I will be going to the polls on Thursday trusting that my bus pass will be accepted as ID despite the 15 year old photograph bearing little resemblance to my present hirsute appearance. I doubt if my vote would make any difference, if the polls are right we’ll be making a change from Blue Tory to Red Tory!

Starmeroids accuse us of being “Tory enablers” if we don’t vote Labour. By the same logic we’re “Labour enablers” if we don’t vote Conservative. I’ve made it perfectly clear I won’t be voting for either!

All parties are making a bigger effort to win this seat than they have done in previous years when it was accepted as a safe Tory seat and not worth putting resources into contesting. Starmer and Rayner were here last week and I was doorstepped for the first time ever by a Labour activist – I used the answerphone to tell them I wouldn’t be voting Labour, leaving them guessing who I would be voting for.

I hadn’t actually decided at that point but have received leaflets from three candidates that I might vote for. If we had preferential voting as we had in Australia I’ld vote in this order:

• Greens
• Social Democratic Party
• Yorkshire Party
• Liberal Democrat
• Labour
• Conservative

I don’t agree that voting Labour is the only way to get the Tories out when it will make barely any difference to matters that count. I doubt if we’ll have a socialist government in my lifetime but an alliance of various socialist groups, with support of the unions, could mount an effective opposition! Sadly that’s not happening, the Labour Movement is too diverse and it’s not helped by Mick Lynch and Sharon Graham backing Starmer!

I’m seriously rethinking my membership of Unite Community, but that’s a subject for another blog that I’ve already started writing.

I’m scheduling a Zoom meeting with Chris Williamson following the by-election. It’s something new for me, a pilot for other conventions.