Lord Pearson and the UKIP embargo

Lord Pearson of Rannoch left me in a difficult position last week.
He phoned me on the Tuesday in his role as leader of the UK Independence Party to offer the Mid Somerset Series an exclusive statement asking the electorate in the Wells, Somerton & Frome and Taunton Deane constituencies to vote Conservative rather than for his own party, on the basis that we would not publish in the paper or on our websites before the Thursday.
I agreed and Lord Pearson emailled me the statement in letter form on the Tuesday afternoon.
So I was surprised the next morning to see a BBC reporter revealing Lord Pearson’s extraordinary position in a broadcast from Wells Cathedral Green on their nationwide BBC1 Breakfast programme.
His report featured interviews with four of the Wells candidates, including the Conservative who has taken considerable flak over his expenses and was delighted by Lord Pearson’s intervention.
UKIP’s candidates and supporters felt angry and betrayed.
So we watched our exclusive on BBC television. Then saw it copied by BBC radio and ITV, all two days before our newspapers were published.
But we could do nothing. We could have had the story on our website within minutes of the BBC broadcast on the Tuesday morning but we had agreed to the Thursday embargo.
Anyway, the Mid Somerset Series would not presume to advise anyone on how to vote but I do think it is a valuable right not to be wasted.
Philip Welch

You never stop worrying about your children

Parents cannot help worrying about their children. It is only natural, although sometimes the chances of harm coming to our offspring are less than we fear.
For example, the risks of being beaten up in the street or molested by a paedophile in mid-Somerset are much more unlikely than many people think.
Nevertheless, good parents must warn their children of the different dangers they face as they grow: from hot liquids, electricity and strangers when they are little, to drink, drugs and dodgy driving as teenagers.The worrying diminishes as your children learn and (hopefully) accept responsibility, but never vanishes.
My daughter is 18 now and determined to become an actress. We have talked about how this is precarious work with the expectation of frequent unemployment and a dearth of roles for older women.
But if that is her vocation, as a parent you should be grateful she knows what she wants to do and you must support her to the hilt.
Still, the unease persisted until Sunday night when we saw her in a brilliant performance of Calamity Jane at the Egg, the youth auditorium of Bath’s Theatre Royal.
Were we proud? You bet.
We only hope that our young actors, musicians, singers and dancers get the support they deserve from full houses, and their contemporaries prefer live performance to banal television and the isolated pleasures of video games.
Philip Welch

Please don't waste your vote

At last, the General Election date has been announced and every adult has a valuable right to exercise – the right to vote.
Sadly, large numbers of people are saying they cannot be bothered to use their right and this apathy is democracy’s greatest enemy.
They have forgotten how their ancestors fought against tyrannical kings and abusive nobility to win the freedom to elect their rulers, and the fairer, healthier and more rewarding lives which followed as a direct result of the struggle.
The excuses for not voting are feeble and range from “all politicians are the same”, to “my vote won’t make any difference”, and the pathetic cop-out, “I’m not interested”.We get the politicians we deserve.
The more interest we show now, the better the candidates for election we are likely to get in the future.
As for “my vote won’t make a difference”, they all count and add up to a collective decision. People who claim not to be interested in their schools, NHS, environment and taxes would have different opinions if they had lived somewhere without democracy – like Hitler’s Germany, Soviet Russia or modern day Burma. And lets not forget the Suffragettes who campaigned fiercely for women's right to vote.
Our policies remain the same. Your local paper will not presume to advise readers on who to vote for, but I do hope you will vote for someone.
Philip Welch