for the Conservatives. Conservatives cheer, Labour look daggers, everyone else claps politely. Stevenage will have a Conservative MP for the first time since Tony Blair’s landslide in ’97.

05:30 I arrive home and watch TV for an hour. It is definitely going to be a hung parliament.

06:30 I get to bed. I need to be back at the Leisure Centre for 14:00 for the local election count.

Continued Monday with the the local election count.

general election 2010

05:30 My alarm goes off. The big day has arrived. Today in Stevenage we will be voting for a member of parliament and local councillors. I stumble around my flat, half asleep, hoping I will wake up soon.

I’m starting the day ‘telling’ at Fry Road. I need to be there for opening at 7:00. Telling involves sitting outside of a polling station asking for voters’ polling card number.

06:30 I leave home. It’s bright and crisp and way too early. I walk to the polling station, there are no other tellers around when I arrive. The Labour teller turns up. We shake hands and introduce ourselves. Howard is a Labour councillor for the ward although not running this year.

The polling officer brings us a cup off coffee, which was nice of her. She didn’t have to. Early morning voters turn up on their way to work. Everyone seems happy to be voting. There is a kind of holiday atmosphere.

Howard gets out the Guardian crossword. I’m no good with crosswords but get a couple. We are mostly stuck. The two hours pass quickly, chatting to Howard about music and football in Stevenage. These both come under his brief.

09:30 I arrive at my parents place for breakfast. They live near Fry Road so this saves me from going home. I talk politics with my Dad, then have nap. Later, my Mum comes in for lunch.

13:00 I am back at Fry Road for two hours. There is no Labour teller this time. Are they very confident or overworked? I catch the end of the lunch time rush, then it goes quiet.

Rules regarding political activity near polling stations are strict. You can’t attempt to influence a voter or even ask for a card number as they go into the station. You have to wait until they come out. You can’t ask people how they voted, just their polling card number. They’re under no obligation to answer. You can only ask once.

The problem is that on the way out of the polling station voters no longer have their polling card with them. Few people remember their number. So you ask for the first line of their address instead.

15:30 I arrive home. I voted by post a few days earlier so I do not have to vote today.

In the weeks before the election we canvassed homes looking for potential supporters. With the information gathered from telling we can tell if our potential voters turned out.

On polling day, if things are looking close, we drop in on non-voters to remind them to vote, offer lifts to the polling stations etc. This is called ‘knocking up’.

I’m on stand-by for ‘knocking up’. I play World of Warcraft with the TV on in the background. It looks like it’s going to be a big turn out.

20:00 I have not been called up to do any ‘knocking up’. It is unlikely I will be now as the polls shut at 22:00. Either the vote isn’t close or they have forgotten I exist.

I’m due to be monitoring the count at Stevenage Leisure Centre as an ‘Official Counting Agent’ tonight. I’ve been advised to get there sometime after midnight, “Not much happens before then”.

22:00 I’m off out to the count via the Red Lion. I need a break from all this grown up, sensible, respectable behaviour, so I go watch some live music. Thrash metal – not really my thing, but it breaks up the day.

00:30 I’m on my way to the count. My first ever count, I’m quite excited even though there is little chance of a LibDem win in Stevenage.

Continued tomorrow with the the general election count.

So far this week I have been out canvassing twice, went to the candidates’ debate on Wednesday, tonight and Saturday I am out canvassing again, then delivering leaflets on Sunday.

Last night was a bit different; I watched the “Leaders debate” on TV and used Tweetdeck to follow the #leadersdebate stream.

Both the debate and the stream were very lively. Twitter has yet to be been colonised by party hacks (with the possible exception of me). It was refreshing, genuine and amusing. There were lots of sharp comments and observations.

The main complaint was that with so many tweets being sent, Tweetdeck was not updating fast enough.

The big news is that Nick Clegg didn’t fall on his face, so the momentum he generated in the first debate will continue. I had to get this song in at some point. This version is a cover by Chelsea Staub and Jake Johnson.

Not the orriginal, but that is the whole point really.

It has been an education for me. In Stevenage at least, you can never judge by appearances who is going to talk, or how they will vote. Despite worries of big money corrupting politics, the LibDem campaign in Stevenage still comprises the candidate and a small band of volunteers knocking on peoples’ doors.

