General Election

1964 was the first election I remember. I was 6, the whole family drove to a school and we waited in the car whilst they voted Tory against the demonised Harold Wilson.

1979 was the first time I got to vote. In Liverpool. I remember listening to John Peel on Radio 1 and his sign-off at the end of the programme "You know, I really think that Labour will do it. Hopefully"
That gave me hope - then the landslide news came in about Thatcher's victory. It was so bad I managed to write a song about it, but that was the only good thing back then.

1992 was the most disappointing, it had seemed so likely that Kinnock would win, to deal with the Major triumph was hard. Flying out on holiday the day after everything felt deflated.

1997 was [just forget the hindsight for a moment] a brilliant, marvellous wondrous time. I remember the joy in the office at the Labour council that I worked for - we could not believe it, after all those years of Thatcher ...

Since then I have carried on voting Labour except for the election after the Iraq War - how could I vote for such pointless war-mongering. This year it dawned on me that I was a floating voter, Labour are so uninspiring and so Tory-lite that I really should vote Green but Labour are a more realistic option. I decided to vote Green [despite the lack-lustre leader] with the local candidate being a Quaker and a friend, but I will still hope for a Labour win across the country. Well we know what happened next.

I do try and find the good side of things, and at least the BNP seem to have been blown away by [umlikely saviours] UKIP. In York our new Labour MP got an increased majority, and Labour is the largest party on the new Council with four Green members; crumbs of comfort have to be found.

This is another of my works on someone's wall, following purchase at Open Studios