Well, here we are, just five days away from the local elections. So far, not a candidate has crossed my threshold, though I’ve had election material from the SNP, Lib Dems and Labour. Sadly, it has not exactly filled me with excitement at the prospect of casting my vote.
There are no big ideas in this election. All the parties are falling over themselves to tell me that they’ll fix the potholes, protect services and listen to local voices. All of which is important: I don’t like falling into giant crevices in the road anymore than you do. But I’d love to see some really innovative ideas for Glasgow. What about creating a locally owned public transport system, so we could join up the trains, underground and buses and have a network comparable to those in European cities? What about converting the many disused train lines into cycle paths, so we don’t always have to cycle in a glass-filled gutter? (NB: this is not actually my idea, I pinched it from Dave). Why don’t we turn the hideous George Square into a permanent farmers’ market, where local producers can sell their wares? In fact, we could turn it into a water park, a beach or an ice rink, anything would be an improvement on its current sorry state.
My point is, I’m tired. I’m tired of hearing the same tedious exchange of policies revolving round and round at every election. I’m tired of seeing the same buzzwords – equality, fairness, protection, social inclusion – being printed in campaign literature without any real actions to back them up. I’m tired of the same faces popping up and hearing the same words coming out of them.
Where are the Big Ideas? Where are the truly transformational policies? I’d be the first to admit that the ideas I’ve suggested above might not work. I’d love to have a proper debate about them and find out how to improve them, or hear alternatives. I’d love to hear anything, in fact, other than yet another attempt to shift pennies between budgets in order to very slightly tweak a pre-existing policy.
Are we living in a post-Big Idea society? Have we all lost our nerve? Are we too scared of looking silly to suggest any truly radical ideas? I hope not. I was raised to believe in voting. I’ll wander down to the polling station to cast my vote on Thursday. But I have very little hope that it will lead to anything other than some different bums on the City Chambers chairs.