UK general election June 2017*

[pensnest]

It feels… strange to be pleased after an election result. I was deeply disappointed in 2015, particularly when there seemed to be such a good buzz in the air. I was ready to cry after the Brexit vote in 2016. I felt sick after the US election in November that year.

But now… I feel so much better. And it's not as though we got the Tories out, or the LibDems enjoyed an unprecedented sweep into power, or anything radical. But there's hope now, and there hasn't been a lot of that about. The PM was badly damaged by this, which, yay! The government is going to be relying on the repellent DUP, which cannot be good news—although the Scottish Conservatives might be doing their own thing, somewhat, which seems like a sound plan. And the election result shows that yes, actually, left wing views can win. Young people can vote, and will vote left.

And we have 192 women elected to Parliament - the most ever. Still not quite a third of MPs, but it's a good development.

Plus, 51 non-white MPs now. That's close to 8% overall. Non-white population is about 20% of the total, so it, like representation of women, has a way to go, but we're improving.

Norfolk is of course a broad swath of blue, except the cheerful orange coastal flag of North Norfolk's LibDems and the tiny red dot that is Norwich South. But. In the constituency where I live, Norwich North, the Tory incumbent kept her seat by fewer than 500 votes. In the last election there were four to five thousand votes between the Tory and Labour candidates. Bloody hell. It's really doable. (It really helps that useful information is so readily and easily available. I'd have liked to vote LibDem, really, but the Labour candidate—who does look like a good egg—was the only one with any chance of beating the Tory.)

Also, Kensington. Went. Labour. Kensington. Kensington. By twenty votes, ahaha!

I don't know what this means. I *hope* it means a kinder, gentler Brexit, since we can't have what I want which is no Brexit at all. I hope it brings TM down: I don't want a Prime Minister who wants to take us out of the European Court of Human Rights because those pesky human rights do get in the way of fascism, and who tells us there's too much tolerance of extremism while working with the DUP. I want British decency back.

It kinda feels like we might be on the way to that.



* I put the month in because, who knows, maybe we'll be doing this again in October.

Comments

[sperrywink]

I hear you about the hope part. It's been so dispiriting politically. I Just wish 2018 could get here faster and we could have a hope of voting out our current govt before they completely trash our environment, parks, and at-risk people.

[pensnest]

Metafilter's mega US politics thread provides updates on the little elections that are taking place now - I'd call them by-elections, but I'm not sure what the word is in America. Mostly there seem to be some good fights going on.

But yes, I'm certainly hoping you get to strike back in the mid-terms.

[ephemera]

Whatever shape things are in on Monday, it's not going to stick all that long, is it? "Strong and stable" - ha!

[pensnest]

Yeah. Can't even get along with the DUP! And the Scottish Tories might be up to something, which'd be good.

I really can't see Theresa May keeping her job for very much longer.

[frausorge]

Congratulations - it's heartening indeed to see some positive results. I hope the upswing continues!

[pensnest]

Politics here is very bewildering at present, but that seems to be true everywhere.... And then we have people like my Father In Law, whose only issue is Lower Taxes (he doesn't seem to have noticed that he's going to need the NHS more and more, for instance, but we do our best).

[vae]

I'm so glad to be sitting in the tiny red dot. He's a good chap, our MP.

[turlough]

Congratulations! It was such a nice suprise when I heard the result.

[adelate]

I had a similar feeling after our municipal elections this spring. I was gutted at the results of the previous election but this spring the left seemed to rise a lot while the most racist party lost a bunch of voters. I hope things work out for the best for you and for all of us! :)