The Election 2005 - Another One Crossed Off The List by Rich Mills

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,    Gallery 5.    Gallery 6.    Gallery 7.

The Election 2005 was a colourful and amazing spectacle, especially closer than most to the action. Not for me the putting of an X against the name of some stranger, who is then supposed to represent your interest in Parliament. No I was much more involved in our democratic process. Acting as a Polling Agent for Martin Deane of the Green Party, I spent the day at the very heart of it all.

Still reeling as I write this, feeling extremely tired, I'm able to reflect on the highs and the lows of the last 24 hours. The main part of the whole thing for me was after the votes had been counted and we all convened at the Hull City Hall for the count. Walking in, we Greens met a wall of TV camera men all pointed at us. Why I thought for a minute would they be interested in us, when I realised that waddling in just behind us was Prezza himself. Suddenly thrown right into the middle of it all, we found ourselves stood just behind him while he was being interviewed for national TV.

Never one to miss an opportunity, we casually stood there proudly displaying the Green Party insignia emblazoned on the back of our clip-boards.

One of the things that stood out most for me was the fact that all the usual suspects were there. What I mean by that is people I wouldn't have necessarily expected to see, people who I know from my day-to-day life. Everywhere I looked I saw familiar faces, standing out in the quite unfamiliar circumstances of the City Hall on this rare and unusual night. Also there were the faces that I could finally put names to, and some that I didn't know but recognised none the less.

Highlights for me (in no particular order) were the opening of the first ballot boxes; sniggering with Greenpeace about their action on Prescott's house while he stood next to us; our eccentric Lord Mayor bumbling around like the bejewelled Tory boy that he truly is; cheering for Martin and booing the BNP; crowding round the piles of counted slips as the last of the count came in realising how close it was between the Greens and the BNP; standing on the balcony of the City Hall watching the election on the big TV; Mo from thisisUll.com talking has way into the Press Room and changing the home page on the press laptop to be thisisUll.com. There that's it, I'm tired now.

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photographs courtsey and Copyright ©  Mo 2005

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3,    Gallery 4,    Gallery 5.    Gallery 6.    Gallery 7.

Current Affairs - The Hell-ection - King Rats Common Sense Guide to The Bastards in Charge

	Hear ye, hear ye, election time is upon us again. Inspiring speeches thought provoking debates, radical policies for the good of mankind, or who the hell do I vote for? 2pence on lesbians 1pence on fags, wasn't that Dalek episode good! Yes citizens I am as bemused as you, so let's delve into the partisan tribes that inhabit Westminster Read more...

Current Affairs - Election Wars 2: Enter the Candidates by Lee Cassanell

	Starring: Diana Johnson as - The Red Baron Dennis Healy as - The Yellow Peril Martin Dean as - Captain Planet Lydia Rivlin as - The Blue Oyster Co Starring: Mo as - Jimmy Olsen Lee Cassanell as - Ronald McDonald The Chanterlands Avenue Baptist Church Mafia as - Themselves The Story so far.... Emperor Tony Blair declared war on Read more...

Current Affairs - War and Terror ... The Green Party by Martin J Deane.

	Brave hero, George W Bush, commander in chief of the world, oops, sorry, America, wants to liberate all peoples from oppression wherever they may be, and is set on bringing democracy to the Middle East. Let's see how well he has done so far - and, of course, the Republicans' "junior partner" in all this, New Labour. Read more...

Current Affairs - Green Party to fight Hull North

	The Green Party would like to announce their intention to contest the next general election in Hull. Martin Deane, 42, was selected as the party's prospective Parliamentary candidate at Wednesday's meeting of the Hull and East Riding Green Party. The group will focus on Hull North and build on the green vote Read more...

Current Affairs - Neasden PS, under threat - "Education is not a cost. It's an investment." Save Hull Schools by Martin J Deane, 21.2.05

	The proposed closure of 9 Hull primary schools (including the 2 for 'amalgamation') is causing great concern to communities across Hull. The Council plans to close Newland Ave, St Charles, St George's, Coleford, Constable, Midmere, and Read more...

Current Affairs - URGENT APPEAL- DERRINGHAM BY-ELECTION HULL CITY COUNCIL

	The BNP are standing a candidate in this by election to be held on 13th January 2005. They are hoping to capitalize on an extremely low turnout to sneak into the Guildhall. Unite Against Fascism will be organizing to stop the BNP. We are facing a very tight timescale Read more...

Current Affairs - Colin Powell - Saint or War Criminal? By Martin Deane

	After the near beatification of Ronald Reagan recently, it falls to the peace movement to do the honours once again on the occasion of Colin Powell's recent resignation. Colin Powell was the official moderate, and national security adviser, under Reagan. Let's take Africa. During the Reagan years, there was a policy called Read more...

Current Affairs - Burning Issues - Was 9/11 the greatest show on earth? By Martin Deane.

	The War on Terror is based on the premise that the 2001 9/11 attacks on New York and Washingotn, which killed nearly 3,000 people were carried out by 19 Islamic fundamentalist men. The official story has been played in such detail throughout our media that we will all know it. But the facts could be - and probably Read more...

Current Affairs - Does intelligence help us? By Robin Ramsay.

	Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit-9/11 is great propaganda but, like all propaganda, it isn't about the truth. In a section mocking the so-called "Coalition of the willing" which supported the US invasion of Iraq, Moore listed several very small countries - but omitted Australia, the UK and others. For Australia Read more...

Current Affairs - International Contradictions and Hypocrisies By Andrew Martin

	After reading the British government's pre-war dossiers on WMDs anyone with the slightest hint of intelligence would have concluded that the ability of Iraq to pose a serious threat to the world was minimal. The evidence in these documents was thin, Read more...

Current Affairs - In Reply To - A letter from Pablo Gonzales to his MP Alan Johnson, By Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP.

	Dear Mr Gonzalez, Thank you for your thoughtful and considered letter of 17th July. I have thought constantly about the decision I made to vote for this country to go to war on March 18th 2003. It was of course the first time that a decision to go to war had not been made by royal prerogative. Read more...

Current Affairs - Iraq and the Butler Report - a letter from Pablo Gonzales to his MP Alan Johnson

	Having caught a glimpse of you yesterday afternoon at Hull Central Library prompted me to write this letter, and my thoughts about the Iraq war. The publication of the Butler Report has made clear that Mr Blair was openly dishonest when he chose to highlight only the elements of the intelligence available Read more...