17 June 2024 – Dr Sophie Louisa Bennett, PhD Conservation Biology (Lincoln 2016), MA Modern and Medieval Languages – German and Swedish (KC 1987, Cantab 2020), Diploma in Translation – German into English (City University/Institute of Linguists 1998)
I was rather mystified – rather than misty-eyed – to read in one Sunday newspaper supplement that Sir Keir Starmer has Lincolnshire roots. Not only was he showing off his working class urban credentials and connections to the healthcare system, but also seemed to be ramming his rural roots down voters’ throats as well.
Several generations of Lincolnshire farming heritage? As a Yellowbelly, I felt quite violated. And I wondered whether I might even be related to him distantly or indirectly a few generations back… Still, it seemed appropriate that someone whose forebears had once been gamekeepers was now turning poacher… The genial smile and the genealogy being another ploy to win votes in areas traditionally seen as strongly Conservative. In a Sunday publication, aimed at women, also perhaps mistakenly seen as being more towards the right than the left.
I felt embarrassed by the sickly sweetness of the article – I’d be voting for a politician not marrying their other half. It all seemed a bit sexist, since the magazine I was reading is generally regarded as being intended for a female readership. I am surprised there were no photographs of him sitting on a Massey Ferguson or John Deere (with strategically-placed manifesto), or maybe in the cab of a combine harvester, handling a billhook or barefoot, chewing thoughtfully on a piece of straw while wearing denim dungarees – no shirt of course and certainly no tie.
This feature came a bit too late to have any effect on me as I had already popped my postal vote into the red box. And I’ll be czeching it arrived at its destination too.
Dr Sophie Louisa Bennett – political rural ‘grass roots’ (no jokes about cows ripping grass out by the roots – I already had that one cud-vered) correspondent of no publication whatsoever but loves the idea that people might even read this and either agree or be annoyed.
Into-English-Translations 