Don't vote, engage with politics. Posters by the Special Patrol Group. Credit: Strike! magazine Facebook page.
Refusing to vote is controversial. Voting is democracy in action, party politics fans argue, waving Facebook statuses and sign-up sheets. It's your major chance to make your voice heard. If you don't vote, you can't complain about the result. If you don't vote against the Conservatives, you are basically voting for them.
Even former anti-voting figurehead Russell Brand has now joined the box-ticking queue, this week endorsing Ed Miliband in a widely-viewed Youtube video. “You've gotta vote Labour”, the UK's most centrist revolutionary urges, eyes wild and hands stiff with political fervour. Brand, also known for prank-calling a rape support hotline, argues that a Labour-led coalition would respond to leftist grassroots lobbying. “I think this bloke will listen to us,” he says. He doesn't explain why Miliband hasn't listened so far.
