Are you being served?: The disillusionment of the average Joe

I’m going to attempt to discuss if the electorate are disillusioned with politics and politicians. The reason this post came about was because I stumbled upon a good old fashioned Twitter debate. The debate centred around the idea that politics is only open to the privileged, particularly those who went to schools such as Eton. It was interesting and both of the people involved made valid points but it made me wonder about the consensus of the ‘poorer’ end of the electorate. Do the working class feel disillusioned and detached from those in power? The short answer here is yes but it is a little more complicated than that.
 
A while ago I did a video blog post about why people should vote, I perhaps came across a little bit self-righteous but I still believe in what I said: that everyone who can vote should vote. When I speak to people who say they don’t vote, I always ask them why and the answer that is returned most often is: I do not trust the politicians/they’re all toffs who don’t care about us/they are all the same. Which in many ways is expected considering the expenses scandal and the seeming lack of empathy shown by many of our leading politicians which goes for all parties. But it presents us with another question; could politicians help themselves by changing these attitudes? Of course they could. They could do more for example, not demand (and vote for) a wage increase in these times of austerity where many of the poorer end of society are being hit the hardest or take four holidays a year when many can’t even afford a day out (yes Mr. Cameron that is you I’m talking about). I sometimes think politicians would make the worst PR consultants!

But above all they could actually listen to what people want. In the run up to elections all of the parties are happy to put paper through your door but how many candidates (or one of their team) actually knock the door and talk to the people whose house they’re shoving a leaflet into? From my experience there’s not many who do. Many people who don’t vote don’t because they are fed up with broken promises and words on a flyer, they don’t wish to vote for a party who doesn’t help them. These are the disillusioned and it is these people that all of the political parties of this country should be targeting. Being able to vote is a privilege afforded to nearly all of us in this country and it is a crying shame that numbers of voters have decreased in recent years. It is a crying shame for those who fought to get the vote, for those who fought to get voting equality and for those in places around the world where they don’t have the right to vote.
 
Going back to the Twitter debate, one of the arguments raised was that parliament seems to be dominated by people from privilege. This is probably a fair argument but it begs the question why is that? One of the replies to the said argument was that it could be people from less privileged backgrounds don’t have the same level of interest in politics which is possible but further that I would say that maybe that is because even if the interest levels are there people don’t know how or can’t get a start in politics. However, I also think that the privileged do get criticised and they are all viewed as completely uninterested in helping the less privileged end of society which is unfair in some respects because a few (albeit the minority) do care but when someone of privilege does they get labelled a ‘champagne socialist’ amongst other things. A politician who comes from a privileged background can understand and help those at the poorer end, it is harder for them to do so of course but not impossible. The politicians have to want to do so and whilst they demonise the poor, refuse to chase up tax avoiders and bankers for example, they cannot be seen to be working for the ordinary man, woman and child.
 
Politics has changed. Modern politics is all about PR/selling yourself and your party which is in a large part owed to the role of the media in our society. The media hold all the cards when it comes to today’s politics, it is sometimes said that the Labour Party’s victory in 1997 should be largely attributed to Rupert Murdoch and his News International group. Politicians are coming under increasing levels of scrutiny so surely they should be trying harder than ever to show commitment to helping the less fortunate who make up the largest group in society. The reality is that whilst politicians are going on their fourth holiday a year, voting for pay increases whilst supporting benefit cuts, not fighting harder against proposed policies which negatively affect their core support and protecting those who bankroll their parties the electorate will continue to be disillusioned with them and we will see more coalition governments in the future.

The fallout from David Cameron's "Offshore" entanglement has probably not ended with publication of his personal Tax Return, but an inevitable response from a supporter has been, "An arms race of disclosure has begun, which is likely to deter more good people from public life."

So voters will now have to ask themselves whether ignorance is bliss.

'Good people' who are shy about paying their fair share of tax may not be just what we need running the country?

publication of his personal Tax Return

As Aditya Chakrabortty writes: "Cameron has not released his tax returns, merely a summary certified by an accountants’ firm".

http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/10/money-offshore-corrupt-democracy-political-influence

If you thought that the criminal Bankers who caused the Credit Crunch would be punished ....
...you thought that would all be over by now ....
...you believed the Pollsters in the 2015 General Election ....
...you thought that nobody could be so stupid as to imagine that Britain could "go it alone" in a World dominated by Global companies, not politicians ....
...you think there can be fair government in the absence of a united Opposition ....

You have probably applied for an Irish passport.

To be sure, to be sure and the top of the mornin' to ya...

