Political Meme

I have been tagged by Harpymarx about early political firsts and more recent political latests. So here we go:

First political experience: I can vaguely remember the election of Thatcher in 1979, but I was only 11 and mainly remember both Mum and Dad's reaction. I'm not sure that counts as a political experience. My first 'proper' political experience, before supporting CND, was feeling really happy that I was at Scout camp in a wilder part of south Wales in July 1981 and therefore missing the Royal Wedding. Bloody Charles and Di made me spit feathers and I steadfastedly refused to even listen to news about the ceremony on the radio: a thirteen-year-old republican!

First vote: General Election of 1987 - I voted for Labour. It didn't help.

First demo: Tough one this. I was 15 and it was therefore either the massive CND demonstration in Hyde Park in October 1983, when 200 000 people took part, or there might have been an Anti-Apartheid Movement march in the same year (can't recall). The first really memorable demo was in February 1984 at the Molesworth US airforce base, protesting in sub-zero temperatures in the snow, because the van that the local CND group travelled in broke down and I had mild hypothermia by the time the AA arrived. Ah, war stories!

Last vote: For Green Party MEP Jean Lambert in this year's European Elections. The first time I've voted in a decade and it only happened because of the weird arithmetics of the d'Hondt voting system, which meant that there was slim possibility that voting would keep out the BNP. In the end it wasn't needed in London, although personally I think Jean is great - the only elected parliamentarian to regularly turn up for UFFC's annual deaths-in-custody protests.

Last political activity: I guess this was Climate Camp, specifically helping to find speakers for the swoop in Stratford who could talk about the Olympics.

Apparently the correct form to tag others to write there own. So Cutting the Wire and Charlie Pottins, it's over to you.