The State of UK Politics
I have only voted once in the United Kingdom. Back in 1983. I voted for Harvey Proctor. It lists as No.2 in the most stupidest things I have ever done. In my defence, I had just started as a trader in the city and . . . OK, there is NO defence. I’m sorry. Believe me when I say I won’t do it again.
I'm not a politician. Never have been. Never been the slightest bit interested. In fact it’s safe to say that I have avoided the whole business with a barge pole so big that you could punt the Queen Mary across the Atlantic with it. My earliest impressions of Parliament were filled with images of buffoons waving papers in the air, shouting 'rhubarb, rhubarb' and quite frankly it never seemed to be a particularly dignified way of conducting oneself. Anyway, at the time I was too busy behaving like a twat in city champagne bars to notice.
From what I could gather, the number one objective of a politician seemed to be to get re-elected. That couldn’t be right, could it? Imagine if the goal of a surgeon was to patch up a patient just well enough to ensure his services were required again within 5 years. Or IT support fixed your computer just enough so that you’d need to call them again within a couple of days. Oh, hold on.
Anyway, such opinion has only been strengthened over the years by the likes of Jeffery Archer, Peter Mandelson and the recent expenses scandal (the whole saga which by the way I have greeted with a ‘I could have told you that’ smugness.) and as a result I have continued to give the whole business of politics an enormously wide berth.
However . . . :)
One thing living abroad does allow you to have is a 'view from above'.
Given the debacles surrounding the current UK government that have encompassed everything from Hutton to expenses, it had become increasingly apparent that the Labour Party would lose the next general election. Then, the moment that bastion of political journalism (and keeper of the nations tits) The Sun reverted back to blue, all bets were quite literally off and that likelihood became an absolute certainty. Thanks to the biggest influence in UK politics (who just happens to be an Australian with an American passport) it is now a forgone conclusion that the Conservative Party will form the next government, most likely with a big enough majority that they can look forward to the next 10 years in office.
But will that mean a change? From over here it looks as though one bland underachieving bunch of self-opinionated tossers are about to be replaced by something incredibly similar. Duncan from Blue has more statesman-like qualities than David Cameron. With the exception of the one that is/was shagging a cheeky girl and the dodgy one who procured party funds whilst sunning himself on a yacht in the south of France, neither myself or any of my colleagues can name one member of the shadow cabinet.
The sad fact is that a Tory government is such a shoe-in at the next election they don’t need to take the bold decision with regard to leadership that the country needs in the eyes of the rest of the world. They’ll contest the next election (although it wont be much of a scrap) with leadership that will subsequently flounder on the world stage. A team of individuals without any of the qualities required to fight the United Kingdom’s corner on the battle fields of Kyoto, Copenhagen and Pittsburgh led by someone who’s just another in a long line of ineffectual politicians that have graced the No.1 slot in the Tory party since that woman who’s name we don’t mention any more.
If Spitting Image was still on the telly, they’d run out of gray foam every time they did a sketch about any of the Tories.
Apart from one . . . .
© Paul Raymonde
I'm not a politician. Never have been. Never been the slightest bit interested. In fact it’s safe to say that I have avoided the whole business with a barge pole so big that you could punt the Queen Mary across the Atlantic with it. My earliest impressions of Parliament were filled with images of buffoons waving papers in the air, shouting 'rhubarb, rhubarb' and quite frankly it never seemed to be a particularly dignified way of conducting oneself. Anyway, at the time I was too busy behaving like a twat in city champagne bars to notice.
From what I could gather, the number one objective of a politician seemed to be to get re-elected. That couldn’t be right, could it? Imagine if the goal of a surgeon was to patch up a patient just well enough to ensure his services were required again within 5 years. Or IT support fixed your computer just enough so that you’d need to call them again within a couple of days. Oh, hold on.
Anyway, such opinion has only been strengthened over the years by the likes of Jeffery Archer, Peter Mandelson and the recent expenses scandal (the whole saga which by the way I have greeted with a ‘I could have told you that’ smugness.) and as a result I have continued to give the whole business of politics an enormously wide berth.
However . . . :)
One thing living abroad does allow you to have is a 'view from above'.
Given the debacles surrounding the current UK government that have encompassed everything from Hutton to expenses, it had become increasingly apparent that the Labour Party would lose the next general election. Then, the moment that bastion of political journalism (and keeper of the nations tits) The Sun reverted back to blue, all bets were quite literally off and that likelihood became an absolute certainty. Thanks to the biggest influence in UK politics (who just happens to be an Australian with an American passport) it is now a forgone conclusion that the Conservative Party will form the next government, most likely with a big enough majority that they can look forward to the next 10 years in office.
But will that mean a change? From over here it looks as though one bland underachieving bunch of self-opinionated tossers are about to be replaced by something incredibly similar. Duncan from Blue has more statesman-like qualities than David Cameron. With the exception of the one that is/was shagging a cheeky girl and the dodgy one who procured party funds whilst sunning himself on a yacht in the south of France, neither myself or any of my colleagues can name one member of the shadow cabinet.
The sad fact is that a Tory government is such a shoe-in at the next election they don’t need to take the bold decision with regard to leadership that the country needs in the eyes of the rest of the world. They’ll contest the next election (although it wont be much of a scrap) with leadership that will subsequently flounder on the world stage. A team of individuals without any of the qualities required to fight the United Kingdom’s corner on the battle fields of Kyoto, Copenhagen and Pittsburgh led by someone who’s just another in a long line of ineffectual politicians that have graced the No.1 slot in the Tory party since that woman who’s name we don’t mention any more.
If Spitting Image was still on the telly, they’d run out of gray foam every time they did a sketch about any of the Tories.
Apart from one . . . .
© Paul Raymonde
I think you will find that the one who was *dating* a cheeky girl was Lem Otik or whatever his name is, and he is liberal. Just to be pedantic.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected . . but that kinda proves my point :)
ReplyDelete