Election debates

It's forty days until the general election, you can see a countdown here, and by this point the party leaders are all out on the streets trying to get people to vote for them.

It can be a little embarrassing.

The two men who could be Prime Minister: David Cameron and Ed Miliband have been on TV reaching out to as many people as possible with their party politics.

But as I've pointed out before, anyone under 18 can't vote, so the politicians won't spend a great deal of time trying to get your support.

That might seem unfair, but look at it this way: if you've only got enough money for one Valentines card, do you give it to the person who you know will never date you... or to the person who just might?

Cos believe me, nothing sucks like unrequited love...



Wow, I'm getting totes emosh here today.

Anyway, back to the point.

Some people reckon that David Cameron won the election debate, other think not, and many, many others look blankly when you even mention a debate took place.

*Sigh*

The real winner is supposed to be the people, as they get to hear what the people in charge plan to do with our money.

And so we come back to Copeland, and our election debate:

Friday, 10 April at West Lakes Science and Technology Park, we now have three mayoral candidates who are willing to answer the questions of the young people of Copeland.  They will tell you what you want to know; and the whole thing will be recorded so that you can look back on this historic event and say "I was there", or "I wasn't there but I watched it on YouTube", or "Seriously? It was the school holidays. I don't wake up before 3pm on the school holidays."

Friday the 13th

Seriously scary day today. It's not only Friday 13th February, but it's 2015 and 2 - 0 - 15 = 13. This is the first time we've had a situation like this for, well for a month actually.

So take care. Watch out for black cats, ladders, broken mirrors, and little old ladies (I'm not sure that last one is unlucky, but if you get them talking you'll struggle to get away this side of Saturday).

Still, it could be worse.  You could be this GTA player...

Anyway, one of the big stories this week:

Local News

Plans are underway to release lynx into the wild in Ennerdale.  To be clear, we're not talking about cans of deodorant, this is the wild cat that has been extinct in Britain for 1,300 years.

 

Lynx are useful in keeping deer under control, and they aren't afraid of massive rats either.

There are likely to be some objections from local farmers concerned for their livestock, so no decisions have been made as yet.

My week, this week  

So this week I've started the preparation for the Mayoral Candidate Question Time. Thanks to those who attended at Frizington, Distington and Cleator Moor for giving some good ideas for questions, and for educating me on some of the finer points of life.

This week I've learnt that the Queen's handbag really annoys some people because it's empty; that I look more like Steve Jobs than David Beckham; and that small £5 notes are cute, but small youth workers are dangerous.

And finally...

In my ongoing efforts to get people to stop staring at their phones and start noticing the world around them, here's a public safety video, highlighting the dangers of paying too much attention to gadgets.

 

Mayor's wages

The big news this week, the story that's got everyone annoyed, is that the new mayor of Copeland will be paid £30,000 per year, rather than £50,000 as suggested by an independent panel.

There are, as always, at least two sides to this story, so I'll try to give you the basics:

One argument is that the job of mayor requires someone with a number of skills, and that paying them £20,000 less than the suggested sum won't attract candidates of sufficient quality, so we'll end up with a mayor who isn't able to do the job.

The other argument is that the job of mayor is very similar to the previous job of leader of the council, which paid £30,000, and there isn't sufficient difference to justify the extra funds.

Where you stand on this matter is up to you, but one thing that I would encourage you always to do, is to check out both sides of the argument, because there really is two sides to every story

Mobile phone safety

As you know, I only have your best interests in mind when I send out these messages, so I want to draw to your attention the dangers of using mobile phones.

There was a time when we didn't have mobile communication, then there was a time when we did, but very few people thought it was any good.

But now that everyone seems to have a phone, we just need to remember that the technology is moving a bit faster than we can adapt to.

Be safe out there.