“Always on the outside looking in.” A view of the 1969 Ethiopian elections from a rural constituency.*

My title is taken from an English music hall song which, like so many of that genre, expresses the resigned but resilient plaints of those permanently distanced from the powers and pleasures enjoyed by those at the centre of affairs. Flanagan and Allan, who popularised the song, were members of a team of comedians named, appropriately enough for the events described here, the Crazy Gang.

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Notes

My title is taken from an English music hall song which, like so many of that genre, expresses the resigned but resilient plaints of those permanently distanced from the powers and pleasures enjoyed by those at the centre of affairs. Flanagan and Allan, who popularised the song, were members of a team of comedians named, appropriately enough for the events described here, the Crazy Gang.