A week to go.

And I've no idea who I am voting for.

I'm not really convinced that I am voting for a party because I agree with everything they stand for. In fact, I know I'm not. We don't elect presidents. We elect representatives.

However, I'm not naive enough to suggest that there's not an element of tactics needed to decide who to vote for, particularly in this election. Hung parliament and all that caper.

Please, don't believe the hype. Hung parliaments are *not* the end of democracy. Far from it.

Back to the plot. I mentioned earlier that I had a conversation with one of the candidates and they were unwilling to get into these new media stuff. I'd challenged Lis Bardell to commit 20 minutes a day to share what she's doing, where she's been and what she's thinking about the campaign and see what happens. Make herself more human for more people.

This is her campaign website:

I quote:

"I look forward to a continuing conversation with you – whatever your age - through the website"

How can we do that?

"I’ll also be glad to hear from you about issues that matter to you and I can be contacted at lis.bardell@livingstonsnp.org"

So I've to send you an email... okay. But what if you get 100 emails on the same topic, surely better to publish your response online.

" As we develop the site I’ll be highlighting important issues at Westminster as they affect Scotland and the Livingston Constituency"

But this page hasn't been updated for weeks. Oops.

Let's have the conversation, Lis, but can we please make it open and honest and not in the depth of email. Sure there's stuff you don't want to broadcast, but there's the opportunity for SO MUCH MORE!

Maybe we could do it on Google Wave? Or just start a blog and say hello to your consituents who ARE online.

UPDATE (22:28) a comment on my previous post from "anonymous" (!) pointed me to Lis' campaign site here (and I love that there's photos of her favourite holiday views!) and her Facebook group here. Check them out for yourself and form your own view!

And lest you think I'm having a go at the SNP candidate on her own.

Many of the others aren't up to much in this space either...

Labour (yay, it's a blog. With one post. A twitter account, with no posts.)

Lib-Dem and Lib-Dem (erm, is he actually standing...?)

UPDATE: Charles Dundas commented on my previous post - and is out there. Even on twitter here.

Conservative (just a biog and the same chat as their leaflets)

BNP (I'm not linking to their content, but actually, there's a blog and it does allow (some) comment! Puts the others to shame).

UKIP (who are at least trying, with a forum on the page, but I had to hunt to find it...)

Scottish Socialist (A full-on blog, sharing existing content, shame about the design ;->)

So, all in all, no-one is online speaking about the area, about the people, about the local issues - except (dare I say it) the BNP?!

Hoots, Mon!

PS - the excellent VoteGeek has the full candidate list and contact details. No idea who Jim Slavin is tho...

Thank you, RAC.

Last year, we changed car insurers and opted to take seperate breakdown cover. At the time the old Pug was a bit fragile so we thought it best to get something fairly comprehensive, especially with babyB on the scene.

The RAC got our business by being 1) well priced (ie cheapest), 2) easy to buy online (most convenient) & 3) covering the drivers, not the cars.

We never needed to call them in 364 of the days of the policy. Today, day 365, we did.

On a wee road trip to collect her parents from Glasgow Airport a few weeks ago (that's a 40 minute motorway journey from home), Mrs theWeir was in her parents car with her sister & babyB. Then the electrics on the car packed in on the motorway.

The car kept running, but no speedo, lights and left indicator permantley on (presumably the car's way of saying "I'd like to stop now"). They pressed on the airport. On arrival at the pick-up point, the car (a four-year old Ford Mondeo) died. No power, kaput.

Mrs theWeir phones me, gets our membership details and phone number them pulls out her RAC card and phones them up. Helpful people on the phone (first star to RAC). Van on it's way. Ticket man at the Airport drop-off point is really great - very understanding of the situation and keeps checking in to see if he can help. Nice.

Van arrives in good time, mechanic confirms a dodgy alternator (it's less than a year old) and quite rightly says - you're not driving that back through with four adults and a toddler. He can't tow it back as there's too many passengers - need to get a flat bed.

He confirms this with RAC control (I think) who arrange for a flat-bed tow lorry to collect them all and take them home. Might be an hour or more - sorry they can't have one right away. But then RAC man leaves (to do other calls, or maybe have a tea break, either's good with me). But the call centre keep in touch, confirming when the flat bed was dispacted and giving an eta. (Second gold star).

Flat bed driver was great, babyB and Mrs theWeir get front fow seats and the car is loaded up. They head for home. Then the call centre phones again to make sure everything has worked out okay. Now that's what I call service.

Thank you RAC for looking after my family. I'll be renewing our cover you now, rather than looking for a *better deal* anywhere else.

That's my story, but I'd love to know if you've had anything similar or worse from RAC too. Just to bring balance

FULL Disclosure: I've never earned any freebies from RAC, or been paid by them. Just so we're clear.