( How am doing so far...?)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnGW5RQXYAAjIM_.jpg

Tomorrow has been cancelled in order to allow the public time to catch up with today's political events.

There is still rather a lot of news about. Brexit has almost cancelled out other topics, but the average citizen is mostly concerned with "making ends meet" in the daily struggle of soaring prices but static wages. While the big boys squabble about trade-tariffs and customs agreements, reality strikes home at the supermarket.

Nobody wants to pay any more than they have to for consumables, and there is a war between supermarket chains for "market share". Today it is Sainsbury’s cutting 400 jobs in store while another 4,000 workers will face changes to their working hours as it looks to run its supermarkets more cheaply. The changes included scrapping the night shift in 140 supermarkets.

The price of scrapping a night shift is apparent when you go to a rival Aldi or Lidl store, and can't get your trolley down some aisles because the shelves are being re-stocked during opening hours. There will also be longer queues at the fewer checkouts.

As in many other circumstances, you get what you pay for.

--- and all those people out of a job can't afford to shop any more

Exactly, boatlady.  Everything is relative, including the scale which measures euphoria and misery - "Where am I (from 1 to 10, euphoria being 10 and misery 1)?"  There are different answers for different people.  Such a shame when a chap has his home in the Caribbean blown away, don't you agree?  But we have food banks.

In Britain today, decent people are borrowing money to buy groceries and to pay the rent, which is a sure road to disaster, like eating the seed-corn would have been for our ancestors who lived by working the land.

But that too has to be seen in the perspective of one of the poorest nations on this Earth, Bangladesh, struggling to accommodate between 10,000 and 15,000 new refugees from Myanmar (Burma) EVERY DAY.  Both former British Colonies, but so what?  The Japanese were worse.

Very depressing thought, but not at all inaccurate

Just makes me feel helpless

"Bercow calls on parties to address ‘disturbing’ sexual harassment allegations"

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/bercow-calls-on-parties-to-address-%e2%80%98disturbing%e2%80%99-sexual-harassment-allegations/ar-AAuevUT?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=ientp

Ten thousand years after the Dawn of Civilisation, the Palace of Westminster has discovered Sex. (Or is jumping on a bandwagon).

The antics of Charles Stewart Parnell, John Profumo, Jeremy Thorpe, Cecil Parkinson and David Mellor would suggest that the 'discovery' was made some time ago.

Not to mention John Major and Edwina Currie, of course...

"Sex in Parliament" has today inevitably become a Party matter, which somewhat trivializes the argument, that questions why one (female) branch of humanity is apparently unable to resist the attentions of the other (male) component.

Could "Our Maker" have got that part wrong?

What is the relevance of free-will in such debates?

Just askin'

In the popular press, this argument seems to be reaching global proportions.

"Inequality" is a catch-all heading. Men in a position of power dominate women. But they also dominate anyone who is prepared to bend the knee. Employees work a 12-hour day at the office for fear of losing their job, benefits-claimants prostrate themselves for some jack-in-office, and orange Presidents seek to impose their will upon an entire World.

Where did it all go wrong? Was it really as far back as Adam and the apple?

Russia is accused of manipulating the Brexit referendum by propaganda postings on social networks.



Are you influenced by what President Trump describes as "fake news"?

A headline from the weekend financial pages:

Paying the living wage could be the death of us, fear struggling shop owners

How long can that particular can of worms stay unopened, amidst the current chaos of financial "planning"?  The debate has many facets.

If the only way a business can succeed is by exploiting its employees - why should it be supported by government subsidy?  For that is the current position with Universal Credit, which the Chancellor repeatedly chants "makes work pay".  A slight distortion of the reality which is that it makes the taxpayer match the deficit.

Alternatively, is it better for The State to guarantee a living wage/minimum income to each and every one of its inhabitants?  Tax on companies and the wealthy would obviously then have to increase to Scandinavian levels.

At least can we stop pretending that Benefits such as  Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support are exclusively the province of "Scroungers"? - When they are actually oil on the wheels of commerce.

A police force and a council have been accused of institutional racism after “repeatedly siding with the abusers” of an Iranian man murdered after being wrongly accused of being a paedophile.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/report-into-iranian-man%e2%80%99s-murder-finds-%e2%80%98evidence-of-institutional-racism%e2%80%99/ar-BBGXyGF?li=BBoPRmx&ocid=ientp

Hadn't they noticed before, the prime reason for the Brexit campaign?

"The Sun" sums it up:



This absurdly expensive "Aircraft Carrier for which there aren't any aircraft" surely epitomises Britain's situation in the world.  Wasted money, wasted effort and wasted opportunity under dullard Tory government.