The Vote? For Little Me?

I got very irritated by BBC Breakfast this morning; they were looking at how the parties are trying to attract the 'women's vote'. It really annoys me when we're treated like some kind of homogenous minority group which needs to be specially addressed. Particularly when the supposed 'women's issues' are things which should concern everyone, like education and healthcare. The issues which influence my political allegiance (or rather non-allegiance) are, I hope, nothing at all to do with my gender, any more than they are to do with my age. In fact, most of them are not really relevant to my privileged, white, middle-class experience of the world at all.

• Education - I wasn't state educated, I'm finished with university, and I don't have any children. Theoretically at this stage in my life I shouldn't give a damn about education issues, but I do. I believe passionately that all children should have access to the best possible education regardless of their parents' ability to pay, and I don't believe that letting creationists run schools is the way to achieve this.
• Pensions - I won't be retiring for a very long time, and since I've had advance warning of the pension problem I've already got a private one. My parents have both been lucky. But I'm still extremely angry about the way the government and big business have treated those whose pensions are gone.
• Racism - Unsurprisingly, with my lily-white skin, I've never suffered from racism (I don't think being called a Jock in London once counts). But I still think it's the scourge of British society.

I suppose that in fact what I'm angry about is not just being pigeonholed; it's people who base their political decisions purely on self-interest. And don't even get me started on people who don't vote...