Cadno and the ‘c’ word

HOW many of you out there care about Wales?

That is not a trick question.

But it is an important one.

If you don’t care about Wales, why are you present in Wales? What’s stopping you from leaving and going wherever it is you want to go?

Set up one of those internet appeals. Say something on the lines of ‘My name is Dick and I can’t be arsed with Wales. It just doesn’t match my own opinion of my own importance. I feel bullied by being in a country that other people living here like. Please help me get away to somewhere. Anywhere. #FreeDickNow’.

Cadno is willing to bet that tens of people will offer you suggestions about where you can go. Some of them might even be prepared to help you on your way.

It’s the same with voting in the Welsh elections. Now less than a fortnight away, you can show how much you care about Wales by voting in them.

Cadno won’t go so far as to say he doesn’t care for whom you vote. He will, however, say that you should vote for whichever party takes your fancy.

You could even vote for Reform UK, UKIP, or Abolish the Assembly.

You’d be idiots if you did.

But at least you’d be voting instead of whining about the outcome after not voting.

On May 6, 16 & 17-year-olds will have the chance to vote for the first time. It’s time for Wales’ parents to set an example by encouraging their offspring to vote and get them in the voting habit.

There is no such thing as the perfect match on every jot and tittle of policy, something politicians – and, worse, activists on social media – seem to forget.

As a general guide on the issues that matter to young people – or at least those issues young people say matter to them – every party has made a pitch (apart from the wastes of time out there on the right and beyond).

Young people care deeply about atypically political issues: mental health, the environment, and equalities.

Those are big and broad issues that all parties either address or misaddress. Young people must find the party which they feel most matches their priorities for Wales’ future.

And when they cast their votes, unlike activists and some politicians, they should be encouraged to use the ‘c’ word.

Compromise.

Politics is the art of the possible, not an all-in all-out conflict between exclusive sects demanding ideological purity.

A lot of people could do with remembering that.

And, when choosing who to vote for, if that’s two out of three, as Jim Steinman wrote, two out of three ain’t bad.