Look – here’s the thing. I’m not going to talk about what might happen; I’m not going to go down the road of this possibility or that possibility; what I’m about is about supporting hard-working families, defending the NHS…
No, it’s no good – I can’t keep that up. On with the blog then…
When I was a kid I used to go around pretending to be a cowboy. I had a green-and-yellow scooter which did service as my horse, and I asked everyone to call me Joe. Sadly, few obliged: when I signed a letter in English class with my pseudonym the teacher circled it in bright red, which I found deeply dispiriting. But some of the ground has now been reclaimed, because for the last week or so I have been knitting a Joseph Jumper.
Joseph, you will recall, had a coat of many colours, which caused his brothers to be very jealous. My sweater, too, is made of many colours, since I knitted it from all the oddments that were lurking in my knitting bag. Old remnants, left-over squares, ends of other projects, everything was pressed into service and this was the result:
You can’t see it terribly clearly here but it’s a glorious jumble and I really like it. It seems to me a symbol of how things can come together in life: odd thoughts and experiences you tuck away, thinking they’re of no importance, come out and join in creating something amazing.
I’m not expressing this too clearly – but then it is a Bank Holiday.
Bank holidays don’t seem to have any effect on politicians though; they just plough on with their campaigns regardless; and this morning I tuned into ‘Today’ to hear Ed Milliband say ‘Look -‘ for the millionth time before launching into an explanation of why he won’t explain what he will do if the SNP hold the balance of power.
To be fair, I have some sympathy with party leaders in this scenario. I mean, obviously they want to win outright, and they want to campaign to that end, but realistically they know they’re going to have to deal. However if they talk too much about doing deals, they’ll scupper their chances of winning outright. So they’re in a bit of a cleft stick.
But I do wish they’d express themselves in a more original manner. Everyone’s sick of hearing about ‘hard-working families’ or some variation on those words: plus, they seem to have taken to heart the old teacher’s adage of ‘tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them – and then tell them what you’ve told them.’
It works quite well in teaching but in politics it leads to utter weariness. And for god’s sake Ed – just stop starting every sentence with ‘Look – ‘ OK?
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 