31 Comments

I am ignorant of UK politics and I think it’s really out of line both that you were asked who you voted for and then berated.

But, I do think if I lived in the US I would avoid republications... so maybe I can be tribal.

Where I live politics isn’t too divisive... I mean, I would judge someone voting for one of the small strange parties but I have friends and family voting for all of the major parties, plus lots who keep it private

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100% agree re the importance of voting. Without fail, even if it’s the bloody Parish Council elections I walk out feeling grateful and often a bit emotional about having being able to cast my vote!

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Jul 23, 2022Liked by Esther

Love this, Esther. A few years ago I was at a dinner with some colleagues and their husbands when I foolishly admitted to being right wing. One of the husbands completely berated me like I was the devil incarnate. I have never ever been so rudely spoken to in my entire life - I had to leave the dinner it was that bad! Never again will I admit my political preferences!

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Esther, I couldn't agree more. My vote is a privately arrived at decision and will forever be. The only (sort of) political argument I've ever had was with a female friend who said she wasn't voting - and I pretty much said what you have. She later admitted I'd made her think, and years later she was incandescent about Brexit and went on about it for weeks! And I've never let politics be discussed over any meal that I've cooked. This may perforce change in future because my nephew has political ambitions, but with luck I'll be dead before he becomes Prime Minister (!!) so shan't have to sneak into Number 10 by the back entrance... L xx

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Jul 20, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by Esther

I spoilt my ballot in the 2019 General Election (New Cross, so a safe Labour seat) because the choice of Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn is no choice at all.

I'm in favour of Keir Starmer because I think he has turned Labour around (following the harrowing antisemitism debacle), he's clearly very competent and can actually do the job, but I don't get riled up by the fact he might not inspire others to vote for him. That's their choice, and if he's not the right man for the time and place according to the electorate, we move on.

I'm afraid I got into an argument at a work do with a colleague on the Middle East a couple of weeks ago. I know, I know, not great. But like another person commented above, if I hear someone saying something that is factually not true and at worst malicious, I will challenge them. People have such a black and white view of the things don't they? They really think the world is made up of 'good guys' and 'bad guys'. To that end, (sorry to go off on one now) Israel is like any other country on the planet: they've done a lot of good things, but they've also done some bad things. And the tendency among the left to endlessly criticise Israel (which just happens to be the world's only Jewish state) while saying far less about the many other countries which have far worse human rights records does feel a little bit antisemitic. Calling it 'an apartheid state' - as many who have barely even a rudimentary grasp the history of the Middle East (or even what life was like for black people during apartheid in South Africa!) label it - is ahistorical and tendentious nonsense.

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I love this!

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The problem is our essentially binary politics system. Tory or Labour on and on so no real choice. Some form of proportional representation is the way to go I think. The Greens are morally on the high ground but hopeless. And voting lib dem is a waste of a vote. In Scotland 16 year-olds have the vote for heavens sake! These a group of people who legally cannot drive, go to the pub, get a mortgage, rent a property etc etc.

One despairs!

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

I love the Spike. Every topic you raise makes me want to thank you for expressing what I have been thinking but thought I was the only one. Or to thank you for educating me aged 48 about what the cool button is for on the hairdryer.

Slightly off topic but I’m also amazed by those who don’t vote at all but then moan about everything. I think it should be mandatory (somehow) to vote and that may shake things up a bit in terms of outcomes.

No party in the current political scene represents my views and people who I think are genuine and capable I can’t vote for. I stupidly voted for Change UK at an election because I had been ranting about how we needed different choices and naively felt I should put my X where my mouth was. But the alternative is that I stick blindly with a brand even when the wrapper changes and I don’t like the new recipe. It’s a nonsense.

It seems as though we have to take a side on everything, we are becoming very judgmental and it’s exhausting. I can’t look at Twitter for the same reason. Everyone is so angry and mean and there’s no context. Why are we not able to just disagree anymore or say, “I honestly don’t know what I think about X but I want to educate myself”?

Rant over. Thanks, Esther.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

Go Esther. I love this, esp the bit about people dying to give women the vote.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

I don't think this issue can be ignored or swept under the carpet. It's ingrained in our minds now. I blame the awful shower we have in power now. It's practically impossible not to have an opinion if your father died in hospital alone whilst people in power were having a piss up. You just can't separate your feelings or be rational in that instance.

Nobody should be judged how they vote, only how they view the current situation. I'm not going to stand by when somebody is spouting racist opinions or just plain lies, it's not in my nature.

I never hesitate if I'm asked my politic opinions and quite happy to debate. If it looks like turning nasty I will walk away. And never talk to you again (joke?)

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

Feeling strongly about politics, I understand. Making it part of your identity, and ruling out engaging with someone because their politics doesn't align with yours, I really don't. Actually that's a small fib, I do understand how it can start to become part of your identity - I had a brief period in 2016 of engaging furiously with people online about Brexit, because it just felt awful to us living in the EU as we do, and the crowing from people I felt had very little understanding of it was upsetting. And it was in the early days of this polarisation we're now all familiar with. *And* it also felt a relief to see that 'tribe' (eek) of like-minded people was out there and the world wasn't going mad...

But I've really rethought that approach. Without being as open-minded as you possibly can to why people might have a different perspective, conversation is utterly pointless and brings out the worst in us all. My mother supports the conservatives as one might a football team, whereas my voting now is different to ten years ago, and I have to acknowledge might be different again in the future.

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Jul 20, 2022·edited Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

I have voted Labour all my life even though my Mum was from the Upper Classes and inherited property and money and she never indoctrinated me to vote Tory, even though she voted Tory all her life. I think you have to respect other people's voting choices. My son and Daughter in Law vote Tory. They have done really well in life so maybe that is why. It's up to them how they vote. Brexit though really devided people (families/friends) in this country. I was planning to move to Spain and live and work but Brexit put paid to that idea which still angers me and I am lucky that most of my friends voted not to leave the EU. I think Kemi is clearly very bright and capable, probably more intelligent than a couple of the other contenders but I think Penny Mordant might be our next PM. Truss wouldn't win an Election and I am not sure Sunak would either.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

Nailed it esther. This kind of tribal knee jerk ideological frothing is so... undergraduate, no? I grew out of it age 22 or so.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

Wonderful article about voting privacy

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I think it’s nobody’s business how anyone else votes and if you don’t want to tell people then that’s completely reasonable. The man who vote-shamed you sounds like a massive tool. However, I’m one of those people with ‘No Tories’ in my dating profiles and I still wince at the mention of Thatcher, because I grew up in a working class family of miners and during the strike we almost literally starved. My dad couldn’t go to work for a year and we were reliant on food parcels from miners’ charities. I don’t want to date a Tory, ever, and not because I have some vague sense that they’re ’the baddies’ and I want to virtue signal. It’s because their entire ethos, policies, and voting records are morally repugnant to me.

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Jul 20, 2022Liked by Esther

Brilliant Esther, 100% agree

I thought Kemi came across as calm, intelligent and reasonable. I liked her question to Rishi asking about the Covid loan fraud

I grew up as tribal labour and cradle catholicism

I have changed my mind on both, but don’t HATE them.

I think Tony Benn was right when he talked about Signpost Politicians “Follow me we are going there “ Maggie and Tony spring to mind(not Jezza as he lacked the oratory skills to articulate his vision)

and Weathercock Politicians who don’t have a strong opinion but follow polls and focus groups before deciding on policy

He admired Maggie for being Signpost politician even if he disagreed with everything she did

So my vote has shifted back and forth over the years (who hasn’t flirted with a lib dem) But my vote is important and not to be given without some consideration.

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