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The Election
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Message 1.Â
Posted by youvedoneitnow (U6315347) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
I don't think any of the characters have mentioned next week's election yet. I can understand there are good reasons for this (Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú impartiality etc)
However, have any of the characters previously expressed any party allegiances? I recall Pat being something of a socialist in her earlier days but I can't remember anyone else. -
Message 2
Posted by Tayler Cresswell - Host (U14232848) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
I don't know if characters have declared allegiances in the past - If I remember it correctly, Jim asked Eddie where the polling booth was a couple of weeks ago. I'll check with the archivist.
Another reason for careful mention of the election is that it's difficult to predict timings of movable events when they record the show so far in advance.
Tayler -
Message 3
Posted by marthawood4d (U14259378) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
It was a conversation with Joe, not Eddie.
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Message 4
Posted by JennyWren (U2220721) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Brian did just say something like whatever happens next week, which must have been a vague reference to the general election.
Jenny -
Message 5
Posted by Reggie Trentham (U2746099) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Hello youvedoneitnow. There have been various references to characters' political activities and preferences both party and otherwise over the years. The following are ones that I remember:
Jill represented the Liberals on the rural district council many decades ago.
Mark Hebden stood for and, I think won, the canning factory ward for the SDP on Felpersham (?) Council.
Shula and Nigel were both active members of Borchester Young Conservatives where they met.
Brian was canvassing for the Tories when he was attacked by the Grundys' mad cow.
Pat was definitely in CND but I can't remember her expressing any preference for a party. I'd bet she was a great fan of Tony Blair thirteen years ago though.
Jack Wooley once asked 'how are the socialists doing' during a parish council election. So not a paid up member of the Labour Party.
Mike Tucker and Neil Carter were successively secretaries of the local branch of the Agricultural Workers Union. So probably labour.
Susan on the other hand has been a fairly obvious working class Tory wannabe, but I don't think this has ever been made explicit.
Caroline and Oliver organised the local charabanc to the Countryside Alliance March on London.
Sid voted no in the 1975 Common Market referendum.
Phil read the Daily Telegraph, which may or may not say something about his politics. I don't think I've ever heard any other newspaper mentioned by name on the programme though.
This is the sort of occasion where you really miss Rosie's encyclopedic knowledge -
Message 6
Posted by Reggie Trentham (U2746099) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
And of course, how could it have escaped my mind, Peggy Archer (Wooley) was once identified as 'a bit of a socialist' by either Doris or Dan in the early days of the programme. Believe it or not it's true.
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Message 7
Posted by Mabel Bagshawe (U2222589) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:23 GMT, in reply to Reggie Trentham in message 6
Changed Tony's paper to the Grauniad. She was heard to be very jubilant when Labour won in 1997 -
Message 8
Posted by Fire-Pig - proud to wave the protest banner (U12231213) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
<>
Could that have been a reference to Local Government ones though? The date of those was announced long before the General Election.
F-P (who lives in Wales so will not be having a local election to vote in this year!) -
Message 9
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
I'm probably wrong about Bridge Farm pre-Grauniad, but seem to remember a mention of the 'Express'. -
Message 10
Posted by youvedoneitnow (U6315347) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Evening Reggie - that seems a pretty encyclopedic reply to me!
Didn't know about Jill standing for the Liberals, that's interesting. Wasn't she also against the countryside march? Or in favour of the hunting ban? I seem to remember something like that.
The other ones don't come as any great surprise. I'd assume the Borchester constituency faithfully returns a Tory at every election.
Thanks again for taking the time to respond. -
Message 11
Posted by taddydogman (U13374770) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
The Daily Express was mentioned on TA but it was a very long time ago. As I recall, a reporter from the paper visited Brookfield and spoke with Dan and Phil. He mentioned that his paper would be carrying an article the next day about farming issues at which point Dan said to Phil "We'll have to make sure we read the paper when it comes tomorrow", implying that the Daily Express was the paper normally read at Brookfield. And I don't think there's any doubt that Dan and Phil were staunch Conservatives at that time. -
Message 12
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:27 GMT, in reply to taddydogman in message 11
I agree with Reggie's list, except for the bit about Jill being a Liberal Councillor. This has been suggested before, but I don't recall it (nor does Rosie). -
Message 13
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:41 GMT, in reply to mike in message 12
Rosie has found the following:
"Jill decided to stand for the Rural District Council and campaigned against the closure of Ambridge village school. Much to her surprise she was elected, and became Councillor Archer." (from the 1969 entry in "The Archers: the first thirty years" by Wm Smethurst (1980)). This would suggest she was an independent councillor, though, not Liberal. OTOH neither Rosie nor I remember this. Admittedly my listening was possibly intermittent in 1969, the only storylines which Smethurst lists and and I remember are the Playbar at the Bull, Dan's semi-retirement and Dan and Doris moving to Glebe Cottage. -
Message 14
Posted by Reggie Trentham (U2746099) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Glad to know my memory isn't entirely fallible, mike. I'm still fairly convinced that Jill was a Liberal councillor but I could be wrong.
