Separate Moan Thread About The Election

I always loved to hear Sailing By (Ronald Bilge?) - when I was a kid, we lived on a farm with no electricity (well, we did when the generator was running, but that was rare), so it was gas lighting, books and a radio for company. Many a sleepless night saw me migrate to Radio 4 to hear the shipping forecast and in particular, Sailing By

 

Ronald Binge, I was close..

 

I think it is mostly because the Tories have made such a pigs ear of things; Starmer and Labour are not winning because they are the best thing since sliced bread - they are winning simply because they are not the Tories or because the backside has fallen out of the Tory vote. That is the problem with percentages - turnout can be lower and lower, yet whoever turns out decides the vote.

 

We had a gas Tilley lamp which took butane cylinders (a bit like bigger versions of the Camping Gaz ones, if you remember those..) - I loved it because it also lobbed out a right good amount of heat, and heat was something we also didn't have really. Not fun, atop a hill, in a caravan, in the dead of winter in Scotland.

 

We were a bit later, in the 80's - but yes, there were many experiences there that folks now wouldn't even consider as liveable. I learned fast to boil enough water to make a hot cuppa and fill a hot water bottle, then snuggle under the blankets with the radio on. Many a morning in the winter I'd wake up with the blankets frozen around me. The views were quite something, it has to be said. Surrounded by animals, both farmed and wild and able to walk for miles without seeing a soul if I so wished. I could sit of an evening, in the dark, watching the distant lights of the trucks and the odd train going by...

Got to be honest, if I could have a wee cottage with mains sewerage/electricity/broadband in the same location, I would be quite happy there.

 

Not quite sure that nationalism is the problem - we've seen war even in times with non-nationalist parties in control.

The harsh truth is that the same story seems to be being repeated across Europe - folks were quite happy with anyone coming and going until it reached the point where they or their families couldn't get homes, or had public services overwhelmed, politicians not listening to them or not representing them at all, and all the while they were paying for it - oh, and often being berated for some inferred 'privilege' or generally being made to feel like scum.

Everyone has a breaking point.