Back in the day voting was a serious and important event, considered a civic duty. To vote you went to a specific polling station where a policeman was on duty and observers were there whilst you went into a cubicle, put your cross against your preferred candidate, then posted the slip in a sealed black metal box.

You could judge how each candidate would vote in council as their political affiliations were clearly marked on the ballot slip.

Today, everything is dumbed down. We just have a candidate’s message to the voters to go on, and that could have been written by anyone as they all use the right words and phrases designed to appeal to all. We fill in the voting paper at home, then drop it in a bin as you leave the supermarket! The bin looks similar to the ones ‘round the side of the house. I am tempted to save myself and others time by cutting out the middleman and putting the lot in the recycling!

Well perhaps not, but it would be so much easier to decide if their political opinions were revealed.

Rob Neal, Bethlehem.