Had a big discussion last night about whether voting in elections should be obligatory like it is in 'Stralia. The two woolly liberals in the room (me and Miss V) were the ones in favour; my Tory-voting best friend and his rural conservative (that's the politest way I can think of putting it) girlfriend thought it was a denial of rights. Is it peculiar that the right-wingers are advocating freedom of choice and I'm not? Obviously, in any compulsory vote there'd have to be a "none of the above" section. My real thinking behind it is my abhorrence of apathy (which comes from being a deeply undisciplined and apathetic person who would flagellate himself for it if he could be arsed). But then maybe that's my problem. I find it hard to post to sinister these days. Perhaps I shot my wad in the early days, when I thought people were interested in what I was saying, and got terribly upset about the silliest of things which spurred me on to scribble more and more rubbish It doesn't really flow any more. Strange. But apart from the election, something else happened yesterday that's got me thinking (which I don't do nearly enough of these days). My grandfather died. So far, other than an awareness of a deeply-hidden knot of something inside me, I've barely reacted at all. I've been very lucky really; he's the closest person to me to have died so far, and the whole "how to feel" thing is making me wonder whether I'm doing it right. Is there a right way? I suppose not. It wasn't a shock, and there are many aspects of the situation which are, for us and for him, a blessed relief. I'm not quite sure whether that's a good thing, but perhaps it's a comfort. I'm also terrified of seeing my grandmother for the first time since it happened. I feel quite guilty about that. Ach, not very interesting, is it? ListGoverness Lulou must be tapping her fingers and wondering if I'm ever going to get to the point. Hell, this is sinister, does there have to be one? Perhaps I should say how impressed I am with the sillustrations that seem to be expanding weekly. I hate you talented people :-) I fell off my bike, but it wasn't very Belle and Sebastian. Mark xxx ********************************************************************** HIT Entertainment PLC, Maple House 149 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7NF Tel: +44 (20)7 554 2500, Fax: +44 (20)7 388 9321 The contents of this e-mail from HIT Entertainment PLC are confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy or further distribute this e-mail; please notify us by telephone on +44 (20)7 554 2500, and delete this message from your computer system. This e-mail has been checked by our anti-virus system before leaving us; we accept no responsibility for the e-mail and any attachments once they leave us. www.hitentertainment.com www.bobthebuilder.com www.hitwildlife.com ********************************************************************** +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+