Votes are counted, but the panto rumbles on

THE FRIDAY THING: BY the time my reader is reading this (assuming he reads it before nipping out to the pub) the election “excitement” — acres and acres and hours and hours of relatively meaningless prattle — will be over.

But I have an awful feeling that some of the politicians are so hungry for a few extra hours in the limelight they will find a way of keeping the charades and pantomimes running for a few days, maybe even weeks, yet.

The one side of the election activities that has been amazingly straightforward this year has been the absence of people knocking on the door asking about our voting intentions.

There has been lots of literature on glossy paper but a marked absence of would-be MPs or even MPs’ friends, who would normally be out delivering leaflets. Maybe would-be MPs don’t have friends.

We may not be able to rely on the reliability of our MPs and would-be MPs but at least the three-day bank holiday was back to normal with lots of rain, hailstones and strong winds.

Global warming they call it but I think it should definitely have another name, especially when it is holiday time.

The one consolation for me was that the weather suited growing conditions on the allotment. Perhaps I should become a greengrocer.



WHILE we are on the path to significant change, how do you feel about changes on the front of your letters?
You know, the Mrs, Ms, Mr and soon Mx hogging pride of place on envelopes and postcards pushed through a letter box near you some time soon.

According to an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, Jonathan Dent, Mx has been accepted in the interest of “stable honorifics”.

Now that might sound like something your pony or horse did in the stables after eating too many greens but no, it is all about changes in the English language to make some room for language evolution to accommodate an ever-changing society.

We are all used to Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms but how about Mx? Apparently this latest twist in the tail of our long-established language now sees Mx as the way of describing a person; transgender people and others who do not identify with a particular gender.

Our Mr Dent says Mx is the most commonly used and recognised gender-neutral title. I must confess I had never come across a letter made out to Mx but I have received several other descriptions of my status from friends and those not so friendly.