You don’t often get a chance to stand up and actually do something about the direction things are heading.
So I’ve taken it.
I’m standing as a paper candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Horbury and South Ossett ward (Wakefield).
And yes, I know what that means.
No campaign machine.
No expectation of winning.
No grand illusion that I’ll be walking into the council chamber any time soon.
But that’s not really the point.
Where this all started
Politics has always been there in the background for me.
I used to argue with my grandad about it when I was younger. Not in a hostile way. We just enjoyed the back and forth. The ideas, the principles, the “what ifs”. It was never about shouting louder. It was about thinking harder.
When I was old enough to vote, I did what most people should do but many don’t. I looked around properly.
What do I actually believe?
I landed on a set of values that felt consistent and grounded.
Social justice matters.
We should be working with Europe, not turning our backs on it.
Power should be pushed down, not hoarded at the top.
The NHS should be protected and strengthened, not chipped away at.
And that was also what the brand new SDP (Social Democrat Party) believed in too, over time, that lined up with the values of the Liberal Democrats.
So why stand if you’re not going to win?
Because doing nothing guarantees nothing changes.
Standing as a paper candidate still puts a name on the ballot. It gives people a choice. It gets the Liberal Democrats visible in an area where that visibility might otherwise disappear.
And it gives me a platform to talk about their values.
Not a big one.
Not a polished one.
But a real one.
I’ve already started doing small, practical things locally. Reporting potholes. Flagging issues. Paying attention to what’s actually happening on the ground.
It’s not glamorous.
But it’s real.
And that matters more than a leaflet full of promises.
The bigger reason
Let’s be honest about what’s going on right now.
There’s a shift happening in parts of the UK. You can see it, hear it, feel it. The rise of right-wing populism. The noise getting louder. The tone getting sharper (and nastier).
And alongside that, something else has crept in.
Open racism.
Not hidden. Not coded. Just… there. And yes Reform, I'm blaming you.
This rise of rasism is something that should worry people.
It worries me.
Now, I’ll say this clearly. Not everyone flying a St George’s flag is racist. Of course they’re not. But when that symbol starts appearing alongside rhetoric that excludes, divides, and blames, it changes how it feels. It changes what it signals.
And I don’t think we should just shrug that off.
If you believe in a fair, open, outward-looking country, you don’t sit quietly while that grows.
You push back.
And that’s not all about Reform that worries me, Farage is a close friend of Donald Trumps, he respects his policies and approach to politics, so yes, if Reform ever win a General Election, we can expect Trump-style politics here!
Why this matters, even if it’s small
This isn’t about winning a seat.
It’s about putting a marker down.
It’s about saying that there are still people who believe in cooperation over division. Evidence over noise. Fairness over blame.
It’s about reminding people that there are alternatives.
Even if only a handful of people see my name on that ballot and think, “Actually, yeah… that’s closer to what I believe,” then it’s worth it.
Because change doesn’t always start with a landslide.
Sometimes it starts with one extra name on a ballot paper.
Closing notes
I’m not a career politician.
I’m not trying to be one.
I’m just someone who still thinks this stuff matters enough to show up.
And right now, that feels like the least we should be doing.