Last night Nick Clegg, the LibDem candidate for Prime Minister, easily won the leaders debate. There has been a boost for the LibDems in the follow up polls. It’s still along way to go, but it will be interesting to see how this all affects our reception on the door step.

I am in the Town Centre shopping precinct tomorrow morning, a good opportunity to see how the atmosphere has changed.

There has been speculation that with the LibDems now scoring well we can expect the dirt to come flying our way. So this track is for anyone facing the dirt.

canvassing

Like many people in the UK I have become disillusioned with the status quo in our national politics.

With a general election announced this week for May 6th, I thought I would try to be positive. I decided to become a party activist for the first time. Be one of those people knocking on doors and cold calling to talk about politics.

This fits in with my life policy of trying something new every year. And of pushing myself outside my comfort zone occasionally.

John Mead, Julia Davies

Knocking on strangers’ doors is definitely outside of my comfort zone. I can’t remember when I was last so nervous. I have been giving presentations at work for years no problem.

I spent Wednesday evening accompanying Julia Davies, our candidate for Parliament, to learn what to do and say. I knocked on my first door on Thursday night.

All week I had been thinking about this momemt and no one answered.

Then no one answered the second door or the third. Someone answered the next door but did not want to talk to me, and so on.

Not a good evening, few people answered the door to me. Perhaps I’m intimidating. Maybe no one feels guilty in ignoring me.

Perhaps they can sense I am terrified and I am secretly hoping no one answers the door. It’s lucky I am not a door–to-door salesman. I would starve.

But, by the end of the evening I was feeling better about the whole thing and will be back out Monday to Thursday for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow I will be in the Town Centre shopping precinct giving out leaflets and posters. This’ll also be outside my comfort zone.

I avoid writing about Members of Parliament and their gaming of expenses. These days I try to avoid thinking about MPs at al all. I just get angry. I turn them off when ever they come on TV.

A new low point was reached this week. Sir Thomas Legg has been looking at MPs expenses and has placed a cap on some of the more outrageous excesses.

For example he has placed limits of £1,000 a year for gardening and £2,000 a year for cleaning. Any MP who has claimed over this amount is being asked to repay the difference. They are not amused.

On Wednesday the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman told the House that claims had to be judged, “by the rules and standards that obtained at the time” anything else would be “arbitrary.”

A deft political touch that would have left Marie Antoinette gasping in disbelief.

What she and too many other MPs ignore is that merely staying within the rules counts for very little when you make the rules yourself. No one else in the country gets to claim £1,000 a year for gardening as a job expense.

MPs standing with the electorate has dropped yet further. The next general election promises to be a blood bath. No one within the government show any recognition of this. They have no idea of how to avoid their fate.

So, this vid is for all the MPs who are currently whining on about how hard life is now that they can only stitch taxpayers up £1,000 a year to get their gardening done.

There is a house in Westminster,
They call the House of Commons…

….and you gotta love the suits.

This is a truly historic moment for the US and the world. I have avoided any analysis on TV or on-line. I want to get my own thoughts in order first. This could be one of the most important election results in my lifetime.

I stayed up until 02:30 this morning watching the results come in. I went to bed shortly after Pennsylvania was called for Obama, then a senior Republican strategist all but conceded, so I figured it was all over.

I have been a fan of Obama since I saw an early appearance of his on The Daily Show. A charismatic, able young African American, but what impressed me most was that he sounded reasonable. Missing were the straw man arguments, the false choices, the mysticism and the bullying.

He has continued to impress me over the last year or so. He strikes me as someone who is truly interested infinding solutions, rather than the usual peddling of interests.

There can be no doubt that the USA has firmly ended the Bush era, but what next? There is a feeling of possibilities. Paths have opened up that were never present in the Bush / Blair years.

Perhaps most importantly, the US will regain some of its self-confidence, and some of its moral capital. There will be opportunities to rebuild and strengthen the Atlantic alliance. The problems we face are global ones, they require global solutions.

Change I can believe in? I am willing to give it a go.

I never thought I would see the day when I had anything good to say about the Conservative Party but.

In the budget, the Chancellor announced the decision to scrap the Home Computing Initiative.  I bought the PC I am using now on this scheme.  You pay in instalments with the value deducted from your wages before your PAYE is calculated.

Now the Conservative Party have an on-line petition calling for the scheme to be restored.  They want your full name and address which is not good, but I guess they have got to make up this money from somewhere.