I suppose it was inevitable with EU elections on the horizon.  Even so, the advice never to discuss politics or religion with friends has never been proved more appropriate.   There weren’t many people in The Duke but it didn’t take long for those within hearing distance to get involved.

    Sam has gone all UKIP, sounding like Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army that kept saying “they don’t like it up ‘em,” ‘em being all the main parties.  He’s voted Conservative for as long as we’ve known him but the change may be a reaction to him being a constituent of Maria Miller.   Sam’s loud comment that “she won’t like it up her next time she stands” had to be explained to two elderly ladies who got a bit excited when they heard it.  He has a point in the sense that none of the major parties would discuss immigration or the EU until recently, but asked to name another standing member of UKIP he was none the wiser than the rest of us.

    Adrian reads more newspapers than most of us and has Radio 4 on permanently at home and in the car.  His point made sense.  Our problem with both the EU and immigration is that we don’t have any quality information.  Dependent on which politician is stating their case, they spout statistics to prove their position, but heaven knows where they find their numbers.   Adrian says there is no forensic statistical analysis, worth the breath used to deliver them.  I think  Jez made the same point more clearly by saying they all talk bollocks.  In that circumstance, you seem left with no option but to take a gut feel punt on the character of the person who states their case.  It raised another point.

    How much do we actually know about the folk we elect?  Ben raised a moot point.  What process did we go through when we applied for a job?  Inevitably it meant producing a CV and going through an interview process.  Clearly 15,000 or so constituents can’t interview an individual who wishes to stand as an MP but the applicants could be made to publish a detailed CV.  They’re applying to run the country and it would be nice to know if they’d ever run anything in their lives.  Based on the cock ups with most major projects, the answer is probably no.

    By now the entire audience in the bar were involved in the discussion so Paddy decided to run his own poll.   There were nineteen of us, including publican Richie and his better half Pam.  The results were as follows for the EU election.

                                                UKIP                                      12

                                                Labour                                    2

                                                Conservatives                       1

                                                Liberals                                   0      Jez said they’d get less on the day

                                                Undecided                             1

                                                Don’t give a shit                    3

    According to Adrian, proportional representation means that the ‘Don’t give a shit party’ will have representatives in Brussels.    As drink was taken, a lively discussion ensued about the cost of standing as a delegate.  While unlikely, I would like you to give serious consideration to how you use your vote if a DGS candidate appears on your voting slip.