There should be dancing in the streets

I wrote this on Friday, but never posted it.

Oh Brave New World that has such people in it.

The government lost over 300 seats in the local elections yesterday, the worst local election performance in my lifetime for the party. Oh Happy, Happy Day! They came third, yes third, behind the Lib Dems. Our ward didn't change, which means we got a Lib Dem councillor again. I don't like the guy and I didn't vote for him. In fact he's a bit of a custard. But he's not a morally bankrupt Labour scum bag, which is clearly the main thing.

And just when I didn't think the day could not get any better, my boss said we can knock off at 3pm today because it is a bank holiday weekend.

I don't know whether it's the same for all voters in UK, but when I go to vote at my local polling station, I'm given a ballot paper with a unique number printed on the back. They give me the paper only when they have checked that I (my polling number, name, address) appear on their electoral role listing. If I don't appear on their list, I am not allowed to vote. When they find me on their list, they write the number of my ballot paper against my name and address. Can anyone see a problem with this? Like, for instance, returning officers can identify my personal ballot paper, and therefore how I voted. Why am I the only person who seems to think this is a problem? There should be rioting in the streets.

I find it hard to believe that people's voting habits are recorded. Surely that would be illegal. My friend Becca however claims that she once voted Lib Dem, and landed up on a Lib Dem mailing list as a result. If that's true, it's terrifying. Incidentally, the Lib Dem Leader, Nick Clegg (who?), commented on the election results this morning and made a proper show of himself with his appalling grasp of the English language. He claimed the Lib Dems had taken seats "off of" Labour, shocking! Who on earth would vote for him after that?

What was I talking about? Oh yes, ballot papers being traced back to voters. I also heard a story from a guy I used to work with who claimed he deliberately spoilt a ballot paper, and was later contacted and basically threatened over the phone. I'm not sure whether I believe this story, but the mechanism is there for doing it. The thing that makes the story dubious is simply the fact that it's not illegal (as far as I know) to spoil a ballot paper, but we are supposedly legally entitled to a secret vote.

Oh, and I'm reading in the press today more about the Austrian nutter that kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years with three children that he fathered with her. There appears to be speculation now that the wife may have known about the prisoners in the cellar. What did I tell you? It's also been pointed out that he couldn't possibly have fitted the 300lb concrete door himself.