Dawn and I are out with friends from the world of community rail this evening so there’ll be no time to blog. Instead, I’m scribbling thoughts now whilst I can. May’s started well here in the Pennines, Spring feels like it’s finally here and temperatures are getting to the stage where it’s time to start discarding layers of clothing like a snake shedding its skin. Hopefully, the winter kit can finally be put away for another year.
Things are hotting up politically too. Today, many parts of the country go to the polls in a mix of elections. 1000s of local council seats are up for grabs, as are Police Consultative Committee (PCC) Chairs, London and regional Mayors and one Parliamentary seat – Blackpool South. The results won’t all come through tomorrow. Manchester’s Mayoral result won’t be declared until Saturday – which means the Conservative party meltdown is going to be a long, drawn out affair! Because whichever way you look at it, these elections are going to make grim reading for the Tories.
All their political performance art over Angela Rayner, Rwanda and the war on ‘woke’ has failed to move the political dial. Exactly the opposite in fact. Pollsters YouGov Tweeted this earlier today.
The irony here is that Reform stand little chance of winning any Parliamentary seats and few local Council seats. They’ve no chance in any of the Mayoral elections either! Whichever way you look at things, tomorrow can’t help but be a grim day for the Tories.
I’ll be buying popcorn as I expect the aftermath and meltdown could be fun to watch!
Away from politics I’ve been busy arranging and re-arranging my diary for the rest of the month as plans come and go or are changed. Next week should certainly be interesting as it has the added complication of rail strikes, most of which I’ll avoid as I’ll be away on a press trip to Germany.
In the meantime I’ve been clearing the decks of pictures i’ve taken over thje past few days, which you can find in these galleries on my Zenfolio website.
Right, time to go. See you tomorrow – if I’ve not choked on popcorn!
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Paul Bigland 