Down but not out: The last campaign stop of Hilary 2020

The rustic village-streets of Charvil provided an ideal setting to conclude this Hilary’s campaigning. Bruised by the searing intensity and rip-roaring velocity of the first seven weeks and about to embark on a crushing last hurdle in eighth week, the clear country air would grant some respite from the restless study hive.

On my return to the canvas-board and without a looming national poll to send the pulse racing, at first, I admit, a day-outing in a Tory stronghold for a local election seemed far from an inspiring way to start the weekend. What with the essay-rack never too far in the shadows and my tampered body-clock? Nonetheless six OUCA members along with their Reading University counterparts took to the tranquil village streets with fresh-faced enthusiasm and robust discipline.

Before we started our voter recruitment drive, however, we had to be informed of the local dispute between the council and its residents. Namely, the proposal to build an extra 160 new homes in the vicinity. Housing, it seemed, was going to be top of the residents’ concerns at this election. Luckily our candidate seemed well-versed in the sentiment of his constituents with his own fervent opposition to the council’s plans.

First, it would needlessly hamper the local air pollution by amplifying existing problems with congestion. Besides, the plan would exacerbate omnipresent school place shortages already hamstrung by a burgeoning population. With that in mind and conducted by our battle-hardened Political Officer, Adam James, we set about drumming up the support for the Conservative candidate.

Most of the early outings bore little to no fruit, as the ghostly streets beforehand had forewarned. Sleepy Saturdays were all the craze for the Charvil dwellers. Fortunately, the first sign of life-form happened to be a Tory loyalist, besotted with the local MP and former Prime Minister, Theresa May. As far as they were concerned if our candidate had her blessing, their vote was a shoe-in.

While our talkative elderly resident was disseminating her pearls of wisdom to us from the doorstep, I couldn’t but feel sympathy for a fellow OUCA member facing a pummelling by a disgruntled local Labour supporter for whom anything associated with the Tory brand was radioactive. But what about local issues?, I heard them ask - a very apposite question considering the national poll was last December and the zeitgeist round here was a housing dispute, of which, let’s not forget our candidate would lie down before the bulldozers for the residents.

Yet this careful reasoning would not move the entrenched anti-Tory sentiment emanating from the plush rose of a semi-detached cottage. Boris, Boris, Boris was their ire and an interminable Remain allegiance that resembled something close to hysteria. Still politics is a partisan sport nowadays and often reasonable compromise lies beyond the realms of possibility.

Moving on to our next few doors and a few barking dogs at owner-less houses aside, Charvil seemed to show signs of election-weariness. One resident feigned business to avoid the customary political barrage, probably wisely, another sourly remarked how political discussion was a no-go area in their civil household. After all, why risk unnecessarily sowing more seeds of familial discord over a stand-off in Westminster? But despite the reticence on the doorsteps and the succession of “Not in…Not in…Not in…” which may have rendered our outing rather futile, the ground-team never let inactivity or hostility dampen their spirits.

The local candidate himself a local resident was well-versed in his community. He waxed lyrical about leading a local eco initiative which assembled young and old in litter picking initiatives and other green initiatives. The interconnectedness of this local community, the sense of togetherness and vibrancy radiated from one of their own. Too often, especially in my hometown, that cooperative spirit is overshadowed by the relentless hustle and bustle of our busy lives. We lose sight of the whole in favour of the individual, of the community in favour of the private. That’s why it was so refreshing to hear of our candidate’s passionate work to enhance his local community.

I’ve always felt that politics seems rather vacuous without people at the heart of it. The Reading contingent, like us, revelled in the brief foray out of the bubble of a student campus and taking stock of real-life issues affecting real people. Westminster and the country’s eyes may be directly turned towards the outbreak of Covid-19, but one shouldn’t forget that life – for the moment at least – still goes on. The final campaign stop at Charvil was a fitting reminder of that.

Reuben Cooper is a first year reading Classics at Jesus College