Yesterday is the first time in my life that I've voted for a Parliamentary candidate who then actually won. That's a good feeling. It means I was a part of the boot that kicked Anne Campbell out of Cambridge, which feels good, and it means the person representing me is the one I'd actually have chosen out of the options, which is good as well. Also, I feel much more that my vote has been heard: it's one thing to make your lone gesture of defiance against the government and show up as a change in the last digit of the detailed vote count, but it's quite another when another few thousand people stand up and roar their defiance with you loudly enough to be heard in Westminster and seen as a yellow flare on the national election map.

On the other hand, it feels kind of strange that my MP is now not part of the government party. Before today, Cambridge had Anne Campbell, who was; and when I lived in Berkshire with my parents and the Tories were in power I remember their (our) MP being John Redwood. They wrote to him on at least one occasion and got some impressive results from doing so; I admittedly wrote to Anne Campbell and didn't (which is one of the reasons I'm so satisfied to have helped boot her out), but at least I felt that when I had a beef with government policy I could conveniently communicate it to a member of the government. So suddenly I feel a bit disconnected from the people in power; it seems to me that if I write to my MP to complain about some barking mad government initiative or other, he's more than likely to write back and say ‘well, duh’ or ‘*sigh*, yes, isn't it awful’ or some such. Which would be nice if I were after validation of my opinion and someone to commiserate with, but less helpful if I want something done about it.

Still, on balance things seem basically positive from here.