Sunday, 22 November 2009

What women want...according to the Independent on Sunday


Well, there's never a quiet moment in the Almost Average household, even on Sundays, especially as I woke up this morning to find my face in a double-page-spread of the Independent on Sunday, along with David Cameron, Gordon Brown and three other bloggers, Liz at Violet Posy, Sandy Calico and TwentySomethingMum Claire, all members of the British Mummy Bloggers network.

The feature which discusses the importance of the female vote to the outcome of the next election comes hot on the heels of Tory leader David Cameron's live Mumsnet chat on Thursday. The online version can be read in full by clicking here.

Compared to the length of our interviews, our quotes in the Sunday paper are rather short. In fact I am billed as "Let-down Lady", due to my concerns with the current Labour party after being a long-term voter. And it's true, I don't have faith in Gordon Brown's leadership and if the election happened tomorrow, I am undecided about which party I would vote into government.

In my interview with the reporter, I had commented at length about the current reductions in funding for education and my worries over how this will impact on future generations, as schools are our foundation for the future. I also discussed the issues at the other end of the spectrum, with my worries over the long waiting lists in Wales for my mother to get treatment for her health problems. Neither she or my stepfather are at the age where they would have to sell their property to go into a care-home, but the older they get that is something else we will have to confront and I worry about their future welfare too.

On matters of the environment, I also mentioned that sustainability should be at the heart of government policies, no matter which party is elected as it is paramount that our country's resources are managed effectively across public and private sectors and in our homes.

But I also praised the hard work of the current government on pushing recycling targets and the move towards zero waste, and said if the conservatives came into power, how I hope they would build on this rather than undermine it. The Tory plans on this appear to be pushing the right buttons - and following my last blogpost, I have emailed David Cameron with an invitation for him to provide further comment.

I have to admit that it hasn't been an entirely comfortable experience discussing politics in public. I am normally the kind of person that keeps my opinions in this area firmly to myself, probably for fear of looking an idiot and the assumption that actually everybody else knows better than me. I am not a natural moaner and prefer to offer up-beat praise instead.

However thanks to my recent appearance in the "live commentary box" at the Times Online's Alpha Mummy blog and the publication of today's feature, I feel like I've finally "come out".

Maybe it's also a sign that I have finally grown up, with a desire to provide the best possible future for my children as well as others across the country who need the government's support.

How about you, are you a political animal or someone like me who has traditionally preferred to watch others have their say? Maybe you're a bit of both. I'd love to know.

So what DO women want when it comes to the next election? when I rang my mother this morning to get her position, all she had to say was...

"Well, they're all as bad as each other!"

So it looks like Dave and Gordon will have a tough job getting my mum's vote too.

Politics eh. Well now that I've had my two-penneth, I'm off to empty my bin!

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