Election fever

All Britain is drowning in election propaganda. I can't decide who to vote for - they all seem to be rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic as far as I can see. I am glad to live in a democracy - and so I shall use my vote - but I often wish there was a good alternative to the adversarial politics of parliament. The real issues seem to get lost in the need to come out on top and the consequent name-calling and petty arguing.

I took this photograph outside the railway station in the noble Yorkshire town of Huddersfield, a few miles south of Saltaire, when I visited it a couple of weekends ago. (The Victorians had grand ideas and were very proud of their railways - can you tell?!) The statue is of a former politician, Harold Wilson (1916-1995), born in Huddersfield, who was Labour Prime Minister from 1964-70 and 1974-76. He has two claims to fame as far as I'm concerned...He shook my hand! (as he was chancellor of Bradford University at the time I received my degree). And he had the vision for The Open University, founded to give adults who had missed out on tertiary education a chance to gain a degree through part-time study and distance learning, and which is still going strong.

Coincidentally, Alan had a marvellous story about the 1974 election this week on his News From Nowhere blog - do read it.