Canvassing

I was out knocking on doors again this week, STV and PR has taken us all back to old fashioned politics of presence and after some initial trepidation I am really enjoying it.
I am getting a good response though it does help to have been the parish minister as many people locally do have an experience of me outside politics.
I think I was a better politician when I was also a parish minister because I spent time with people not being a politician. The difficulty is that politics, even local politics, is now so demanding that its difficult to do it well and not be full time, but yet that very act of going full time means you loose something that helps you a great deal to do the job well.
Oddly enough, despite what we might read in the press, people still have high expectations about what we can and can’t do. Those expectations come is strange ways. I had one woman at my surgery recently who is adamant I should be able to “get her a hoose”. Her circumstances are not good but not as bad as many others. I said to her that I would support her as best I can but that there is a proper system for allocations and its not right for politicians to try to get round it. "Whats the use of you being the leader if you can’t get me a hoose” she retorted. I doubt I will ever live up to her expectations then!