He’s a bit cross

I’ve always been surprised by how worried people get when one is, or is assumed to be, ‘cross’, as it was slightly quaintly put to me the other day. I’m continuing to get feedback from my second leaflet in Avenue Ward. I was re- engaged by one man who had been a little restrained in his welcome down his garden path on election day half an hour or so beforehand; he said his wife had said that she’d really liked the thing, and had had a laugh too. I’d have though it was hard to misinterpret ‘I am not a horse’. But I’m wrong. The first fault in my strategy is to believe that even if people see something dozens of times, it registers. The Lib Dems and their two horse race ruse appears constantly, often with a picture of two race horses, but maybe you’ve all switched off. Certainly my intended joke was lost on some it seems who just thought I sounded cross. Actually on page two, I was cross, but it wasn’t that. So, much work to be done on clarity in the delivery of the messages and much help has been offered, thank you.

But, why shouldn’t I be cross? There are a couple of comments on last week’s blogs (thank you Carl (Anonymous?) for one at least I think) which suggest that being affected emotionally by ‘what goes on’ is a bad thing, or rather something which is beneath the grown up’s. Rubbish. One of our problem as a society is that we are way too ‘not bothered’ about the important things and just plain whiny about relatively unimportant (self serving) stuff, or at least that seems to be how we are re-presented back to ourselves in the media. I suppose it’s true that, in the great scheme of things, how abjectly rubbish the seven, that’s seven at least paper communications from the party of power in Hull and Avenue were... doesn’t matter much. But, within the little world which is a local election, how one attempts to engage the electorate in the process which we peddle to the world as evidence of the superiority of this society of ours, is, I think, quite important.

I am not a horse.... and you are not an idiot. I don’t like people being treated like idiots. I was always taught that if you treat children that way, they will start fulfilling your prophecy. I have been saying it for several years and been in trouble for doing so and have been quoted city wide by the Lib Dems last year and this: it being what Alan Johnson said on Look North on election night: that (in short) Labour has possibly taken Hull for granted in the past. He was talking local elections and was referring I think to Labour’s leadership of the Council. I am certain that we have to convince the significant majority of the population of Hull that what they who are now running things, and we who want to run things believe matters... does really matter. Or perhaps even more that we can make a difference to those things that matter, rather than just being subject to whatever comes along from HMGov or some other higher power.

And if those things matter and they be changed for the better, and someone is screwing them up, then that makes me cross, or, I rather say, angry. Life is not a joke. Health, education, crime, flood.... these are serious things requiring serious work by (should be) serious people who, when they get it wrong, do serious harm. Doesn’t make them bad people necessarily, but with power comes responsibility.

And then, if the discourse, the attempted conversation, the structured engagement with the population (called an election) is stupidly, carelessly, cynically cheapened for the not stupid, not careless but cynically calculated pursuit of continued power for it’s own sake, with no evidence of any desire to do anything constructive with it, then yes, that makes me very angry.

And so, why not show it. Apparently because being angry is worrisome to some. I know that because I’ve often over the years made people wary of me because of the vociferous nature of my delivery, and sometimes the content too I hope. And one has to be careful, consider people feelings, pick one battles and so on. But, generally, I think anger can indicate that something is important and needs to be given expression. ‘Be angry, but do not sin’. I’m doing my pitiful best.