Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that an election on the 12th December is a bad idea because it will affect Christmas at primary schools?

302 replies

chomalungma · 24/10/2019 20:38

How many Christmas plays will be on on that day?

I am sure some will be able to be altered - but it's a really crappy time to close a school for voting when there are parties, school plays and the end of term atmosphere.

There are other reasons as well - but this is just one that may not have been thought about.

OP posts:
Nat6999 · 24/10/2019 23:12

In 2010, December 12, most of the country had ground to a halt due to snow, schools were closed, roads blocked. Boris hasn't thought this out, he has just plucked a date out of thin air.

TheAnnoyingSatsuma · 24/10/2019 23:12

My entire team works on Election Day, some start at 6.15am and finish 24 hours later or longer. Guess when our Xmas lunch is booked for- 13 December. That’s going to be a fun outing with everyone falling asleep in their plates of roast turkey.

AnneLovesGilbert · 24/10/2019 23:12

Royal Mail are planning a strike on December to target the Christmas post. Are they more or less likely to go ahead if it’ll also screw up an election?

HappyHammy · 24/10/2019 23:12

If the weather is snowing and icy the schools will probably close so they will have to find alternative polling stations anyway.

blackteasplease · 24/10/2019 23:17

In 2010, December 12, most of the country had ground to a halt due to snow, schools were closed, roads blocked. Boris hasn't thought this out, he has just plucked a date out of thin air.

Oh yes I moved house during that one!

HelenaDove · 24/10/2019 23:29

Im not so sure they actually do want many older people to get out and vote after the pension changes and the annihilation of Pension Credit for mixed age couples.

MintyMabel · 24/10/2019 23:31

If the weather is snowing and icy the schools will probably close so they will have to find alternative polling stations anyway.
No they won’t. Closing a school is about the safety of children getting there or having to be picked up if the weather worsens, and the number of staff who can travel. There is no reason (unless there is a red warning) not to be able to run a polling station in a closed school. Our school was the community centre. It stayed open for all services when the school itself was closed.

Oh yes I moved house during that one!

We got stuck at work. A whole bunch of people had to sleep there overnight. I was smart and had booked a nearby hotel much earlier in the day.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 24/10/2019 23:31

Someone really needs to complain to Age UK about their shocking agism.

Independent Age are at it as well.

MintyMabel · 24/10/2019 23:33

Im not so sure they actually do want many older people to get out and vote after the pension changes and the annihilation of Pension Credit for mixed age couples.

Maybe, but those are also more likely to be Brexit voters so they might be counting on that.

MintyMabel · 24/10/2019 23:33

Someone really needs to complain to Age UK about their shocking agism.

👍👍👍

HelenaDove · 24/10/2019 23:41

Maybe in your world but i know a fair few older people who voted Remain.

Findumdum1 · 24/10/2019 23:45

ffs the 12th is my works Christmas party in a different part of the country. What time.do polling stations open? I hope he gets a load of pissed up people voting for labour or the lib dems just for the hell of it while drunk.

Only an idiot would hold a GE during Christmas party season.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 24/10/2019 23:53

Maybe, but those are also more likely to be Brexit voters so they might be counting on that.

Since nothing has gone to plan and he keeps getting bitten by the law of unintended consequences I think trying to work out what they are planning on and what the result might be is probably futile.

Presumably the Express are predicting some sort of snowmageddon for early December.

BadSun · 24/10/2019 23:56

Christmas Play vs Election, personally think it’s an absolute no brainier which is more important!

Me too but I have a feeling we are not thinking the same thing.

CeefaCasperTheFriendlyGhost · 24/10/2019 23:57

I'm just gutted the election's not on the same day as my school's Christmas fair.....having to make 30 bloody bags of oats & glitter a.k.a 'reindeer food' with my class, then ending up having to buy the leftover bags (!) for my own kids on Christmas eve is shit I can do without year after year 🤣

BadSun · 24/10/2019 23:58

ffs the 12th is my works Christmas party in a different part of the country. What time.do polling stations open?

Polls usually open in the morning and shut early evening. You'd have to have a very unusual work Christmas party for it to be affected.

Drabarni · 25/10/2019 00:03

I'll be at a wedding Grin so will all my family and the brides.
I'm sure nobody will be bothered anyway.

Mamasaurus82 · 25/10/2019 00:05

I agree with previous posts- the fate of the country is more important than rescheduling Christmas events. It is October. There is plenty of time.

Isleepinahedgefund · 25/10/2019 00:05

Local authority schools cannot refuse, my school has recently been through this.

Deffo write to No 10 and tell Boris how selfish he is tho

VenusTiger · 25/10/2019 00:06

I don’t understand why they close whole schools anyway, it’s ridiculous! There are plenty of church halls, community halls, libraries etc.

iVampire · 25/10/2019 00:14

There’s a world of difference between describing the difficulties faced by the infirm, and how that is indirectly an age-related issue because more people become infirm as they age; and the truly awful and snide comments about elderly people as a stereotype which are contained in earlier posts on this thread

People who fear infirmity will prevent them travelling to their polling station need to arrange a postal vote or a proxy vote. The latter might be more prudent with the (pre-existing) plans for postal strikes in December (union ballot was a week or so ago, wasn’t it?)

HelenaDove · 25/10/2019 00:47

Agree with ...............its late October so there is plenty of time re organisation. But a lot of people will be rushing about two weeks before Christmas. Plus the usual pre Christmas stress. There are threads about this on here already.

Topseyt · 25/10/2019 00:55

Personally, I hated having to suffer sit through primary school nativity plays and the like. A General Election would have been preferable when my children were that age.

I think there should be a debate in the House of Commons about it. It could be entitled "Should a General Election take precedence over School Nativity Plays?"

After all, Westminster has nothing else to do at this point in time. They are probably too divided to agree on even that though.

HirplesWithHaggis · 25/10/2019 00:56

Polls usually open in the morning and shut early evening. You'd have to have a very unusual work Christmas party for it to be affected.

Polling stations are open 7am to 10pm.

Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 25/10/2019 00:58

Even 'the old' get out in winter. 'The cold' won't stop them voting. You (and the other poster I quoted) and vastly underestimating the older generation.

Sorry, you're wrong. Low voter turnout in cold weather is a thing. Such a pathetically small percentage of the electorate turn up anyway. Older people are more likely to vote in general, but everyone is (even) less likely to turn out in cold, dark, miserable weather. It isn't ageist to say so.