Online survey gauges suitability to new political party

About a year ago, a good friend whose values and intellect I admire, tipped me off about a new political movement he is involved in. It was interesting enough to make this newsletter – helped by the emergence at the time of the French phenomenon, Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche!

We caught up over the weekend and he tells me the new party has indeed registered for the May 8 election. But because it is funded by the enthusiasts themselves, to ensure maximum impact they're waiting until the absolute last minute before removing the wraps. That should happen in the next week or so.

A slice, though, has quietly entered the public domain. The new party is seeking candidates for its list of 400 prospective Members of Parliament. And in true disruptive fashion, the initial filtering process is being done via an online form with 70 questions that gauge how aligned prospective candidates are with the party's ethos. Click here for the link.

Mine returned an "Excellent! Your mindset works for us." with my closest ideological match being "Liberalism". I stopped short of providing my name to be considered for the MP list: doing so would have an obvious impact on the political neutrality imperative for journalists. Even so, it's nice to know that for me at least, there's another option to consider on May 8.