May I offer a belated thanks to all the posters on this forum that helped with my initiation into British politics?
I have just finished a string of late turn shifts that I had to resume bleary eyed on May 6! I am glad to have personally met Stuart, the admin of this site and congratulate him for the excellent site that is up here. I wish it could be extended across the whole borough but that would be very time consuming for him and I know that the Sydenham posts alone take up a lot of his focus.
Even by risking the smirking odium of some, I do cherish the 773 votes I scored [one of my colleagues at work now calls me by this number as if it was my shoulder number!] It was the highest UKIP vote in this election for the Lewisham constituencies and might even be above average for the UKIP national vote. But in all seriousness, we at UKIP do come away soberly from this election and will engage in a good degree of analysis for the way forward. Personally, I would have liked more than the month or so I got to campaign but that was due to work issues beyond me. And there are umpteen other points to consider with respect to media exposure, organisational structure, funding etc.
Would I do this again? Absolutely! And will it be with UKIP? Yes, again!
My UKIP colleagues want to stay active in this part of South East London and will develop a presence in Lewisham and surrounding boroughs. I will want to further concentrate on local issues and will share more of this on this forum as we go forward. On the UKIP national front (oops! almost sounded far right there!), there is the matter of the French EU constitution vote this month and Britain taking the Presidency of the EU in July, among other less publicised Europe issues.
Despite the lack of relevant exposure, the EU reach and grasp is still unrelenting, and we feel it is only a matter of time before this elephant in the room becomes too large for Britons to ignore.
In closing, thanks again to all the posters [and yes, I mean ALL posters since you should not take on this role and expect to hear what you want to hear but rather what the people want to say. This is the ONLY way to keep your focus clear].
In the words of MacArthur and Ali: `I shall return'.