The first semester of politics is all about British politics, and of course we look a bit deeper into Scottish politics. The thing about British politics is that the political system has always struck me as a bit weird and maybe a bit outdated. It does seem to work though, this country is not in ruins yet. I can't, however, claim to be an expert of British politics as I have only read a little about it in my English A course in Uppsala.
The more I read about it, the more complex I understand it is. And the more I read about it, the more weird and outdated I find the political system. I don't have the whole picture yet, and I'm not sure I will ever get it, as British politics is not the area I'd like to specialise in, but in a multicultural, multinational country with as big class divisions as this, I do find the first-past-the-post system to be a bit unfair, a bit undemocratic and very disproportional. It certainly has me perplexed, and very much so.
The distraction of the British political system and all the complexity that comes with it is very welcome as it seems I have things I'd rather not think about. I didn't really realise it until now, but I suppose there are always things you don't want to think about. Especially when you live in a country 2,5 hours away from your family and then another hour of domestic travel. When that is the case you would rather not think about it too much as great waves of homesickness can come over you and threaten to drown you.
Also, it might be the music. Apparently I've put all the depressing songs by Smashing Pumpkins on my "bra musik" playlist. There is nothing like Smashing Pumpkins to make me brood.
"I hope he's not brooding. I shouldn't like to think of him as being unhappy."
"I expect he's getting used to things." - Brenda in conversation with Jock (A Handful of Dust, p. 172)
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