I hope you all have a great time tonight seeing in the New Year and that 2011 brings you peace, prosperity and happiness.
The highlight of my year has to be the Papal Visit to the UK and being in Birmingham for the Mass celebrating the Beatification of Cardinal Newman. I was fortunate to attend Mass when John Paul II visited Manchester in the 1980s and in 2007 attended a general audience in Rome, so I count myself very fortunate.
The low point had to be the general election. It showed what a sham our electoral system really is. Under the current FPTP system smaller parties, representing a sizeable proportion of the electorate, are effectively neutered. The coming by-election in Oldham on January 13 will further prove the point with 10 candidates, 7 of them being no hopers who will have thrown their £500 deposits down the drain, plus the cost of other campaign materials, for what? Well done again the Lib Dems for breaking with tradition and cynically calling the by-election at Christmas. I suspect you will be given a thrashing for your cynicism on January 13th and despite Woolas's stupidity Labour will walk in.
Other than that, apart from the house flooding in May and an earthquake rocking us before Christmas, it's been a good and healthy 2010. God bless, and let's hope that families with loved ones in the armed forces welcome them all home safely soon.
5 comments:
I'd say this years been a draw for us...everything's been fine for the family, but The Gators had an epic meltdown, so...
Happy New Year Gregg to you and your family.
ho! Ho! HO!
Happy New Year Gregg! I notice that FPTP got Woolas elected in Oldham East with 31.9% of the vote at the last election. What a lame system!
I believe that people need to pay more attention to what is being done in their name & at their expense. The fact that Labour are favourites to win the seat again tells its own story.
Reciprocated, have a good and prosperous 2011. Hope to hear moe from you soon.
I thought you were going to stand yourself in Oldham - what changed your mind?
We're a very democratic party and the members in the North West decided not to fight it.I think when the result is known, and the small parties have been annihilted, the decision will be vindicated.
We are too responsible to throw £1500 of members' money away on a lost cause like this by-election.
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