Another amazing day on the road, getting completely distracted by mile upon mile of productive and seriously stunning landscape. Met and talked to so many great people, all with different points of view and politics, or none.
I was so grateful to Greenlaw residents for letting me rampage around their summer fair, chatting to families and stall-holders. Deeply touched by the group of Reform voters who not only heard me out but also took the time to explain their position to me.
I’m not sure I will ever forgive that lying fascist snake, Nigel Farage, for the abuse he has put British people through. Scots are about the last people English fascists (who make up the bulk of Reform) will ever support. Seared into my memory are the 2016 Leave and UKIP voters in England, saying that Scotland and the Scottish should go hang.
It was horrendous then and Farage’s intentions are horrific now. So I’m trying to offer both Conservatives and Reform voters who have doubts a safe haven for their vote. I know how badly they have been abused by disinformation and misinformation. So I want them to come back to the light from the dark and terrifying place Farage and the kippered Conservatives have sent them, and vote for me as the non-party candidate on 04 July.
Also, made it down to Newcastleton, sadly after the Common Riding. What a gorgeous place! Had the most hilarious and fascinating conversations, learning most of the population not in the hotel bar were eating pizza for tea. So grateful for the time people took to explain their concerns and points of view to me. Hope I will do them proud whatever happens at this election.
And it is political chaos out there. The enormous boards screaming one name in particular are going down really badly. Electors are feeling shouted at, ordered around and belittled: that their real concerns are of no matter, and the most relentlessly negative, zero sum campaign run by that party feels to electors like, unless they vote for that, they are damned. So they’re not going to vote at all.
The political battering is really depressing people. And I am not going to let our lovely electors feel bullied and rejected.
Instead, I’m offering a relentlessly positive and ambitious alternative, breathing new optimism, dignity, respect, caring, tolerance and passion for life that is so strong in the Borders back into this important democratic process.
Vote for me, Ellie Merton, the middle-aged independent woman who’s going to get things done for all of us in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk.
Below, evidence I woz ‘ere in the baking heat of Costa del Newcastleton; traffic on the main road back to Jedburgh; hypnotic scenery; mixed produce; and the Border, from the English side. (That’s as much of a barrier at the Border as I ever want to see. I love this area so much for its sense of freedom and cross-border unity. The Borderlands, north and south of the Tweed and Cheviots, are their own country in their own cultural right.)
Okay, thanks for your thoughts. You need to know I’m all about the UK staying together, opposed to breaking up yet another union to the detriment of its constituent parts, at the moment. I doubt I will ever accept the case for creating a hard border at the of my road. The appalling border between UK and EU, that generations spent so long trying to remove, for all our benefit, is bad enough. But thank you for your kind words and please vote for me on 04 July.
Lovely positive approach, valuing the people and the area. The imperious Reform and cruel conservatives rightly dismissed, and perhaps SNP have gone quiet this time. I expect David Wilson will get in easily, with Conservative voters taking to drink, and the Greens will get a vote from here and there. I can’t see a non-party candidate, however desirable, getting a vote unless they stand large in the public mind because of their campainging virtues. “Let’s give the next generation a great life in the Borders” seems to be the theme, but its not a big enough idea for a Westminster rout. The Barnett formula is bleeding Scotland, and the Scots have to staunch the wound. Only Alba offers that for me, and their 19 candidates at this election are not the national broad brush yet. It is the strength of the locality which will save the world, so I’ll take that ticket. Vote Ellie Merton.