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Friday 16 January 2015

The 2015 election


I usually manage to squeeze a drop of excitement out of general elections but this year the well is pretty dry. In the past I’ve stayed up into the early hours to catch the emerging trends but I can’t see me doing that again. Unless UKIP seems likely to kick the whole decrepit system up the arse perhaps.

Dave, Nick and Ed soured it for me – especially after that interminable dose of Blair and Brown. Now it's as if some dreary committee selected our leaders with the sole intention of sucking away the last few drops of sour juice from our ailing democracy. It’s as if their bland and devious idiocy was designed to bore us into a state of catatonic assent.

Well it certainly worked with me.

Dave is as slippery as a buttered eel and Ed hasn’t even noticed how the climate game was rigged by the UN. Nick is a substandard Lib Dem - which is an achievement I suppose.

I’m so bored with ultra careful politically correct posturing that I’d welcome some real talk, some character and passion even if I don’t agree with it. Strewth – we are supposed to be civilised adults. Surely we may disagree without our world falling apart.

A less xenophilic narrative perhaps. Less of the servile abasement before politically active minorities. More robustness and a less supine attitude to faux outrage. Even a willingness to promote outrage, a desire to explore what people actually think. Democracy even. Gosh – what an idea.

As a topical example, many folk must be uncomfortable with Islam taking root in this country. I’m not particularly concerned but some obviously are, so we should say so instead of allowing their views to seep underground. Surely we can be robustly civilised about these things?

A little more patriotism would be welcome too. Not flag-waving jingoism nor empty politically correct sentiment, but something that does at least acknowledge our need to belong, to have a collective history, to have a reason to put down roots when having roots is the preferred way of life.

Unfortunately there are numerous issues where the official narrative swamps the debate, where fears about social trends and anxieties about the future are not heard because the chattering classes don’t think they should be heard.

Yet from cosy arrangements with major corporations to public sector waste to conflicts of interest and outright corruption, from political lies to vote-rigging to gerrymandering, from excessive legislation to undermining family life, from endless official nagging to fake charities to stolen tax revenues there is much to debate.

We won’t hear much genuine debate in this election though. Probably even less in the one that follows. 

7 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

"A little more patriotism would be welcome too..."

Exactly. There is, to my mind a huge difference between 'patriotism', caring for the people in the country in which you live, and 'nationalism' or 'racism'.

So if you move to a different country, then you can be patriotic about that new country. Or else don't bloody move there.

graham wood said...

Oh, where to begin on this one,
Perhaps we have come to an end of true representative democracy, as today it has morphed into something quite different to its original concept.
Arguably, with the rise of the political party system and with all it's attendant baggage, then effective representation has all but disappeared as it is subsumed under the collective tyranny of the Whip, the careerists, and above all else, via the transfer of real power to Brussels.
Remedy? First priority is to cut the chain which binds us to the stinking EU corpse. Then real reform of our Parliament can begin, followed closely by the dismantlement of the iron grip of the party systems - to be replaced by Independent MPs.
That IMO would be a good start!

graham wood said...

As a postscript a perusal if the Harrogate Agenda would be most helpful as a guide to a way forward. ( see the EU Referendum blog for detail)

Demetrius said...

Re "We won't hear much genuine debate". I doubt if we will hear any.

A K Haart said...

Mark - I agree. Otherwise why settle in another country?

Graham - I agree, we need independent MPs. I'll probably vote UKIP to rock the boat, but independent would be more satisfactory.

I've looked at the Harrogate Agenda, but I can't see it going mainstream.

Demetrius - you are probably right. Nothing so far.


Sackerson said...

@grahamwood: sadly, EU Referendum has now said vote Tory because unbelievably, he believes Cam.

AKH: I do like that pic!

A K Haart said...

Sackers - I used Picasa - free and easy.