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Saturday 5 March 2016

Political freak show



Although political life provides a staple diet for numerous bloggers, the EU referendum debate highlights a problem which has become somewhat embarrassing. Political life attracts freaks and in the end what does one say about freaks?

We have Cameron, Corbyn and Boris vying for attention and because of their prominence we have to give it to them or lose interest in the whole thing. It isn’t easy to dismiss them as freaks and move on.

These three men lead comfortable lives when judged by the people they aim to govern. Cameron is moderately wealthy but even wannabe pleb Corbyn with his Parliamentary salary and pension pot is assured of a well padded life after politics. They have no real contact with the world of the vast majority of voters. They are not even expert in anything useful.

The embarrassing point is easy enough to state because so many of us know it already. As candidates for high government office these three guys have nothing much to offer. They haven’t done much, don’t have much in the way of personal expertise and are only at the front of the queue because circumstances and their own freakish fascination with power put them there.

That’s the embarrassing bit. Circumstances shouldn’t have put them there. The political machine should have found people with more gravitas and more experience of life outside the Westminster bubble. Actually that’s not the only embarrassing bit. Another is that supposedly mature adult voters still vote for them.

It isn’t really embarrassing though is it? This is how things are with British politics, how things have been for a long time. We shouldn’t forget that people voted for Edward Heath, a political freak if ever there was one. A liar too, but that seems to be normal now.

3 comments:

Scrobs. said...

We here, just assume that politicians are vain liars,, who, as you say, are inept at doing a job of work which would be paid for if they were good enough.

There is some correlation between the BBC having correspondents to chat them up, and the politicians needing the BBC for oxygen.

We care very little for both species, and tend to ignore nearly everything from both these creepy organisations. The weather is a useful topic though, but there again, I have an app which tells me all that when I want to know, when I want the information, not when somebody tells me.

Demetrius said...

Two is company, three is a crowd.

A K Haart said...

Scrobs - yes the BBC has much to answer for in lowering the bar by taking these people on their own terms.

Demetrius - but none are really welcome.