Put a X in the box....

I can't remember much about what my old marketing director said when I worked in newspapers not so very long ago. In fact, for the most part, I thought he was a bit of a burk and, to be absolutely honest, I can't even remember his name, but one thing he said during a presentation struck a chord with me and stuck in my mind. He said that if we, as a newspaper could capture the zeitgeist then we'd be onto a winner. I'm not sure that we ever achieved it but, nevertheless, it was a great goal to aim for. Capturing the zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, is what politicians try to do at election time and, for me, Nick Clegg has managed to achieve this. Who the hell would have thought that there'd be young and old people in the streets chanting "I agree with Nick!" as the Lib Dem leader meanders through the crowds up and down the country. Ok the TV debates have had a big impact on this and some people don't think that Clegg should even have been allowed in them at all. But he was and he seized his opptunity to try and change the political map. TV has, afterall, effected much of the rest of our lives and now it's at last managed to engage a largely turned off population into politics again. I really hope that something dramatic does happen at this election, whether it's a hung parliament and the parties are forced to cooperate more closely with each other; or whether it's an outright Liberal victory the outcome will be concessions to the voting system towards proportional representation and a shake up of the old establishment. It won't destroy the established order (it's too strong for that) but it but it will prune it and allow for new growth. Now I'm back talking about the Tonbridge garden show! I'm not at all sure that my vote will make any difference in Tonbridge and Malling but I've pretty much made up my mind which way I'm voting. If enough young people, that's mainly 18-25 year olds can actually be bothered to go out and exercise their democartic right there could well be a major upset even in this Tory stronghold of a constituency. Who knows. But to not vote at all I just cannot understand that when, not so long ago, people in this country died for the right to vote, woman of all ages, especially, were denied the vote as little ago as 85 years. People around the world are still coerced to vote a certain way or else their votes are fiddled and deliberately miss-counted. So go and put a X in the box on Thursday; it's as easy as that but it adds up to so much....