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Political engagement

Overheard en route to the pub last weekend:

MAN 1: Nah Mate, it was mad in Manchester today, mad man. Took me ages.
MAN 2: What, Mad busy?
MAN 1: Yeah, it' that Blair bloke innit, they're all there for him, police and that.
MAN 3: (helpfully) He's leaving, isn't he? S'what I heard.
MAN 1: (authoritatively) Yeah, it's gonna be that other bloke. Gordon.
MAN 2: But what were they doing in Manchester?
MAN 1: (cementing his reputation as the foremost political thinker of the group) Well it's obvious, isn't it? All his votes come from Manchester.
MAN 3: (doubtfully) What, all of them?
MAN 1: Well, most of them.

At this point I realised I'd overshot the pub by a good hundred yards and turned back, secure in the knowledge that the democratic process will roll on and on with little to no input from the public at large. Which is probably just as well given the latest subject exercising the razor sharp minds who contribute to the Advertiser's letters page. "SpyBinGate" seems to have died off a bit, so now they're getting themselves in a lather about hijab-style modesty gowns for muslim hospital patients as being a waste of money. Not because the letter-writers are swivel-eyed mouth-foaming bigots, nononono, put that reasoning right out of your head. The reason being the priceless "Well, it's not like we've got a lot of them here. It's not like Chorley."

For should we ever become more like Chorley, brothers and sisters, then surely the end times are nigh.

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