Forecast

I can hear you, dear reader, even as I type these words.

'Oh no!' you are muttering to yourself. 'Surely he's not going to post comments about the weather again?'

Wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. If you read on, you will find out why you are so hopelessly wrong.

This time next week it will be all over bar the shouting; "it" being the general election. The pundits - well, most of them - are predicting that, because of our electoral system, we will have a hung Parliament. But perhaps I am wrong in apportioning the blame for what has yet to happen on our electoral system. The thing is, the party which gains the biggest share of the vote across the country does not thereby necessarily win the most seats. This means that a party which the majority of our citizens to not want to form the Government, does in fact do so. Indeed, that is what we had until Parliament was dissolved a couple of weeks ago. I do hope we don't end up with a hung Parliament because if we do, then we will probably have to go through all this again a few months down the line in an attempt to select one party which enjoys an overall majority.

And this is where the forecast comes in. But, in view of my amazing generosity, I will declare this a BOGOF day and provide two predictions for the price of one. What's that? You haven't paid for one? Well then, this is your lucky day as you will get two predictions absolutely free. Both concern the constituencies that comprise Brighton.

First, Brighton Kemp Town, where I predict that the person elected will have the Christian name Simon.

Now, my own constituency - Brighton Pavilion. This seat has been held by Labour for several Parliaments, although I seem to recall that it was a Conservative seat for many years before that. This time round there is the distinct possibility that the seat will be won by the Green party. If it is, it will be their first seat in Parliament, although they already have a seat (the one for my area) in the European Parliament. Indeed, our Euro MP is the leader of the Green party and it is she who is fighting the Brighton Pavilion constituency. But to get to my second prediction. It is this: the new Brighton Pavilion MP will be a woman.

I hope you will come back next week to see if my forecasts are accurate.