I'm revealing myself as someone who truly wings it, and I write this today (Thursday 2nd May) after my visit to the polling station on the nursery drop-off and dog walk. Unfortunately, I have to go back to actually vote later on because I didn't have my photo ID.
Because I am trying to curate the amount of bad news that confronts me from the little screen in my pocket, I didn't realise that, as of May 2023, voters require a photo ID to enter their ballot. My first reaction was anger, and that's still my primary emotion as I hammer away at my keyboard, writing this.
In my opinion, photo ID is inherently exclusionary. The risk of fake votes is massively outweighed by the number of (especially vulnerable and marginalised) people who will no longer be able to vote.
This isn't a political newsletter, so I won't keep going on about that part. But it is a newsletter that talks about feelings, and my feeling of anger is something to examine here.
To me, this blow feels like yet another attack on those who cannot defend themselves. How can a government justify knowing that rightful voters will be excluded in 2024? A rhetorical question that needs no answer, obviously.
In my mind, this is another instalment in the “everything is really bad” path I find myself on from time to time. Obviously, it’s not just the photo ID thing that’s got me thinking this way. Every time I open my phone, I see dead children lined up on the streets of Gaza, another mass shooting in the US, the queues outside of food banks during this Cost of Living Crisis… it’s relentless.
I think I've asked this question before, but it's worth exploring again…
Is everything getting worse?
On one hand, I want to stay informed about what's happening in the world, especially in my community. But on the other, I feel worn down by the constant torrent of devastation and the political injustices that allow these things to happen every single day.
I feel helpless. And I know a lot of you do, too.
What am I meant to do about a policy or even a war that I categorically disagree with? If the pandemic taught us anything, it's that we (the little people) have very little control over anything - and some people have even less control than even you or me.
Back in 2022, I wrote about the attitude of “this is how it's always been” and why many people are so reluctant to ever aspire to change, nevermind fight for it.
And I can totally see why this is. When you feel like you have no power over how your country is run, or what it does to people in other countries, it's easy to become disillusioned and to switch off completely.
Then there's the issue of self-preservation. The 24-hour news cycle isn't natural, and our brains are not equipped to witness and process hours of videos of children being murdered (not even limited to foreign shores as today's devastating story about 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin, who was stabbed in North East London on Tuesday).
Our brains tend to take one of two routes. We either become desensitised to the torrent of trauma or allow it to eat us from the outside in. Neither one is healthy, and it will not allow us to see any positive change from our stewing.
I don't like these meandering newsletters to become “top tips” articles - I write enough of those for my clients as a professional copywriter. However, I think it's worth reiterating that, while photo ID is an infringement on our rights, it's still important to vote.
As well as voting, we can make an effort to stay in-the-know without allowing ourselves to hop on the hamster wheel of sadness. I obviously went too far the other way and missed the story last year about photo ID, and now it's too late for me to do anything about it - although I don't believe I could have done much about it at the time, anyway.
To conclude this week's newsletter, I want to say: remember to vote (if you're in one of the regions with elections today). Look after yourself, and don't forget to touch some grass from time to time.
And, most importantly, stay angry. Because if we ever become complacent, that's when they've won.
Last week, we went on a family holiday to Center Parcs, and plenty of grass was touched! I've never been before, but we got a good term-time deal and decided to take advantage while our daughter is below school age. If you have a baby or toddler, I highly recommend it. There's so much for them to do, and it's really not that badly priced if you get a last-minute deal.
Other things I've enjoyed this week include:
📚 The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin - From the writer of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, this was a lovely read - not quite as good as TTT, but still a feel-good book.
📚 Green Dot by Madeleine Gray - If you like an unlikable narrator, then this one is for you. A twenty-something Aussie lass makes a series of terrible decisions, with an underlying theme of male manipulation and the long-term impact of growing up in a home of conflict. It’s also very, very funny.
📺 Fallout (Season 1 - Prime) - Another instalment in the entertainment industry’s attempt to adapt every decent game into a TV show, this one is actually really good. I haven’t played the game (Craig has) and I still understood the show, which I think is a sign of a great adaptation.
📽️ Late Night With The Devil (Shudder) - Fun horror film that’s worth a watch!
That's all from me this week. See you next Thursday for more about mental health for the chronically online.
Stay angry,
Ellen x