I find it hard to write anything these days. It's not that there is nothing to write about, just in the last couple of weeks we've had the EU bullying Ireland at the behest of Germany, a multi-million pound talking shop farce in Mexico, the first guilty plea from a former MP who defrauded the public purse, the strengthening of the food police and people rioting about nothing in London. Yet I haven't been stirred to action. I'm trying to work out why.
When the new government limped into office the mere fact that the risible Gordon Brown and his cohort of contemptible dictators had been ousted caused me to breath a huge sigh of relief. Whatever the new lot did could not possibly have made things worse for the country than the carnage wreaked by their predecessors - carnage of a structural kind which left our society split into bitter factional interests as well as carnage to the economy. They've gone. It cannot get worse. No need to rage about things. Both my regular readers will be aware that the policy programme of the new government is miles away from what I consider in the best interests of he people of this country but at least it is a yard or two closer than poor Gordon could ever have taken us.
That can explain a quiet period while we wait for the coalition's positions to be formed clearly but it cannot explain a lack of complaint once their positions were set so closely to those of the failed Labour government. Perhaps the explanation is dispair. Because so little is different now there is, perhaps, little point in repeating my observations of the last couple of years. With the exception of Eric Pickles I have detected no current Cabinet minister prepared to pop-up above the parapet and challenge the ever-expanding State. Michael Gove did so for a fleeting moment with his proposal for schools to be run free of political involvement, then ruined it by giving detailed guidance on curriculum and examination standards. There was even a tiny hint from Andrew Lansley at the Health Department with his idea of getting rid of layers of bureaucracy only for him then to retain within the remit of the NHS every aspect of nannying that had been added over the previous two decades. Only Mr Pickles has had the guts to say he's only a politician and doesn't know how to run things on the "front line". Faced with only one obvious supporter for my views on how "public services" should be run it's easy to give up commenting on matters at least until another election is in the offing.
Or it might be that I am still in shock that so many people voted for the Labour Party at the General Election in May. More than seven months have passed since then and all the while a thought has been gnawing at what is left of my brain. Could there be a third or so of the population of this country that was both pleased with what the Labour government had done and wanted more of the same? That a fifth of school leavers were either functionally illiterate or functionally innumerate, or both, was not of sufficient concern to them that they would vote against a governing party that had interfered in schools like no government before. That there was still structural unemployment in some areas of the country was not of sufficient concern for them to vote against a governing party that claimed to be concerned for the poor above all others. That the economy was on its knees, as at the end of every period of Labour government, was not of sufficient concern for them to vote against a governing party that directed and regulated all aspects of economic activity in more detail than even Stalin managed in the USSR. Could they really think the state of the country on the 6th of May was despite Labour having been in government for thirteen years and not because of it? Could they really believe the problem was too little State interference rather than too much? Just that thought is enough to drive anyone to distraction and to the conclusion that there is no point being sensible when so many are so utterly devoid of critical faculties.
Part of me has been hoping the coalition will find the courage to join Eric Pickles in saying that government must do less. As each week goes by I see fewer and fewer signs of this happening. They still seem to be stuck in the view that government is the answer to every ill, so much so that problems caused by too much government can only be addressed by more government. Against such a background it is hard to stir the enthusiasm to comment because it feels as though you are just running into a wall. Perhaps I am resigned to the massive State now being a permanent feature, perhaps I am frustrated that the difficulties caused by government are given insufficient recognition or perhaps I am just not prepared to repeat myself too many times. Who knows.
Having said that, a couple of topics have piqued my interest so I hope to be able to add to this year's miserable number of posts a few times before the turkey is carved.
When the new government limped into office the mere fact that the risible Gordon Brown and his cohort of contemptible dictators had been ousted caused me to breath a huge sigh of relief. Whatever the new lot did could not possibly have made things worse for the country than the carnage wreaked by their predecessors - carnage of a structural kind which left our society split into bitter factional interests as well as carnage to the economy. They've gone. It cannot get worse. No need to rage about things. Both my regular readers will be aware that the policy programme of the new government is miles away from what I consider in the best interests of he people of this country but at least it is a yard or two closer than poor Gordon could ever have taken us.
