With two weeks to go to the local government elections, I see the campaigning is heating up substantially, and will probably go up a few notches over the next few days.
Ward councillors are pulling out all the stops to get noticed and secure your vote, so they can be guaranteed another term in office.
As always, there are a bunch of new unexpected faces, some hoping to score your vote through nothing more than name-recognition.
Others are hoping that a curious mix of questionable PR and showmanship will do the trick.
There’s one poster with the candidate sporting boxing gloves in what’s supposed to be a fighting pose.
I think the message is that he’s going to fight for you and your rights, or knock out crime, or something.
But with boxing gloves?
Nobody is scared of a pasty politician throwing soft punches with soft gloves.
Another one is making laughable videos for social media. The “Who you gonna call” video also has a fighting angle and according to some, may have backfired on the ward councillor.
The internet has proven to be a successful tool for politicians all over the world, so who knows.
But I reckon if politicians just did the job they get paid to do when nobody is watching, then there would be no need for videos, posters and door-to-door campaigns come election time.
They could simply just rely on a track record that nobody could question.
And also save themselves a lot of money, time and embarrassment.