With a tip of our hat to the Daily Mail – which today asks its readers 13 questions so they can tell if they’re posh or not – Lib Dem Voice presents our special How Lib Dem are you? test:
(Click on the image to enlarge).
All you have to do is answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the following questions to get your answer …
1. Do you complain about long driveways and low letterboxes after an afternoon’s leaflet delivery?
2. Do you obsessively count the number of garden posters of the different parties at election time?
3. Is your mood affected by a good or bad opinion poll?
4. Do you avoid ever booking holidays in April?
5. Have you ever been bitten by a dog when delivering leaflets?
6. Do you enjoy knocking on strangers’ doors, even during an England match?
7. Do you often find yourself using the words “If only we had a fair voting system”?
8. Do you find yourself classifying even close friends and family as ‘Definites’ and ‘Probables’ in your mind?
9. Do you know what EARS is?
10. Have you ever cooked, baked or created something for a Lib Dem raffle or sale?
11. Have you ever written to the BBC to complain that they have unjustly ignored the Lib Dems?
12. Have you bought your own clipboard and rosette for canvassing?
13. Do you view leaflet delivery as a competitive sport?
Feel free to share your results with your fellow obsessives below …
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45 Comments
12 out of 13 Yes answers….
All bar one and that’s because I don’t go on holiday!
12 out of 13, the only no was in answer to number 10, because I can’t cook!
11/13 – keep meaning to buy my own rosette but haven’t got round to it yet and baking/creative skills sufficiently poor not to want to inflict my creations on potential supporters.
Meh, a mere 8/13.
Do I get bonus points for thinking if only we used STV for all elections and then starting to draw the boundaries in my head?
12 – Though my (non Lib Dem) friends did once bake me a cake covered in yellow icing and a black icing bird on the top. I’ll try and find a photo 🙂
@ Matthew – definitely 2 bonus points
I got 9 out of 13! haven’t been bitten by a dog yet, avoided booking a holiday in april, gotten depressed by a bad poll or baked…for a lib dem raffle
Just asked my teenagers these questions – they scored 8 out of 13….
I only got 8 out of 13 but then, I think I should get extra points for answering ‘yes’ to Number 6. 🙂
(Also, I actually have the rosette & clipboard in my basket on LibDemImage as we speak…)
No to 5 and 10; yes to all the others.
Although I did bake a 21st birthday cake for my son – which we shared out with everyone at a Yorkshire Regional Conference, including Paddy Ashdown. He commented that it was one of the best cakes he’d ever eaten. Does that count?
I’m a mere nine. Disappointed that there were no questions on beards, sandals, or yoghurt-weaving.
12 out of 3 as I normally provide a cheap bottle of wine for raffles. Also tried the Daily Fail posh test; 2 out of 13 just because I occasionally shop at Waitrose and like Earl Grey.
I got 10/13. But I claim an extra point for Riso Dancing.
I scored eight but i am a fairly recent convert.
Have made an alternative version: http://miss-s-b.dreamwidth.org/1063817.html
Jennie – your beard is, as always, a wonder to behold.
13/13. That is not good. I really really need a life.
Apart from replacing England with Scotland I think that is full house for me. OMG I need to detox….just can’t just yet.
I think Jennie’s is better.
I got 11.5. Luckily I have always managed to outrun the dogs & I have chickened out if their teeth are actually framing letterbox as I approach with leaflet.
The thing is this isn’t a very fair quiz, devoted members/campaigners for any political party would say yes to most of those questions (except I think the Tory voters in my home town had their dogs trained to specifically bite Lib Dems), and I think the fair voting system question should be worth at least 5 points on it’s own.
Only managed 8 here and 7 on Jennie’s rather more representative questionnaire. Then again, I managed to qualify as a posho on the Mail‘s test too.
A Lib Dem friend of ours used to have a dog that wagged its tail happily when thrown a yellow ball but growled when thrown a blue ball. No, sorry, it was a Liberal ball in those days and it was orange, of course.
Jenny:
I’m not obsessed by Dr Who (but do think David Tennant very cute; pity he’s Labour.)
Definitely no beard.
Have MADE yoghurt (does that count?)
Don’t wear sandals at all at present because my still not properly healed broken metatarsal means none of my sandals (most high heeled) or my other shoes fit – still wearing boots I bought to fit poorly foot.
Have special diet, sort of, but onlyn because I have lots of allergies.
I don’t think this is a true test of being a Lib Dem, really, Jenny.
How about:
Have you ever stayed up all night /nearly all night to meet a deadline on behalf of the Lib Dems?
Have you defied convention to support something you believe in?
Have you put your name on the line on behalf of Lib Dem principles?
Oops, sorry, got all serious for a moment.
