Rock 'n' Polls

They're going to the polls as I write. I know this because of the half-ton of flyers collected on my doormat, telling me all about how green and environmentally friendly a bunch of electoral candidates intend to be - when they're elected, that is. Until that point I suppose they feel ok about using up bundles of paper in order to spread their word, rather than actually knocking on doors and, like, you know, telling us what they stand for. Also, Pete Doherty has been in the press reminding the 'yout' of their civic obligations, warning them about the threat of the BNP and the dangers of apathy in terms of not using their votes - this 'effectively' meaning a vote for the BNP in some boroughs. Cuh, that Doherty, what a guy. If only I'd had a role model like him in my youth. No doubt him and the missus will get papped leaving a Marleybone polling station, him with pork-pie hat & battered old acoustic guitar, her with straw hat and massive sunglasses, looking all Ray Davies' 'Terry and Julie' cool. Unless, that is, they happen to pass a crack house on the way and don't technically make it to the polling station.

Anyway, I'm just back from the crushingly underwhelming experience of 'doing my civic duty'. The first thing that struck me was that our portacabin cum temporary polling booth set-up has shrunk from two to one cabins since my last visit. No doubt a reflection of the massive indifference to local politics in my part of Liverpool. To be fair on us though, the big fight this year seems to be about - hold on a minute... yaawn (sorry) - refuse collection. The other thing that struck me, and something I really wasn't prepared for was the sight of two very bored looking women, indifferently flicking through crumpled copies of Reveal, Take A Break and Heat. Talk about apathetic, Doherty would have been fuming. I suppose I'd be bored too though; I mean, it's hardly Whitehall. It was eerily quiet there, too, no sense at all that the results of this event would tilt the world on its axis. Which, of course, they won't.

Still, there is a serious concern here. The casual approach to the process of voting, on both sides of the fence. On our part, it's a sorry state when deadheads like Doherty have the platform to point out the obvious to our youth, sadder still that they needed telling. Furthermore, I think it's disgusting that only a century and a-half on from the Chartists, we've become so numb to the whole political process. On the other side of the fence, they've encouraged this state of apathy and even actively let this happen. George Orwell said that "Tea is the opium of the working class" and, seventy-odd years on, we're no different; only now its flat screen TVs, new cars, Glastonbury tickets, iPods and European holidays that we preoccupy ourselves with. And so we reach a state where it's deemed acceptable for our votes to be treated with nothing short of contempt. A month of faceless politicians, campaigning via flyposters on issues that nobody actually cares about, culminating in a visit to a polling booth with all of the character of a portaloo. It's no wonder most of us feel so disengaged from the political process.