Reflections on Elections - Part 1: Serious Reflections

It is a strange feeling to watch a new government forming when you aren't happy about the people in it or the policies it is going to follow.  I think the last time we had a big change I was too young to properly understand it. I didn't like the Red Team because I had lived my whole life with the Blue Team in charge.  Better the devil you know.  I remember Mum worrying that the Reds would 'sell us down the river' in Northern Ireland.

However I grew to like the Reds very much, and so last night watching Mr Cameron taking office wasn't pleasant, but I found it strange to think that there were lots of people up and down the country who liked it, who were excited, and who felt a sigh of relief because they were finally free of the Reds. It must be like that every time... some people love it, and some people hate it.

Since first studying politics at school, I liked the Yellow team the best.  It's part policy and part history.  Mrs Weir wouldn't let me follow the Yellow conference for our politics assignment about party conferences, because there was no chance of them forming a government.  I hope that policy has changed for the pupils of today, or the blend of blue and yellow will be inexplicable in the exams!  I am now a member of the Yellow Team, and so last night was stranger still as I watched my team do something no one thought possible, something full of promise and full of risk.  I wish they could have teamed up with the Reds, but I guess you can't have everything you want in this life.

My best wishes go to the Yellow Team.  I hope they don't pay a heavy price for this daring and unpopular enterprise.  My best wishes also go to the Brown Team - one Brown in particular.  I think it's too soon to judge whether he is the careless leader who left us open to financial ruin, or the saviour of the nation who brought us back from the brink, or something in between.  Only history will tell.  But this I believe - he was a man who tried his best, who honestly wanted to make things better for us all, and worked very hard on our behalf.  That's something deserving of respect, so lets not be cruel to him as he retreats to the Highlands.  Let's not beat him up - he'll punish himself enough.