Interesting times...

 The events of the last few days reminded me of the words which the great Terry Pratchett used to open his novel 'Interesting Times' - "There is an ancient curse, it goes 'May you live in interesting times'..."  Whatever your political viewpoint, the current times could certainly be described as 'interesting'.  I'm in a bit of a difficult situation here as I'm a Civil Servant working closely with Central Government departments.  As a result I'm not allowed to comment publicly on political stuff.  At this exact moment I'm on a week long technical course at Sheffield University so I feel a bit out of the loop.  I have free internet access at the course venue but not at the hotel.  Last night I went for a look round Sheffield Cathedral in the early evening.  I arrived back at the hotel just in time to see Gordon Brown's resignation speech.  If I hadn't just re-applied my eye makeup I would have cried.  On a completely personal level I rather like GB's 'off duty' persona.  When he's not 'trying' to be great statesman he seems like a thoroughly nice chap.  I wonder whether his adorable little boys will remember the moment they left Number 10 with the world's press looking on.  When I met my boss for dinner at 7.30pm the first thing he said was "Did you see it?"  For the first time in my life I feel like I'm watching history unfold as a result of democracy.  I was only 16 when the Labour Party won back 1997 so I didn't feel like a part of it.  This time around I'm watching every move with trepidation.  How will the changes impact on me as a person, a citizen, a public servant and an archivist? 

I don't know how I feel at the moment.  Will the coalition work?  I dont' know.  It's definitely going to be tricky.  Although the Lib Dems have been the 'third party' for many years their predecessors the Liberal party or Whigs where the main opposition party for a couple of hundred years up to the 1930s.  There ideologies are very different and let's face it, it's not in the nature of politicians to sideline their own desires in favour of someone elses even if it is 'for the greater good'.  We shall see.

From a local perspective, we kept our local MP in Feltham and Heston.  He was badly implicated in the expenses row (big house in constituency 25 mins from the House of Commons but claiming for flat in Covent Garden) and his wife was voted out by the neighbouring constituency of Brentford and Isleworth.  Hounslow Council is now back in Labour control after five years of Tories (whose main impact seems to have been changing the council logo to one slightly less 80s looking and much more purple!)  I'm glad that the Green Party candidate was elected in Brighton.  At least it shows that we have a real democratic system in which more than three parties can field sucessful candidates.

Well, I'm off to get a cup of tea and back to real, everyday stuff (coding training).  As the world changes around us, life goes on...