Election Day liveblog

10:46

I'm planning on not voting today, partially because I went to Goldsmiths and I agree with Russell Brand, but also as an experiment to see what it feels like. The experiment is related to my theory of the governance class, I think. Have I become so conditioned to 'doing my duty' that I cannot bring myself not to vote?

I didn't bother voting in the 2012 US presidential election and that felt perfectly fine, but this is the UK, where I've voted in every possible election since obtaining citizenship in 2004 (except for the AV referendum, but that was because I moved house and couldn't sort out a postal ballot when on holiday). Reading the Guardian liveblog, I already feel slightly uneasy about not voting, I might not be able to hold out the whole day, but let's see.

For context, I am planning to not vote for:

- London MEP
- Lewisham Council
- Mayor of Lewisham

Anyway let's see how I get on.

12:02

Listening to a Michael Sandel Radio 4 show on the ethics of voting. Everything they are saying is making me feel better about not voting.

13:15

Just learned that people are now taking selfies in voting booths and posting them on Twitter. I will probably never vote again.

13:57

Reader Al from The North gets in touch BTL to say he has held his nose and voted Green. I think that is the party I would probably vote for if I were to vote, or at least the party whose policies I agree with the most, e.g. basic income, land tax - I've just finished Polanyi's The Great Transformation (which I really recommend, old school accessible sociology/history/economics in the vein of The Affluent Society or The Rise of the Meritocracy) and he has a good attack on the "fictitious commodities" of labour, land and money. The Greens seem to be going along those lines.

I guess as a small, democratically-run party they inevitably attract nutcases - apparently their annual conference narrowly avoided adding some kind of "9/11 truth" policy to their manifesto - but I suppose I shouldn't let that become too much of an issue for me, that problem sort of fixes itself as a party grows. I think it's the "green" bit that puts me off, I don't trust people who make the environment central to their politics, as I suspect it means they basically don't like humans.

There's also the problem of what they would do in power, or even in coalition. There's a new Neighbourhood Forum just set up in New Cross by some local residents, both urban planners. Their stated aim is to help New Cross residents have some say over how the area is redeveloped as capital flows in. Their manifesto is a mix of serious things like ensuring affordable housing, investment in schools etc, as well as more flighty, creative class type stuff about the built environment, re-envisaging public spaces, incentivising creative businesses etc. I don't doubt that they really care about the former, but my fear is that they will quickly realise that issues of housing and deprivation are very difficult to tackle and will just end up focusing on getting the little government grants to run small, tweetable projects that will only serve to gentrify the area and push up my fucking rent. I've already had a polite online exchange of views with the founder over his constant hyping of the area's few gentrified businesses (including one that hadn't even opened yet) as beacon for the future - ignoring that New Cross actually has a relatively stable and apparently thriving retail mix of BYO Turkish restaurants, black hairdressers etc.

Anyway my point is that if the Greens got in, I reckon they'd bottle it on basic income and land tax and just force everyone to use like eight fucking bins when recycling and call it day. I love living in Lewisham and not having to recycle, fuck Hackney.

I was feeling bad about not voting when I started writing this but now I'm back on track.

15:40

Just saw a tweet from the P-----m Liberal Club, a working men's club I belong to, reminding people to vote by linking to a Bob and Roberta Smith pro-voting art poster image. You could write a thesis on that tweet.

I started drinking there about 18 months ago when it was facing bankruptcy and had more or less become an illegal drinking den. It's basically where the remaining white working class of Peckham go to drink, the old ones anyway. I joined it just to get away from SE London gentrified wanky pubs and save some money (£2.75 a pint of mild). The club was nearly sold into flats last August, but then it was saved. You can probably guess who saved it. The club is back in the black thanks to the hard work of some local creative class types, but now there is like yoga and shit going on there and the Saturday night bingo keeps getting moved out of the hall to a side room to make way for private events like "underground" short films, craft markets, you know the drill.

I'm not saying that this is A Bad Thing, it saved the club - in fact I really don't have any criticism at all of the new people coming in, other than that they've removed one of the few remaining sanctuaries I had from their type, as they've been fairly sensitive to the situation. But I love - LOVE - how doggedly ungrateful, resentful and mistrustful most of the long-term members have been towards their "saviours". Oh you're a nice couple, a bit middle-class but you're really on our side? Hmm, where have we heard that before?

Anyway, a tweet from the Liberal Club reminding me via Bob and fucking Roberta Smith to vote, brilliant. I'm fairly certain almost all of the members will be voting UKIP.

Regarding voting as a nice harmless ritual, that's something I'd always believed (having always voted in very safe seats) until I started to think that maybe it's not so harmless if it is, in fact, just a ritual. I started to suspect that someone, somewhere, is laughing at me trooping off to do my democratic duty. This is kind of what finally gave me the resolve to quit smoking - the idea that some fat Republican prick in the American South was making millions off me killing myself - not just killing myself, but convincing myself that I was living life to the fullest, like a bon viveur, unlike all the uptight Protestant squares around me. I suppose that's the little intuition that's crept into my head - when I vote, is someone mugging me off? Is it actually degrading to vote in 2014 Britain?

16:18

Just checked Facebook (I am trying to finish that pub article but massively procrastinating) and the club tweeter has also posted that Bob and Roberta Smith poster on her personal page, writing above it "Yes! Vote-a-doodle-dandy.."

Vote-a-doodle-dandy.

(She's voting Green).

17:57

Resolve hasn't really weakened, although voting Green suddenly seems tempting. I've always thrown them a patronising 2nd preference when given the opportunity, voting for them outright would feel kind of new.

19:04

I've just convinced Jess to vote (she just got home). Will now walk with her to polling station and see if I can still resist. Our conversation went like this:

O: Did you vote?
J: No, I don't know anything about what's going on in Lewisham, what the issues are.
O: Well who do you trust to run Lewisham?
J: Labour. I'm going to vote Labour!

I should work for the Labour party.