People in this country and indeed the free world in general have always been loath to take a liking to politician. , We don't like our politicians. This has been true for years, people hated the mainstream political setup but only now it would appear people have had enough. The Scots are uniting under a banner of Nationalism and the rest of the country are flirting with UKIP and some even looking at the Greens with a genuine belief that they may bring us something a little different. Why now? Here is a few reasons why it may be...
The State of the Economy
I find it highly unlikely that Scarlet is going to win an award for original thinking for this one but it remains a pressing factor on many people. In the past if Labour or the Tories messed up we handed things over to the other lot for a few years to sort it out, it would appear that the formula has become stale with the current situation. There is a general consensus amongst the country that the Blair/Brown years are what threw the economy on the rocks this time round, an emphasis on borrowing and lack of regulation of the banking sector pushed things through the floor. Naturally the British people duly elected the Tories to sort it out but this time it was different for 2 considerably important reasons:1. The Conservatives didn't get a majority - It was a bizarre election last time round which pushed the Tories into bed with the Lib Dems; the requirement of Liberal Democrats in the government has made it a little more difficult for the Tories to roll out their agenda, there is no doubt that without the Liberal influence we would have seen a very different plan to sort the economy. Whether it would've worked or not is anyones guess but there is no denying that we have seen a watered down plan this time round.
2. They haven't finished the job - A very strong feeling exists in the country that even though the economy is sorting itself out the British people aren't feeling the benefit from it; unemployment is in a better state now but is still high. The pound isn't doing anything terribly impressive on the global stage and interest rates are planted at an incredibly low rate. Why give this lot another chance? Why not try something new?
Population Boom
As a young man with no children I can't claim to know all that much about the struggle for school places and other boring things which parents bang on about at the park to other parents but even Scarlet notices that there are some issues here.Our services and our inability to future proof ourselves from service shortages, mainly due to overpopulation. At the risk of sounding incredibly old back in my day they came to pick up your bins once a week, there were two post deliveries a day and you could drive for more than five miles without a new housing estate being built along the side of the road. The public transport network is overcrowded, the roads are jammed up and the queues at A&E are getting longer. There are those of us that think that increasing public spending would solve most of these issues but there is a prevailing opinion venturing forth that its getting a bit crowded around here.
Naturally many on the right point the finger at immigration "It is too high", "We've let too many in". Scarlet isn't going to express an opinion on this one, its for people to read the numbers and see what they think but there are people aplenty being born across the world, more mouths than food and more homeless than houses. The suggestion that more people are welcome in the UK is very disconcerting to many.
Welfare Class
Whilst Scarlet is on the topic of overcrowding a lot of people appear to be worried about a perceived welfare class, a large group of the population completely reliant upon the nanny state to get about on a day to day basis. Scarlet has worked in a Job Centre and has met the people who have another baby to top up the benefits and subscribe to Sky and buy 20 cigarettes a day but need a crisis payment to pay to put food on the table. These people represent a tiny percentage of the people on benefits but it could be argued that one family choosing benefits as a lifestyle over work is too many.The welfare state has given the United Kingdom the unenviable problem of being labelled a nation of scroungers by her own people, this tends to irritate the people who actually do go to work and receive little subsidy from the Government, it would appear that doing things the right way gets you nowhere, or so the UKIPpers seem to believe.
European Union
Britain has always had an interesting role in the EU; first we wanted to stay out, then we desperately wanted to be in, then Maggie wanted us in but lodged in the doorway. These days Brussels tends to bear a lot of stick for everything which is wrong with our nation, the growth of UKIP shows the desire for direct self determination is building in England and the SNP's success North of the border implies that the Scot's want to draw in. More and more people across the entire of Europe are considering the great European experiment to have failed them, old loyalties have stayed true in Greece, Italy, Catalunya and in the UK too as the desire to take control of things as a nation as opposed to a super state grips the continent.We Brits have always distrusted everything over our narrowest of channels, feeling more comfortable talking to our friends in the United States, the disenchantment has reached a junction with Europe as we are no longer the biggest player, do the British wish to remain in? I don't know, do you?
Our politicians are overdue for a good shake up, this is what the British people seem to think, the last time our Political structure split like this the Liberal Party fell, will it be the Liberals who lose out again? No one knows what will happen, but after the election in a few weeks time I fully expect that politically our nation will never be the same again.
No comments:
Post a Comment