Fake enthusiasm

As we skim lightly across fake media enthusiasm for the UK general election, many of us may be reminded of rigged markets. In this case, that would be a rigged market for political parties in the sense that there is little genuine choice because the major UK parties are so dominant.

It's merely an analogy, but we could go on to view politics as a battle for power over markets, a constant attempt to create rigged markets where the word ‘market’ is wide enough to include a market for political services supposedly provided to voters by political parties. In this sense, voters are consumers of political services. If nothing else, this angle does highlight how threadbare those services are.

Following on from this, we could describe the current media election focus as marketing for those political services. They would be services formerly provided by national political parties, but now in the process of being absorbed by a global market. In which case, UK political parties become regional depots.

Like the demise of the High Street, the main political market is moving elsewhere.