Well, it wasn’t the result we’d hoped for. In Rainbow Hill ward, I failed to get in by about 37 votes, and Josh (my running mate) failed by only a handful more. Things were even closer in Cathedral ward, with Jon missing out by 16 votes, and Leisa by less than a hundred more. We did hold all our existing seats, and increase the total by one (Alex Kinnersley), for a total of 12 councillors out of 35. (full results at https://www.worcester.gov.uk/councillors-democracy/elections/2024-elections and submitted to www.archive.org
Yes: that represents a massive increase in our vote in many areas. Yes: it’s disappointing to have come so close. But my feeling as I went to bed last last night (exhaustedly, at the precedented time of 2145) was not one of disappointment, but a nagging sense of familiarity.
I woke this morning having had a mini-epiphany in my sleep. It was so reminiscent of my first real Theatre job – the five years at Hampstead Theatre, with a newly-written or new-to-England play being put on every six weeks. The morning after Press Night, reading the reviews, knowing we’d done our best for a play we believed in. Some, on reflection, were stinkers. Most did Ok. Some were commercial failures but important in developing a new writer (I remember a dreadful play by Hanif Kureshi). Some gave me a store of anecdotes (a barbecue put on by Paul Newman). Some plays did fantastically well, transferring unexpectedly or otherwise to the West End.
So perhaps I have a slightly different perspective to many of my colleagues: I’m more used to the kind of roller-coaster experiences, albeit on a shorter time-scale. Still we’ve got the General Election shortly – and despite the balance of seats on the council, because our vote was so close, we have pretty much the same overall number of people voting for us(“share of popular vote”) as Labour do. There’s still much to get worked up about!