I think Stephen’s original test questions are the best though both questionnaires are fun. Maybe some campaigners for other parties actually qualify for our party, but only on condition they did all those things for an unwinnable seat.
Yes on 12. I do take a little holiday when an England match is on. Can I add another:
When you see someone with some paper in their hand walking along the street, do you automatically suspect they must be one of the opposition delivering leaflets or canvassing?
Yes, naturally I do, Paul. Doesn’t everyone then?
You missed out: “have you ever taken a Conservative / Labour leaflet out of someone else’s recycling box?” and “do you normally take a raffle prize with you when you go out to a social event?”
Shouldn’t all these be replaced with the simple question:
You have been told on a doorstep that irrespective of who they’re voting for, they’re impressed that you’re out canvassing/leafleting in “this weather”.
“This weather” needs to be at least gale force winds, six inches of snow or flooding.
I support Waitrose on the principle that it is locally-based (in Bracknell btw) and it sponsors the local football team (Reading).
If I’m an example shoppers of the fine establishment definitely aren’t posh, just interested in better quality and better value for money – not the false economies of extravagant luxury and low prices. And I won’t even mention the higher ethics of the liberal democratic ownership structure.
Just one more reason why the Daily Mail alienates me.
Oh, and complaining about letterboxes or the length of driveways??!!! Pur-lease – if you’ve still got the energy to moan here’s another 200.
10/13 – do I get a bonus point for having a copy of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 on my bookshelf?
I claim 12.5.
Question 5 – my ward colleague was bitten by a dog and I tended his wounds whilst everyone else moaned about him bleeding all over the target letters he was delivering!
I note none of the questions appear to relate to political principles and beliefs. As we are already seeing what is a “fair” voting system is already a somewaht moveable concept.
Only 11/13 – but I could claim several more if you had the right questions 🙂
[ ] Are you used to having litho/Riso ink in your fingernails?
[ ] Do you sing ‘Climb every staircase’ when delivering flats and tower blocks?
[ ] Do you know what a “five barred gate” is and why it matters at the Count?
[ ] Have you ever run or helped count an STV election?
[ ]
And based on Jennie’s,
[ ] Do you agree with Nick, and did you tell everyone so on Facebook or Twitter?
Oi, toryboys on 4th June at 2:43 p.m. I wrote:
How about:
Have you ever stayed up all night /nearly all night to meet a deadline on behalf of the Lib Dems?
Have you defied convention to support something you believe in?
Have you put your name on the line on behalf of Lib Dem principles?
About the definition of statements and questions: I’ve read George Orwell too!
12 out of 13
But yes, there should be a question:
Have you ever started putting a Focus together at 11.30 at night, because it has to be at the printer tomorrow.
13/13 – but only because I’ve no idea what’s on tele when, apart from essentials like the Politics Show, leaders’ debates etc.
I have to confess I once gave up when delivering Focus one Christmas when the rain was so heavy the ink began to run between bag and letter box.
I have never been bitten by a dog, even though I ignored a ‘Beware dog’ notice on the front gate and delivered to a house where a rotweiler usually ran wild in the garden. I have however had a cat leap on to my upturned fingers while I pushed a leaflet right through the letter-box. It dug it’s claws into my finger tips and hung there, meaning I could not easily withdraw my fingers. When I eventually freed them quite a few leaflets had blood stains on them as I continued the delivery.
Is it possible for an election agent to take out insurance against delivery injuries such as tripping on the steps and falling headfirst towards a fully glazed front door?
I think I can score only nine. Never been bitten by a dog but have had bloodied fingers fram snappy letter boxes – does that count?
All these comments about letter boxes has reminded me of the strangest letterbox I have seen. I was out delivering in Bedford and got to a letterbox with a sign on it saying ‘Beware snake loose in house’… Deliver and run!
12 and a half out of 13. Re: question 6, I have knocked on doors during an England match, but I can’t say I’ve enjoyed doing so…I recall canvassing in a council by-election in Lancaster in 1994 when England crashed to Holland in the qualifiers. A snotty Tory voter gleefully told me that Koeman had scored when I asked her if she knew how we were getting on.
I scored twelve. i’ve never been bitten by a dog although several have jumped up on me and one knocked me over. Does that count?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/09/david-willetts-students-tuition-fees?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments
I feel somewhat betrayed.
How nice of the Lib Dems to ‘abstain’… I though they were in favour of cutting fees not raising them,
Utter, utter cowardice
This does show the bias amongst some of the activist base who think that being Lib Dem is about living a certain lifestyle rather than having certain political beliefs. It’s unfortunate, but rather revealing.
Peter: don’t you think you might be reading rather too much in to a joke? Indeed, isn’t a large part of the humour of the joke the deliberate exaggeration of the importance of lifestyle compared to beliefs?