Time for a change - not just of nappies
'TIME for a change' as a political slogan has always left me with mixed feelings.
Change is not necessarily a good thing.
But the outcome of this election has given us more change than we bargained for, and I can't help but feel a sense of a new beginning (along with the wariness one feels when tempted to greet any political development with optimism).
I'll never forget where I was when I saw David Cameron's first televised speech as prime minister, because the occasion marked a new dawn on the personal front as well.
I was changing the nappy of my 12-day-old son.
As I juggled wetwipes and muslin cloth, Cameron talked of "an historic and seismic shift", and the baby performed one of those feats of anatomy of which boy children are apparently capable, squirting himself in the eye.
I try not to attribute adult thoughts to babies. If I did I might think this was some gesture of protest - or perhaps approval - of our new prime minister and the coalition.
But no, it was merely the future announcing itself: My life for the next few years will be filled with squirty misadventures at the change mat, and Cameron trying to look confident while warning of tough times ahead.
I say I try not to read too much into what babies do. But it was tempting when, some weeks ago, our two-year-old pointed at Gordon Brown on the TV and pronounced him: "Uncle Poo."
Zoe's nickname somehow summed up the comic bathos, the doomed good intentions and faux friendliness of Labour's great glowerer.
But it has to be said that Brown clawed back some dignity in defeat.
It was impossible to not to be moved by the sight of shuffling off into obscurity accompanied by his two young sons. Did the sons have to be there? Was their presence a calculated attempt to show us the human face of the Labour leader?
I think not. Maybe Brown wanted them there because they were a comfort to him. As he prepared himself for life as an ex-prime minister - no doubt much of it filled with gloomy reflections about his past - it must have been reassuring to have trotting at his side these tangible elements of his future.
Just as it gives me a feeling of freshness and renewal - at a time when my body and mind are exhausted by disrupted sleep - to see a genuine change in the political makeup of the country.
As someone who felt deeply ambivalent and divided over this election, it's heartening to detect a loosening of the old tribal ties, and a willingness to ditch the excesses on both sides.
Equally heartening is the apparent demise of the BNP, attributable perhaps to Labour's belated realisation that it can no longer take the affection of the white working class for granted, and that concerns over immigration cannot be ignored.
Many of those who don't approve of some of the coalition's compromises will still share my hope that circumstances have produced a more grown-up, flexible and genuinely progressive politics, opposed to what could have been a stalemate.
A fresh Labour leader might also have a long-overdue rejuvenating effect on the party But this won't last. As Michael Heseltine and others have warned, this government is doomed to become deeply unpopular when the cuts start to bite. Political optimism is a rare emotion in this country, and I intend to enjoy mine while it lasts.
awolstenholme@ywng.co.uk
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Weather for Cleckheaton
Sunday 12 February 2012
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