Monday 30 January 2023
Tyranny of the two horse race
The engine-man shrugged his shoulders. He felt contempt for fine talkers, fellows who go into politics as one goes to the bar, to get an income out of phrases.
Emile Zola - Germinal (1894)
The Nadhim Zahawi debacle does at least highlight what a dire choice we have when it comes to voting in the next general election. Of course nobody has to vote and it is usually possible to vote for a no-hoper as a protest, but the overall winner is almost certain to be Conservative or Labour.
Neither party is fit to form a government. Instead we need MPs who do more than merely get an income out of phrases. We need them more than we need moribund political parties. Unfortunately it's a two horse race which suits both horses.
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4 comments:
When living in Cambridge (where things are wackier!) I voted for a bloke whose manifesto was sortition: choosing politicians by lot, a bit like jury service.
It's a daft idea, but better daft than positively malign.
Sam - it sounds like a good idea to me as long as there are some obvious qualifying criteria such as an age limit, lack of a criminal record and maybe having at least one grandparent who was born here.
It's time (again) for that rule so often proposed: nobody may stand for elected office unless they have worked in a genuinely private (ie no fake charities etc) profit-making business for at least five years.
Oh and anyone who wants to boss people about, it exactly the kind of person we don't want running the place. Though I appreciate, this one might be harder in practice.
Peter - I agree, there has to be some experience of providing what people actually want, what they will actually pay for.
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