Am spending today in bed, struck down by some bug. Hopefully just a 24-hour one.
But meantime I have been reminded of an eccentric election candidate of 1995. His posters were white on black, on A3 sheets of paper, mainly as far as I remember posted on the central reservation of the dual carriageway between Belfast and Bangor, so that potential voters would zoom past them at 70 miles per hour. In the end he got 101 votes (just beating the Natural Law Party, who came last with 100). He has stood at a number of elections since and never come close to winning.
1998 Assembly election: 72 votes (0.2%, second last) in North Down
2001 local elections: 175 votes (2.5%, third last) in Bangor Abbey
2001 Westminster election: 444 votes (1.2% – second last, since he beat Sinn Fein) in North Down
2003 Assembly election: 109 votes (0.4%, last) in North Down
2005 local elections: 141 votes (2.4%, last) in Bangor Abbey
2005 Westminster election: 211 votes (0.7%, second last – again beating Sinn Fein) in North Down
Well I do find it ironic that you are refusing to engage in a debate when that was one of the main points of the article.