Contenders

To be honest, when I saw on the WCIVF website (after total radio silence on Twitter though it may have all been happening on Facebook) that there were 4 other candidates for the South Kintyre by-election on Thursday 2nd November 2023, I was actually relieved.

Firstly, because I do believe in democracy and having someone you don’t know (and let’s face it, I’m not claiming to be a local) represent your interests just because no-one else wanted to do it, is not a good start.

Secondly, as I’ve been the main carer for my elderly mother for some years now, I appreciate some more time to make provisional arrangements.

Thirdly, and it may not be “politic” to say this, but with me what you see is what you get, the other contenders—Joe Cunningham (Tory), Jennifer Kelly (Independent), Kenny MacKenzie (LibDem), and John Richardson (SNP)—all seem to be reasonable people and it’s quite reasonable to expect them to know about the ward, and the whole of Kintyre, better than I do.

So whoever you vote in, I’m sure you’ll have a counsellor who is conscientious and caring. Now I wouldn’t say that about all local elections! But I really do believe that it takes a special kind of person to live in communities remote from the metropolis of the Central Belt (which is not actually “central”) and even more so when someone is actively choosing to stay there or move there.

So why am I asking you to vote for me rather than one of these good people that you no doubt know? It does seem a bit presumptuous, to say the least!

Without being overly dramatic, I sincerely believe that we’re living through what the Chinese call “interesting times”. Some Christians even think we’re in the End Times. Now, I was brought up Roman Catholic (let’s get that out of the way), I have several degrees related to religion, I taught RE for a few years, during my PhD I studied in the RE Department of Glasgow University and latterly I worked for the Iona Community. My mother was known by the old Irish parish priest who built our local church as “the Englishwoman who loves Protestants”. So I’m nothing if not ecumenical and I also (through teaching and my work as a proofreader) have very good relations with people of other faiths. I’m just very wary of predicting the future, especially at the moment.

Incidentally, through my involvement with theatre, I also have many friends who want nothing at all to do with organised religion (they’re often quite keen on spontaneous spirituality but that’s another discussion). Anyway I believe in trying to be “all things to all” as the apostle Paul advised. So don’t expect me to shun anyone just because we have a difference of opinion about a particular thing. That’s not how community works.

On that note, I have to come clean and say that my views on what’s happening in the world at the moment, on every level of government, are likely to be very different from those of my contenders. I’m not claiming to be better than them. I’m sure there are some areas of Council work that some of them would be better at than me. I’m just saying that my eyes have been opened and that once you join the dots you really have to stop being surprised at the big picture.

Let me give you an example. I was sacked by the University of Glasgow after I stood up for disabled rights, and called the Eastern European proxy war currently being ignored by the media “a panto”. An Englishwoman who seems to have been an ex-spy (I’m not making this up, you know) smeared my name in 8 newspaper articles. I made The Times twice, I was quite proud of that, but I was devastated to be totally ignored by The Sunday Post! Fast forward to now, and arms the UK supplied to Ukraine (did you know the Scottish Government gave away £65 million pounds of our taxpayers’ money to Zelensky to buy guns and bombs to kill Russians?) are turning up in Gaza and Tel Aviv.

To put you in the picture, I’ve supported asylum-seekers and refugees for years and in fact I applied to teach Ukrainian refugees English and help them with employability just 1 month after getting sacked. So where that lecturer in Political Communication got her info from (that I didn’t care about displaced people) I don’t know.

I’m telling you all this because if you look me up you’ll see all this. You may also see news of my current court case against that university in which I’m representing myself. As I’m currently studying for a degree in Law (with the Open Uni) it’s great practice! You may also see some silly people convinced that I’m narrow minded about equality and diversity—when I was a member of Affirmation Scotland for years and published a booklet in collaboration with the TIE Campaign!

About the latter topic, I’ve developed my ideas a bit since that publication as I really didn’t see things getting to this stage. I think we’ve gone overboard, often for the best of motives, and it’s time to remind ourselves of basic facts, whether politically correct or not! A man is a man, and a woman is a woman, no matter who they may be attracted to, or how they may prefer to dress. An adult is an adult and a child is a child. The former is supposed to know who and what they are, and the latter has to be given the time to find that out.

So it’s just crazy and wrong to bully a wee girl, just because she prefers jeans to dresses and football to playing with dolls, into thinking that she’s actually a wee boy—or vice versa. Let kids be kids! Heaven knows adult responsibility comes soon enough!

I think that’s enough to be going on with. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get to the ward recently, I do intend to move to Kintyre immediately should I get elected, but as you know with landslides on the Rest and the road from Dunoon impassible—and the ferries to Bute and Arran and across Loch Fyne off—it’s been challenging to say the least!

Lampposts with sailing motifs on the promenade at Gourock looking over the Firth of Clyde to Bute with Arran and Kintyre behind

(Photos & videos copyright the author may be used—unconnected to commerce and without transformation—with a link to this blogpost)

Promoted by Cath Evans of Freedom Alliance, 83 Ducie Street M1 2JQ

Previous campaign post: By-election: Who’s Who and What’s What?

Next campaign post: Hallowe’en