Things Can Only Get 6

Our local Labour candidate has stuck his toe in the water of social media. His official page hasn't got too many comments. Maybe it's because you have to 'like' it to join in.

But our local community group, an angry mob who can't be bothered to leave the sofa, noted that the village had a visit from a Labour candidate for the first time almost ever.

One of the reasons for this is that the village is now part of the Redditch constituency which normally swings to the majority. Voters in mid-Worcestershire are through and through blue and people with left-of-centre views have, in the past, been tempted to stay at home. So it's now worth visiting.

I've been working my way though the comments (to save you having to).

Now many of them are a bit crude. In response to the suggestion that politicians are all the same, someone said:

'There hasn't been a politician with balls since Thatcher.'

This led to the inevitable unappealing exchange of the sort divisive politicians find in their wake.

But there is some learning to be had:

1. Reform are generating a lot on interest, probably from dissatisfied Conservative populists. They will steal more Tory votes than Labour.

2. A fair few folk have not registered or understood the boundary changes.

3. Far too many people find the questions of policy too difficult so, as Daniel Kahneman explained in Thinking Fast and Slow, they replace that with an easier question - Who do I like? Then they vote based on the answer to that question.

4. Nobody mentions the candidate by name. Local candidates can look and dress almost any way they wish. It's their leader the voters need to like. Sad but true.