US Election 2012

So, as we all should now know, Barack Obama was re-elected as US President for another 4 years. Many celebrated the news but some were less than enthusiastic about the result.

My opinion? If the majority of American people wanted Obama to remain president then so be it, they have the right to vote and they made their decision. They obviously believe he is the right man for the job and for solving some of America's worries. On the other hand though, maybe he got the majority vote purely because he was the better man. Whether or not people think he is up to the job, he is obviously a much better person than Romney and therefore got the majority vote.

Over here on the other side of the Atlantic, elections and the voting process differ vastly. For starters we always have three main parties running for election rather than the standard Democrats or Republicans over in the states. I've also noticed that the Americans vote using these digital voting booths which record each vote. I suspect this makes the whole vote counting process much quicker and accurate. Over here, we use the standard paper and pencil. We mark a little box next to our chosen candidate and pop it into a safe like chest. These chests then get emptied and the votes counted by hand. As you can imagine, this can be slightly inaccurate and a recount is always required. For a country as small as ours compared to the states, this process works fine and isn't too time consuming.

We also do not vote for who we want to become Prime Minister. We vote for who we want to be our local MP, or member of parliament. This MP obviously belongs to a party. When an MP is elected by it's local people, they gain a "seat" in parliament for their party. All of these seats are added up and as soon as a particular party gets the majority of seats they obtain power. The leader of this party then becomes Prime Minister. The next highest number of seats means the corresponding party are the "Backbenchers".

Unfortunately, what happened here in our last election was that neither the Conservatives or Labour gained the majority vote. We then had what's called a hung parliament. The next largest seat holder after these two parties was the Liberal Democrats. This meant that the Conservatives or Labour had to convince the Liberal Democrats to work with them in a coalition government. Once this happens, the relevant party would add the Liberal Democrats seats to theirs, meaning they would then have the majority needed to take power. The party with the most seats out of the two within a coalition would award their leader with the PM position, whereas the second party in the coalition would award their leader with Deputy PM.

We ended up with a Con-Dem coalition, making David Cameron our PM and Nick Clegg the Deputy PM. I won't go into my opinion on this because I'll be here all day and the post was supposed to be about the US elections.

When I first looked at how much money the parties in America spend on the election process I was really shocked. I mean, $3B just to get elected to power? Don't you have enough debt to sort out than adding your election bill to it! I see why they spend so much though, most of it goes on advertising in "swing states" - the states that are always undecided and make all the difference when it comes to voting.

The US takes election a lot more seriously than us. Live debates I think are a brilliant way to allow the voting population to hear what each candidate has to say about key topics. We have live debates in the UK but they're not nearly in the same league as the ones over in the US.

So, Obama has been granted another 4 years to try and sort out the problems with the US. I think the most important points are unemployment and the economy. If he can sort those two issues out then I think his reign may go on for another term after this. We'll see how he performs. Good luck Barack, you have a huge task on your plate.

Unexpected

I've just been on the M.E.N website, searching through archived news reports (don't ask why, because I have no idea) and I came across an article that really shocked me. It was detailing how someone that I used to go to school with, and sort of knew, had been jailed for 2 years for possession and supply of Class A drug, MDMA. 

It really made me realise that you never truly know someone. I mean, I wouldn't say he was the ideal student, like anyone he would have his moments and "act up", haven't we all done this? I would never have thought this would happen though. It's a scary reality, can you trust anyone anymore, do you really know someone as well as you think? All of these questions have now been thrown into my mind and I can't stop thinking things through over and over again. 

In reality, I shouldn't let such a story affect me so much. I mean, I hardly knew the guy, but I went to school with him, even had lengthy conversations with him every now and again and seeing his mugshot in a news article explaining his crimes was, quite frankly, extremely shocking.

Oh well, life is life and stuff happens all the time that we would least expect to. My circle of friends may be rather small, but it is full of people I care for dearly and would trust with my life. I like that about my circle. Although there isn't may of us, I can always count on them for anything that may crop up.

Anyway, it's time for my daily dose of YouTube before heading to sleep. On the agenda tomorrow is getting my tyre repaired/replaced. It has a slow puncture and the car is now gulping my fuel. I hope that once the tyre is sorted my fuel consumption will reduce somewhat.

Here's hoping...

Another day at the office

This mornings routine:

• Wake up, groan at the time and fall back to sleep
• Alarm goes off, groan once more at the time and fall back to sleep
• Alarm goes off again. Pull self out of bed and shuffle to the bathroom
• Wash face, brush teeth and sort hair (or attempt to)
• Shuffle back into the bedroom and get dressed
• *Walk* down the stairs to the kitchen, a vast improvement on the shuffle
• Eat breakfast
• Pack bag for the day with lunch, snacks and drinks. Also important to pack tea supplies
• Put on coat
• Get in the car, start the engine, switch on Real XS and drive to work

The above is my daily routine, not just this mornings as the title may have suggested. You didn't need to read it, I merely added it for effect. To break the ice! (remember my first post?)

Happy Days

Work was a very happy place to be today. Full of joys and jubilation.  The contact centre has turned 1 and everyone was in high spirits. There was free cake and snacks, as well as a raffle for some goodies! It's strange to think that it only feels like yesterday that the ribbon was cut on the new site and we all poured in for the first time. It just goes to show how quickly time flies!

Head Shave

One of my colleagues took part in a sponsored head shave today. I won't post the pictures for his privacy as I haven't asked permission but it was an event enjoyed by all spectators. He did have quite long hair so it was a stark contrast to the norm. Surprisingly, the new do suits him quite well - he also raised just under £200 so a big well done!

Scary Moment

This evening my cat escaped the house and went on a little adventure. I wouldn't mind, but for the fact she is completely deaf. We keep her in because of this and so she isn't seasoned to the outdoors. As you can imagine, I was petrified that she was going to get run over or lost. 

She gave us the run around for at least an hours before eventually just waltzing in, as if nothing had happened and we were just being silly! The cheek of her!

Anyway, I'm glad she's safe and sound, tucked up in bed with me as I type. She has her flaws but I wouldn't be without her. She's like a best friend to me and I don't care how silly that sounds. Owners get a real strong bond with their animals and in some way I feel connected to her. Here's a picture of her in all of her beauty.

Her name is Belle, in case you were wondering.

Alas, we're at the end once again

Once more, that's another day over and the key moments condensed into a manageable post for reading. Tomorrow is going to be good, it's the last day of the week, I'm on an early shift and I have the whole weekend to look forward to. Although I am doing some overtime on Sunday for a little extra moolah.

Ciao for now.