As a responsible adult (who marginally regrets accepting an invitation to go to Glastonbury on account of the fact I am currently having recurring nightmares about the state of the loos – but more about that in another post), I have of course sorted out my postal vote. It wasn’t at all easy (but Google it), so I do worry that it’s going to be something that gets overlooked by many of you party animals before it’s too late, which would be a disaster because this EU Referendum is a crucial vote for the younger generation.
The date has proved to be a mild disaster for the “Bremain” campaign (I’m choosing to call it this because referring to it as “Brexit” like everyone seems to be doing suggests the opposite). Clearly the dates for Glastonbury were set well before the announcement of the EU Referendum Day, but that shouldn’t stop you from voting. Amongst the younger generation there is currently a three to one vote for Remain in the EU and if you are under 25 then apparently you are twice as likely to vote to stay in so it’s very important that you vote. A lot of people (including my son) thought that there would be polling stations at Glastonbury where they could vote. There won’t be. You can only vote in the vicinity of your home, so although they are offering to coach people to local stations if they live nearby, for most of the 175,000 youths (and me) we will have to make other plans.
You can still apply for a postal vote until the 3rd June so there are only two more days to do this! SO HURRY UP. Shame there isn’t an app you can download to sort this out – they could make it much easier. I don’t think there should be an app to actually vote – it’s not that difficult to roll out of bed and wander off to your local polling station to put an X in the box, but I do think the postal vote administration is FAR too complicated.
If you don’t get to apply for the postal vote in time you can still go to your local polling station on Thursday morning (23rd June) – the show doesn’t start until Friday morning so although lots of people will be heading down there to secure their tent space, they could go via their polling station first thing in the morning.
Michael Eavis, the Somerset farmer who runs Glastonbury obviously feels passionate about getting people to vote before they arrive. As a farmer, he also wants everyone to vote to stay in the EU. He points out that “farming would be dead in the water if we left the EU. We’d be flooded even more with rock-bottom cheap stuff from Singapore and all over.”
Sadiq Khan also implored young Londoners to vote because they could make “all the difference”. Quitting Europe he said “would be turning our back on and betraying the capital’s history of engaging with the world.” He noted that forming alliances in the world was “the British way” and our open attitude has help build our great country.
No more than anywhere virtually in the world will a mass crowd of young people represent this open and embracing outlook on life, than at the Glastonbury festival. Europe is part of their future – ripe with opportunity for work, for cultural exchanges, for business, for friendship – for embracing the global village that we have created. Why would any of us want to turn our backs on that?
Nobody actually knows what will happen either way should we stay, or should we go. We can still weigh up the facts, but don’t forget most of this is politics where frankly there are very few facts and anyway, who can look into the future and tell us what will happen one way or the other? So instead, I believe it has to be a decision made using both head and heart. Just today in The Guardian it was announced that 9 out of 10 of the top economist’s in the country believe that the British economy would be harmed if we leave the EU. There is additional compelling evidence from the Treasury and the Bank of England as well as from the co-ordinated international security efforts to protect us and the many other important economic arguments, both for and against.
But I believe the decision goes far deeper than that – being part of a wider, bigger picture seems to me the way to move forward. Why would we want to shut that down? Why would we want to become protectionist and isolated? Who would give a shit about us after that? To me it feels a bit like deciding to get divorced from a large, slightly dysfunctional, loud, colourful, annoying, expensive, creative, extended family who hasn’t actually done anything really bad or mean or wrong – so why assume the grass would be greener? Much better to stick with it warts and all in the hope that together we are stronger, rather than shut down and look inward.
United we stand, I say….and I’m sure that nearly everyone at Glastonbury is going to feel the same way. I just hope the young things will be just as accepting of a woman who is far too old to be there….if you see me, please be nice to me and show me what to do and where the stages are and please don’t turn your back! One day remember, that will be you!
