we cancross the newsroom to lucy martin. breezy conditions out there as well. weather watchers have been sending photos. this was sent in earlier by a weather watcher in norfolk but sunshine in fairly limited supply. we have seen a fair amount of rain. you can see that on the radar here. quite heavy, blustery showers, making their way north and east. but the temperatures still a little above average for this time of year. highs ofaround above average for this time of year. highs of around 14 celsius. as we go through this evening and overnight, the rain tending to ease across scotla nd the rain tending to ease across scotland and the showers easing to. under clear skies, we are looking at some fairly chilly temperatures. cooler than it has been over the past few nights. a few more showers pushing into western areas. these are the overnight lows in towns and cities but who really much cooler. those showers will push their way north. they were gradually work their way north. more persistent rain coming into western parts of wa

time for a look at the weather... here's lucy martin.this photo was sent in earlier. you could see it is fairly grey here. there has been some brightness and some blue sky coming through. further east, this photo was sent by a weather watcher in norfolk. but many of us have seen rain this morning. this was the radarfrom earlier.

here's lucy martin.u a little bit of outside. can see the sun rays coming through there? i don't know, you will have to ask him. dies, that is birmingham. you are quick at this, and you? anderson cars, blue sky? willington in derbyshire. one more? try again. hungerford. smashed it. lots of blood, a bit of rain around, as well, but a bit of brightness in guernsey. we have got an area of low pressure out towards the north and west, and we have got some rain pushing its way gradually eased as we move through the day. some showers across central and southern england, some of those quite heavy, as well. as we go through tonight, though, the rain will tend to use, and the sauers, as well. i think we will see the best of the dried ever —— dry weather tonight, and we will see two bridges falling away further than the have done. these activities in towns and cities. it will be cooler than that, really, secret big up cooler than that, really, secret big up to cooler than that, really, secret big uptoa cooler than

lucy kenney was a virginia woman who wrote political pam plates that were published. these political pamphlets are actually very astute observations about the political landscape of the united states about point. she even serrated martin. what is interesting is part of her evisceration seems to come with the fact that she went to him first in asked for support to publish pro- democratic pamphlets. she went to the other side and decided to write for the whigs. very political in that way. those were examples of cultural politics. what do they tell us about this? it tells us a lot. i will mention two things. it helps explain why voter participation rates between 1840 and 1900 exceed in the% threshold. in some cases the 80% threshold. think about this. in today's world we get close to 60% voter participation rate. talking about how energized and how interested voters are, consistently between between 1840 and 1900, 70% of american voters who were eligible were voting. in some cases, 80%. voters in the 19th century were interested in politics. part of the reason is because of the way parties reached out to them and involve them in ways that we sort of assume are the norm today. they were in many ways, new at that time. cul