#may election

While walking naked Into the gas chamber one felt A certain thrill at one’s predicament: bereft as one is of Ambassadors Plenipotentiaries, creeps & other former fellow travellers on the groovy train to gobbledegook central

Nonetheless is morethetheless A condition of extreme despair Energises oneself to crave A morsel to eat… Or is it a trick To lure me from this Earth shat-a-ring-a-roses Endeavo…

On Friday 17th April, just weeks before the General Election, The Alun School invited candidates standing for the constituency of Delyn into school for a ‘Question Time’ style debate with their sixth form students. 

The hustings took place during lunchtime, so attendance was voluntary, yet surprisingly an enormous amount of students arrived to watch and participate in the debate. Amongst the audience there were first time voters and a few staff, but that’s not all - surprisingly the lower sixth and even students in the lower school, in years 10 and 11 attended the debate, many putting questions forward to the panel.

Delyn is lucky to have candidates running from across the political spectrum, putting across a wide range of political views for the students to consider. David Hanson is the current Labour MP, and has been in office for 23 years and is also the party’s shadow minister on immigration. On May 7th, he will be up against not only the Conservatives, but the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, UKIP and the Greens.

The one ‘candidate’ who shone throughout the debate, wasn’t even the candidate people would be voting for, as he was just representing the Liberal Democrats in their candidate’s absence. He stood up whenever it was his turn to speak, and engaged the crowd brilliantly, being the only person on the panel to really get real a response from the audience after a remark about not agreeing with any of the opinions on his side of the panel, where he was sat beside the appropriately named UKIP candidate Nigel Williams. 

The debate was short, only able to last for 45 minutes, but even if the candidates didn’t get to say all they wanted to, and the students were left with questions unanswered, the sheer number of young people packed into that room proved that young people are interested and engaged with politics. 

Hello, friends! I am back for another nut grinding issue! 2010 elections maybe over elections will come again and again. Last year’s elections is what inspired me to write this article as my nuts got grinded like no other election that I have witnessed did. Why? It’s because of ignorant voters! Now I do not intend to hurt or intimidate anyone but last year’s election was not a big success as far as most Filipino thought. Voter’s lack of confidence on their TRULY chosen candidate maybe the reason for this. Most voters who elected President Noynoy only did so because they think that their candidate is a nuisance and it would be a waste to vote for him/her. On trips back and forth manila, I could hear people’s conversation:

Person1: ‘Sino binoto mo (Who did you vote for?)?’

Person2:’Si Noynoy’

Person1: ‘Bakit? (Why?)’

Person2: ‘Ehh yun daw yung sure win eh, ok na yun (It was said that he would win, I’d rather choose him than another)’

Just when I thought the ignorance was over:

Person1: ‘AKO DIN EHH (ME TOO)’

Really now?! Really?! I heard that conversation a lot of times and what ground my nut more was this ignorance ran in my family! My aunt had that conversation with her officemates, all of them working on a City Hall. Now these people are scratching their heads, joining rallies and regretting their votes. It’s your fault you had to suffer this, you relied and believed too much on what other people say you forgot you have your own mind! Elections are supposed to be the loudest voice a person can give on their government, and you waste your privilege and vote like you are in a popular contest. Grow up people! Think for your own, if not for you then vote for the next generations who will reap what your candidates will sow! I am not a hater of President Noynoy, but judging on what he has done, I am not impressed.  You might say he is not there to impress me but hey, who is he trying to impress anyway? Actually, the only law that he enforced that I remembered to this day was his Wang Wang Policy. To quote my great Professor Calilung ‘If those kinds of policies and laws are what the current administration are to enforce, we will have a shallow government’. I really hope that in the next election, us thomasians can and will make a difference.

Again comments are welcome. Stay Tuned for more Nut Grinders

NUT GRINDING FACTOR: 10/10

PS