Friday, April 03, 2009

Give me back my country

I don't understand what's happened to British politics. I mean, I've no doubt that politicians have always found ways to scam the system or abuse their powers, but once they got found out they at least used to do the honourable thing and resign - except Kings, of course, but they don't really count as politicians.

These days the word "honour" means nothing to the men and women that inhabit parliament - it's all about getting power and retaining it at all costs. Having said all that, the reality - as I alluded to in the first paragraph - is that politicians and sleaze have always gone together hand in hand.

The thing I really don't get is the way the media make such a meal of it. Of course it is an issue and it is right to hold the government to account, but it seems to me that politicians - and political parties - can do pretty much whatever they want regardless of the damage it does to our nation and the media will just shrug their shoulders.

How else can you explain the lack of disgust at the explosion in crime, the destruction of our societal values, the demoralisation of our once great institutions, the debasement of our education system, the collapse of our industrial base and the complete eradication of our heritage?

All of these things have happened over the last 50 years and they have happened under the direction of our political masters, but the media don't seem to care - but a politician getting caught slipping through a £10 expense bill for porn is a major issue?

The Major government was a complete disaster, but it wasn't the political incompetence that did for them in the end - it was David Mellor dressing up in a Chelsea kit for nookie with some tart that killed off the Conservatives. It looks as if the same thing may be what kills this Labour government - although that is still far from certain. Cameron's Conservatives may be ahead in the polls, but considering what is going on it's not much of a lead and the Tories are making little headway.

Why can't we start caring about the things that really matter again? I'm often accused of wanting to go back to the fifties (or even back to Victorian times!) and, to be honest, sometimes I think why not? What was wrong with a low crime society? What's so bad about a country where most of what we buy is made in our own factories or grown in our own fields? What's so bad about high streets which are different all over the country and full of character and charm rather than clones devoid of warmth or welcome?

Britain was a better country in the fifties than it is now. We were polite, well dressed and well mannered. Progressives argue that it wasn't so good if you were a knocked up teenager in need of an abortion or a gay man looking for a one night stand - I don't care. For the majority of people it was a decent country to live in - one where it was safe to walk the streets at night and the police were allies of the law-abiding majority.

As I've said before, the point of government is to do things which benefit the majority of the people - not to look after minorities. As soon as you start doing that you get groups lining up to be given consideration and the result of that is not a unified nation, but a collection of disparate groups competing for attention. That's how nations collapse.

Are things better now? Crime is worse, education is a disgrace, unemployment is a curse, health care is haphazard at best, industry is disappearing, agriculture is in crisis and the only solution our ruling elite can offer is more of the same.

Would I swap all my material things for a chance to go back to the sort of country we had back then? You bet I would. I like my computer and all the modern gadgets we have now, but I'd give them all up for a country that had the values and societal strength that my parents enjoyed.

Give us back our country, you progressive bastards and shuffle off to Cuba or some other communist haven you adore so much. I've had enough of you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It''s like you are actually me, only more capable of articulating your thoughts! lol

I've not read one thing you've ever written that I disagree with. Not one thing.

You should become a columnist for the MAil or the Express.

Keep up the good work.

Stan said...

Thanks anon - very nice of you to say so.

North Northwester said...

Ah yes, a wish list I share wholly with you.

I disagree on the protectionism thing - which is pretty major I confess - but if we could go back in time to 1950 or so and do it right, then protectionism wouldn't be necessary as the Commonwealth's trade with the USA and Europe would be strong enough to look after itself.

Yours is a manifesto I'd vote for without a jot of reluctance. What a shame the 'Conservatives' are as they are.

Stan said...

In an ideal world protectionism wouldn't be necessary - but we don't live in an ideal world and we never will. Free trade is fine between comparable nations with similarly developed economies - but even then it should be a bilateral agreement whereby what you buy from them is balanced by what they buy from you. Free trade between non-comparable nations will always result in market distortions - and in a free trade, free market environment that will have to go through a correction. I wish I could get this point across to conservatives who think that "free trade" and "free markets" is somehow conservative and therefore desirable. It is only desirable if it is within an environment over which you have control - therefore allowing you to adjust for market conditions and corrections. That is why it works fine at national level and between nations who have, through discussion, reached a mutually beneficial arrangement - but, just like unrestricted immigration leads to a loss of control in society, unrestricted trade will lose you control of your economy. The market will control and, in a highly developed, high wage economy that is potential for disaster. When you have both - unrestricted immigration and unrestricted imports - disaster is guaranteed. Not only do immigrants work for less, but the pressure of imports also helps to force down wages. Supply and demand - an oversupply of workers with decreasing demand for their skills results in lower wages for everybody. This will continue until we either force the issue - through protectionism (protect our borders from immigrants and imports) - or our level of wages reaches an equilibrium with comparable workers in other parts of the world. It HAS to happen in a free trade, free market world - the market dictates it. That is what free market means - the market decides. Until someone can tell me why they think that this doesn't apply in a global marketplace I'll always believe it. They won't because it can't apply - the market decides!!! Please, please, please understand this or we'll never get anywhere.

Anonymous said...

People often get caught on the little things. When it's something big they will have been a bit more careful, made things harder to track, have thought of the excuses up front. When it's "trivial" they will have thought that no one will bother. That's why the trivial gets blown out of proportion.

The second factor is that people have experience of certain things. I would guess a majority of employees have claimed expenses at some time, even if it was only getting the petrol money reimbursed for a trip to the office supply store. Therefore everyone knows the typical rules - what is claimable what is not. I recall being told that I could buy a sandwich but not a Mars bar for subsistence. There were rules like no hotel mini-bar, no hotel films, a limit per diem. That makes the corruption of buying porn all the more visceral.

Compare that with the cabinet minister who had millions lying in her bank account connected to dodgy business of her husband. The whole thing is outside most people's experience.