Let's talk about politics...

Back in May 2015, I was super excited. I had been 18 for almost a year and felt proud that my parents had timed my birth perfectly for voting in my first election. I went down to the polling station, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, put my X in the box and then felt a wave of adultness wash over me as the Conservative government that I had voted for, was announced the following day. And then I thought I had a 5 year break to put politics out of my head for a while and worry about more important things like getting the perfect angle on the photo of my dinner or deciding whether I should spend money on shoes or make up or both (always both, FYI). But then the referendum was announced and although I wasn't excited to discover the outcome (because I naively thought the remain one I'd voted for, was an obvious one), it still felt mildly exciting to be involved in voting in a once-in-a-lifetime vote that is literally the most democratic vote to have ever existed. Then, while the drama that's been Brexit unfolded, us Brits also decided to stick our ore in on American politics when the second political shock of the year happened and Trump became the US President. So after a a pretty shocking year, I thought we were finally going to get a year off from it all. But no. For now the third year running, I am again preparing to go down to the polling station this Thursday the 8th of June, to have my say in who gets to run this country and how they get to run it.

Don't get me wrong, I love that I am an adult woman with the right to vote (a right that was fought hard for by our sisters before us) and I would never abuse that privilege by not voting. An attitude that I strongly believe all women should have, by the way. But aren't we all getting a bit bored of it all? Arguing about politics and seeing people moaning about it on social media and seeing people moaning about people moaning about it on social media? And as much as I wish I was enjoying a break from it, I completely understand why the General Election had to be called. People have criticised Theresa May a lot for saying she wouldn't call one and then calling one but her only mistake was saying she wouldn't. She would've known all along that she would have to. 

After being hurled in to power following David Cameron's embarrassing resignation post-Brexit, as an unelected leader she would never get any policies passed without people doubting her. But since then, she hasn't done herself many favours in terms of her campaign. She's at a disadvantage anyway (as the party currently in power always is) and she's done little to nothing to improve her image. While Jeremy Corbyn has been out getting photographed buying The Big Issue and chatting to Stormzy ("young people please vote for me"), Theresa May has virtually gone in to hiding. However, I'll still be voting for her anyway.

I strongly believe that politics is all about a lesser of evils - none of them are saints, none of them do what they say and they all lie and manipulate to try and win your vote. But more than anything else, I think you should vote for policies, not politicians. Read up on what all the parties promise (and assume that none of them will live up to everything they say) and then chose from there. While I may not care for May one way or the other, the most important thing to me when casting my vote is to build and maintain a strong economy and I believe that the Tories will do that. I've seen a lot of Tory-bashing on social media about how all Conservative voters are pure evil. Why would we not want to vote for free university tuition fees and a gazillion pounds to be pumped in to the NHS? Well yes, it's a nice idea but Labour think that money grows on trees and their so-called 'fully costed manifesto' is just how-many-ways-can-we-write-tax-the-rich. By taxing the top 5%, all that means is that businesses will move their money off shore and jobs will be lost and it will be one big domino effect. Oh and unpopular opinion - I don't think that higher education should be free. You go to university to get a higher qualification so that you can get a better-paid job, so you have to give money to get money (sorry not sorry). 

This is one thing that I really hate about politics - it's so personal and people don't seem to realise that. I'm sure that free university fees are very important to parents with children starting to think about their degree, while sustainability and saving the planet are other people's main priority. My boss' husband is Bajan and he moved here under a year ago so her main priority is a government who will make sure he can stay here; meanwhile, immigration is very low down on my list of priorities. There are just so many different aspects to voting and to how this country is run that no party can promise a perfect solution to all of them. So Tory voters are not evil - they just want different things to you. And actually, in an ideal world for me, it would be a Conservative-Lib-Dem co-elision again because I think that's the best of both worlds; a strong and powerful economy with consideration for all kinds of people who contribute to it. But like many other people, I do believe that a Lib Dem vote is a wasted one. This election (more than the last) seems to be Conservative vs Labour and a vote in any other direction seems like it will be lost. I am finding this election really hard to call though, given how many votes I know are being made based on Brexit.

All that being said, this blog post isn't designed to be some kind of embarrassing cheerleading piece for one party or the other, but as a woman under 30 I am in the category of "least-likely to vote" and so I know a lot of you are too and I think it's important you make your voice heard. "Accept the things you can't change, and change the things you can't accept". And never doubt that your vote counts because it does. How will you know? Go out and vote on Thursday.