That can explain a quiet period while we wait for the coalition's positions to be formed clearly but it cannot explain a lack of complaint once their positions were set so closely to those of the failed Labour government. Perhaps the explanation is dispair. Because so little is different now there is, perhaps, little point in repeating my observations of the last couple of years. With the exception of Eric Pickles I have detected no current Cabinet minister prepared to pop-up above the parapet and challenge the ever-expanding State. Michael Gove did so for a fleeting moment with his proposal for schools to be run free of political involvement, then ruined it by giving detailed guidance on curriculum and examination standards. There was even a tiny hint from Andrew Lansley at the Health Department with his idea of getting rid of layers of bureaucracy only for him then to retain within the remit of the NHS every aspect of nannying that had been added over the previous two decades. Only Mr Pickles has had the guts to say he's only a politician and doesn't know how to run things on the "front line". Faced with only one obvious supporter for my views on how "public services" should be run it's easy to give up commenting on matters at least until another election is in the offing.
Or it might be that I am still in shock that so many people voted for the Labour Party at the General Election in May. More than seven months have passed since then and all the while a thought has been gnawing at what is left of my brain. Could there be a third or so of the population of this country that was both pleased with what the Labour government had done and wanted more of the same? That a fifth of school leavers were either functionally illiterate or functionally innumerate, or both, was not of sufficient concern to them that they would vote against a governing party that had interfered in schools like no government before. That there was still structural unemployment in some areas of the country was not of sufficient concern for them to vote against a governing party that claimed to be concerned for the poor above all others. That the economy was on its knees, as at the end of every period of Labour government, was not of sufficient concern for them to vote against a governing party that directed and regulated all aspects of economic activity in more detail than even Stalin managed in the USSR. Could they really think the state of the country on the 6th of May was despite Labour having been in government for thirteen years and not because of it? Could they really believe the problem was too little State interference rather than too much? Just that thought is enough to drive anyone to distraction and to the conclusion that there is no point being sensible when so many are so utterly devoid of critical faculties.
Part of me has been hoping the coalition will find the courage to join Eric Pickles in saying that government must do less. As each week goes by I see fewer and fewer signs of this happening. They still seem to be stuck in the view that government is the answer to every ill, so much so that problems caused by too much government can only be addressed by more government. Against such a background it is hard to stir the enthusiasm to comment because it feels as though you are just running into a wall. Perhaps I am resigned to the massive State now being a permanent feature, perhaps I am frustrated that the difficulties caused by government are given insufficient recognition or perhaps I am just not prepared to repeat myself too many times. Who knows.
Having said that, a couple of topics have piqued my interest so I hope to be able to add to this year's miserable number of posts a few times before the turkey is carved.
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10 comments:
Pickles doesn't necessarily want the government to do less, he just wants it to sub-contract more stuff - whether necessary or entirely unnecessary - to his mates in the private sector. Which is a guarantee that the government will be spending even more in future, even if it is doing less.
"The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed" - Adolf Hitler
Add in a bit of ‘divide and conquer’ and the job is done. It is done! It’s done so well that, as yet, things are not bad enough for change. The core of the country is getting by. Until the lights go out, the gas runs out, and fuel hits more than £2 a litre, the masses will struggle on convinced that it is all for their own good.
Most people can no longer think for themselves. It’s easier not to. The apathy you currently feel runs through the nation. It took many years to get into this position and it will be many more before it is reversed.
Let's look on the bright side; it is good to see you back writing again, dear Fat Bigot.
Excellent piece. It's a pity that the subject matter is so utterly depressing.
Like you Mr. FB I am saddened by our present government, so promising before they got into office, now they seem like a nest of mice.
Where are the politicians with fire in their bellies?
I fear it is the good life at Westminster and the bubble they live in that softens them.
Good to see you back.
Your conclusions are sound, if depressing.
Why they voted labour?
Because most people are not like you, your readers and me.
You only see how bad things are when taking a broad view.
Only by reading blogs/web sites, did it become apparant that things were so bad.
Not one thing INDIVIDUALY was enough to make one other than "uneasy", add them all together, which by reading the various blogs we CAN do, gives us a great advantage over the "Richard and Judy" crowd, who could not logically put two factors together to come to a conclusion if you rammed it up their arse on the end of an oxycetyline cutting torch on "full cut".
Basically, they voted labour because they are thick bastards, only interested in if a party raises their betting, drink and baccy tax or not.
But we have ALWAYS known that about the commy arseholes.
Good to see you blogging and yes, I too shake my head and wonder why. Apathy, stupidity plus bread and circuses.
Your country needs you.Looking forward to your next post.
-Vivid
Quote: "Never give up. Never. Never. Never." (Some ol' English guy in the 40's, if I remember right. ;o))
I keep checking in hoping you'll be putting electrons to screen again.
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