The hustings came to our local yurt

Last Sunday I blipped Emily Barker playing in the yurt erected in the Crown and Sceptre's pub garden during a weekend of music.  This weekend the yurt has been the centre of other events including more music, comedy and these hustings.

All of the candidates for the parliamentary seat of Stroud were attending to answer the call to present their ideas and policies to the community.  Rodda, the publican, introduced them all and left it to a moderator to keep an eye on the time and the be even handed with choosing questions from the floor.  I wandered about taking a few pictures and saying hello to various friends and acquaintances.

I don't remember the exact question or what answer produced this response from the speakers, but I liked the raised level of animated body language from them.  Whatever the circumstances the celebrations were 
of an ironic nature, as there wasn't a lot of overt support for the conservative candidate in this audience.
In case you are interested the candidates from left to right are Adrian Walker-Smith (Liberal Democrat), Rich Wilson (Independent), David Drew (Labour, and our former MP), Caroline Stephens (UKIP), Neil Carmichael (Conservative, and our MP in the last parliament) and Sarah Lunnon (Green party).  The Stroud seat is very marginal and could quite possibly elect a Labour MP again, which is quite unusual in the south of England, let alone in the Cotswolds, which to many would be the epitome of conservative England.  But that is why Stroud is so interesting.

I mentioned in my last blip that I was elected 'unopposed' to be a parish councillor again.  In fact twelve of the town council seats were elected in this way and I was the only non-Green Party member of them all.  That means that even before the actual election for the remaining six seats, there is a Green majority on the town council yet again.  It is likely that four more Greens will be elected on polling day.  I talked to the former Green mayor at this meeting tonight and we wondered why there was so little opposition to us councillors and we presumed it is because we are doing what people want.  Sarah Lunnon on the right is the only Green councillor on Gloucestershire County Council and another Green resident of Stroud is Molly Scott-Cato, who was recently elected as the first Green MEP in England for the South-West England region. Perhaps there is something in the water. Whatever it is, I feel lucky to be elected as I'm an Independent, and the Greens chose not to oppose me this time.