So, how did the General Election go for you?
I don't do party politics on here and am not about to start. Suffice to say that Thursday was a very long night.
In fact, it was around 8 o'clockish on Friday morning when my man Kris Hopkins was returned to Parliament as the MP for Keighley and Ilkley. The screen shot you can see above - taken from the BBC pictures - confirms that I'm yet to master the art of "cool." But I was very pleased and hope I can be forgiven, particularly as I hadn't been to bed for more than 26 hours at that point.
The problem with supposedly being at the centre of the "action" on these occasions is that, in truth, you're really not. We only knew for sure that Kris had won a few minutes before the result was announced. And, with no Wifi and no TV, it was difficult to know what the picture was elsewhere in the country.
I watched a lot of the coverage back yesterday (I didn't have much else on, alright?!) and it left me feeling rather downbeat
Before the polls closed on Thursday, I wrote on the VANBAR associates website that standing for election, whatever your policy platform, is often a particularly thankless task. And the sense of devastation felt by those who lose can often be very deep indeed.
A number of long-time friends of mine - from Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, and from across the major political parties - got their hides soundly spanked and will have woken up yesterday not quite knowing what to do with themselves. A number are now unemployed.
After almost 20 years of political involvement of one form or another, I remain in real admiration of the vast majority of people who put themselves forward (George Galloway being a dishonourable exception).
Many like to call them nasty names and think they know better, but few have the courage to put their own names on a ballot paper. Thank goodness some do.
