Public
167/365: Walled Garden, Jubilee Gardens, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper imageI'm cautiously in favour of
today's proposals, all the more so as it was a Labour manifesto promise and so it can't be claimed to be being sprung on people. I used to be much iffier about the idea, but the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 was the first big vote to set the age at 16 and I was quite impressed by the quality of argument and debate -- on both sides -- I heard from 16/17-year-olds in the run-up to referendum day. Several other countries (eg Austria) already have votes at 16. The Tories' complaint about there being differential ages is silly unless they plan to standardise the age for absolutely everything (driving, sex, adoption, part-time work, the lot) at 18. Which, of course, they don't.
The expansion of acceptable voter ID to include bank cards was something I didn't see coming. I'm actually a bit surprised by this one, since in a reversal of many recent trends it means that not all ID at the polling station will need to be
photo ID. As some have already speculated, that opens the door for the potential acceptance of things like NHS cards in the future. Those as old as me can remember when a bank statement was considered good enough for a lot of things, but so few people have paper statements now that I doubt that one's coming back! On a practical note: many, perhaps most bank cards don't bear the holder's full name. Instead of
LOGAN BERRY BUNNY they just say
L B BUNNY. That will need to be accounted for in guidance to election officials.
Today's photo is from the Walled Garden in Jubilee Gardens, Bewdley's small town park. It's a peaceful, secluded area in which to sit and read sometimes, though at this time of year it can be too hot because of the high sun. (Well, when it's out -- it was mostly overcast and humid today, which wasn't ideal.) Unfortunately this area's very seclusion has made it vulnerable to antisocial behaviour, and so its gates are locked at 4pm, whereas the wider park is open until around 8pm in summer. (It's all managed by the district council, with no rights of way crossing the park, so yep they can do that.) The houses in the background are the back of High Street -- which, as you may remember, in Bewdley isn't
the high street in the usual sense. It's called that because it's high above the river.
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loganberrybunny