I'm sure i remember her identifying herself as a Liberal at some point so I could have conflated the two things. Could have been in conversation with Shula when she was in the YCs. Being a Liberal would fit in with what little else we know of her political opinions eg opposition to fox hunting and the Countryside Alliance, anyway. It'd also be a nice antidote to the boneheaded Toryism of the rest of her family. -
Message 15
Posted by youvedoneitnow (U6315347) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Phil, David, Shula and Elizabeth are/were certainly Tories (with varying degrees of boneheadedness). I'm less sure about free-spirited Kenton.
Of the spouses, Nigel and Alastair are probably also Tory. I suppose Ruth, with her north-eastern roots, is a less obvious case, but I don't recall any indication either way.
cheers
ydin -
Message 16
Posted by Tayler Cresswell - Host (U14232848) on Saturday, 1st May 2010
Hi
Rosie is right - Jill hasn't ever represented the Liberals on the district council.
Reggie is right in saying that Mark (Shula's first husband) stood in the district council elections representing the SDP in 1986.
Tayler -
Message 17
Posted by LettieLawsonHope (U13826261) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Did I hear correctly that Neil was caught by a canvasser on the doorstep? I have lived in a village for over 20 years and never had a canvasser come round
is Ambridge a marginal seat? -
Message 18
Posted by bob larkin (U2297537) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Not quite.
The other day Peggy got home to find an election leaflet on the doormat.
She promised to read it later!
bob -
Message 19
Posted by _ShropshireLad_ (U10844552) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Tue, 04 May 2010 22:46 GMT, in reply to Reggie Trentham in message 14
I'm sure i remember her identifying herself as a Liberal at some point so I could have conflated the two things.Â
I certainly don't remember this, but is it possible that Jill may have identified herself as a liberal (with a small l)? Which she probably is, on balance, I would suggest, whereas Peggy would be conservative (with a small c).
I would say that in all the time I've lived in the country, which is quite a lot of my life, I have never known a (non-hobby) farmer who has not been Conservative. -
Message 20
Posted by dickie (U2267358) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010
As I have suggested on another thread, perhaps Peggy will support the Corrective Party.
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Message 21
Posted by Lyra (U2293272) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010
Jill was certainly comparatively radical when she was first married to Phil. She was opposed to hunting (practically unheard of for a farmer's wife at that time) and she was also opposed to private education, although I think her views on this have weakened over the years (probably when she realised that the only way they could get a school to accept Elizabeth was to pay them
) .
I think that there were references to Jill supporting Labour back then (but that was the 1960's and I can't be sure). I suspect that she would vote Lib Dem now. Peggy was also more radical when she was younger. I can't recall that she was ever explicit about which party she supported, but it was unlikely to have been the Tories. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't vote Lib Dem too. My mother (same generation) is really Tory in views and attitudes, but would see it as a betrayal of her roots to vote for them. Closest she can bring herself to go is Lib Dem.
I assume that Pat and the Bridge Farm lot probably vote Green (with the exception of Tom , who's almost certainly a Tory) but I don't think that I've ever heard them say so.
Kenton is interesting. I bet that he's a floating voter and probably votes whatever way he thinks will annoy David the most. -
Message 22
Posted by _ShropshireLad_ (U10844552) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010
Wed, 05 May 2010 12:54 GMT, in reply to Tina Sparkle in message 21
Peggy was also more radical when she was younger. I can't recall that she was ever explicit about which party she supported, but it was unlikely to have been the Tories.Â
A reckon she would have voted for Thatcher in 1979.
It was people of Peggy's background and values who voted Tory for the first time that got her in. She would have been old old Labour up until then, but she wouldn't have been very impressed with the Unions and the chaos of the seventies.
I can't really see her as a Lib Dem supporter somehow. -
Message 23
Posted by bob larkin (U2297537) on Wednesday, 5th May 2010
Much younger, I would guess.
Before TA even went on the air perhaps.
bob -
Message 24
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Monday, 17th May 2010
Mon, 17 May 2010 20:00 GMT, in reply to Tayler Cresswell - Host in message 16
Rosie is right - Jill hasn't ever represented the Liberals on the district council.Â
So did she represent a party or was she an independent? -
Message 25
Posted by Seveek (U13636812) on Wednesday, 19th May 2010
I believe she was an Independent when she stood for the Rural District Council to campaign against the threatened closure of Ambridge village school.
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Message 26
Posted by smarttedebear (U3614285) on Thursday, 20th May 2010
Which is very, very close now.
I have always admired Jill for having a mind of her own, especially over the hunting issue. She has never hidden her views from her family and has always spoken her mind on the issue. If only some other members of the Archer clan even had a mind.
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