DEVO DIARY: Tactics ensue

Eagerly anticipated postal votes for the mayoral elections are arriving on the doormats of residents this week. Keen voters will have undoubtedly made up their minds, but for people who aren’t as prepared or are undecided, you can make two votes; for your first choice and for your second, narrowing the chances of disappointment, or maybe just doubling it, depending on your favourite candidates. Good luck fellow voters. And remember the sooner you vote, the sooner it will all be over with, kind of.

You’d be forgiven for thinking you had walked into a student president contest at Salford University’s metro mayor hustings on Friday. The final push to the mayoral elections, along with the announcement of a snap general election, had perhaps proved too much for some with the Green candidate, Will Patterson, appointing a stand-in.

The hustings disintegrated further when the English Democrat candidate, Stephen Morris, answered a question on social cohesion by accusing the UKIP candidate, Shneur Odze, of burning a Bible, an accusation which was quickly denied by Odze.

Conservative Sean Anstee was also heckled for responding to a question on homelessness with a plug of his housing initiatives, while other candidates mentioned the issue of spice addiction in the city and Andy Burnham’s pledge to donate 15% of his mayoral salary to a homeless fund.

The left are uniting, at least on Twitter. A viral spreadsheet informing tactical voting against the Conservatives has been turned into a website after creator, Becky Snowdon, asked for help on social media. After a week Twitter responded and now voters can easily learn how to vote for more chance of defeating Conservatives in each constituency. See the website here: https://www.tactical2017.com/

Protesters are getting boulder with this bad-mannered scribble on the large, oblong pebble outside Bridgewater Hall. Perhaps they’d just been to see a particularly enraging symphony orchestra or, more likely, sat on an overcrowded tram for a minute too long. Either way, vandalising sculptures in Manchester isn’t the best outlet. This is why we can’t have nice things…

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