Oh boy, it’s been fascinating to watch the the election play out here in England. Being strictly an observer is a little strange, I’ll admit, but also a bit entertaining: prevented from participating, one is free to just gawk to one’s heart’s content.
And politics came to Durham! So I got to gawk plenty!
The Lib Dems held an event here the day before the election. Nick Clegg came! Cue the swooning fans! Or, you know, the loads of people with signs and loud opinions. The weather very obligingly did not rain all over everything. (Sidenote: when you live in England you become morally obligated to talk about the weather whenever you talk about anything.)
About half an hour before the supposed start time, this was the size of the crowd. (I say supposed start, because Clegg showed up about half an hour after the start.)
Obligatory person engaging in head-scratching behavior for attention. Oh politics. (One bystander response: "Why the rabbit costume? It's FOX-hunting.")
As soon as the crowd realized the press was recording them from the upper windows, they obligingly began mugging for them.
I will say, it was overall a very polite and cheerful crowd. Security presence was pretty slight: the police were mostly concerned about keeping the road clear so that the approaching vehicles didn’t mow anybody down.
Carol Woods, the Lib Dem candidate.
The crowd had increased considerably in size by the time Clegg arrived.
OMG, it's Nick('s bus)!
Somewhere in this mess of people, Clegg is getting off the bus. If I were eight feet tall I'd have a better photo.
And Nick swept–or was swept–into the building, and that was that, and people started dispersing and going home. There were plenty of people just there to spectate like me, including a nice lady from Sunderland, a Conservative supporter, who cheerfully said, “Oh, I figured, why not,” when explaining why she’d come.
Carol Woods, the candidate above, did not win; Roberta Blackman-Woods, the Labour incumbent, retained the majority, despite some fairly hilarious (to me) campaigning by the Lib Dems. This included materials put through our mailbox whose arguments for electing the Lib Dems included the following argument: if you want change, don’t vote Conservative, because bookies have them as 100-1 outsiders in this riding.
Bookies’ odds! Why do we not use this evidence in America? Why? Hop to it, politicians!
