In Union Square last week you could feel the Bernie love. It was like a party for someone’s dad that all the kids in town wanted to be part of. Feel the Bern, a twitter hashtag that became a central part of Bernie’s official campaign was everywhere – on badges, bags, stickers and even tattoos. And on Primary day there was so much excitement and energy on the street it seemed possible that Mr Sanders just might take New York. This wasn’t to be, but the party isn’t over yet.

The Primary is idiosyncratic in that ‘the people’ decide who is going to be the party’s nomination for President. Well, some of the people anyway. Apparently you have to be registered as a Democrat or a Republican at least 6 months before the Primary to be able to vote. If you are registered as an Independent then you can’t vote. And even if you are registered for the two party system, you can still be struck off the register at the last minute, as some 125,000 voters were in Brooklyn. The NYC Board of Elections is run by commissioners nominated by the two parties, it is not directly answerable to the city. So weird things happen. Regularly. If I had a few spare years I might try and understand how the whole system works, but for now my thoughts turn to the Australian election and the comparatively brief window before July 2nd in which the players have to create slogans, print badges and crank up the tattoo parlors. If time runs out, maybe some of the badges here could be recycled…