UK politics - CPR from TPTB?

I've just been watching an incredibly patronising programme on the BBC called, of all things, "Trust Politics". The thesis is, broadly, that we've lost trust in our politicians (the whys and wherefores being scrupulously avoided, of course) and, gosh, what can we do about this?

Actually, to be fair, the whys and wherefores got a bit of a look in... the main idea being that Thatcher destroyed conviction politics in the UK through using the phrase "there is no alternative" a lot.

Hmm... it wasn't her that got rid of clause four, was it?

Anyway, I think we can look at several generations of sleaze as one of the main contributing factors. I can remeber calling a friend back home in 1997 when Bliar and co got in, and he was euphoric - "we've got the Tories out!" "You think so?" I said. Being right about this gives me no comfort, I have to say.

Here's the thing, though. With an election coming up (even though we don't know quite when) I'm seeing so many recent books and programmes on the subject, with particular reference to "getting what you want out of politics". I wish I'd made a list of the titles I saw in Waterstones the other day, as I'm having trouble coming up with a list online.

My own personal favourite is by Mark Thomas, called Mark Thomas Presents The People's Manifesto, which really does what it says on the cover... he did a massive national tour and got the audience to suggest new laws they'd like to see passed... my favourites include

• politicians having to wear tabards with the logo of all companies that pay them
  
• the Benny Hill theme tune played every time there's an argument in the Commons
  
• anyone who supports ID cards will be banned from having curtains
  
• people convicted of homophobic hate crimes to serve their sentences in drag
  
• MPs who have claimed for a second home should be forced to open it to the public (we paid for it, we get to go round)
  
• if you're a CEO and you're convicted of fraud, you have to wear a pirate costume in every subsequent job you take
  

... and so on.

These are all policies that were proposed by his audiences and voted on at each gig.

It's also amusing that the "Trust Politics" programme I saw earlier did a similar exercise, but without the wit.

Levity aside, does anyone else think there's something of a movement afoot to (however mendaciously and clumsily) restore what might be laughingly called our "faith in British politics"?

I think there definitely is - but whether it's because of the recognition of a genuine apathy/distrust is another issue. If it is, one is then inclined to ask "who would benefit from us [as in the British public] having more interest/faith in politics?" - I think the only

Opposition parties, I'd be led to conclude, who would of course believe that the non-voters are also non-supporters of the incumbents. However, if the chips are down for the latter, roping in a few non-voters (with a hearty side-order of Installed Faith In The System) would turn things back in their favour.

As for trying to make people "believe" rather than simply turning up on Voting Day... That depends on just how dangerous non-belief really is. We don't have any kind of outright anti-establishment movements to be afraid of from the establishment perspective - no angry men in camo behind a barn with automatic weapons, a grudge and five hundred likeminded friends. Or is that a potential prospect "they" would wish to nip in the bud?

(All entire speculation from an ill, tired Londoner who should have gone to bed hours ago )

Originally posted by rich23
Levity aside, does anyone else think there's something of a movement afoot to (however mendaciously and clumsily) restore what might be laughingly called our "faith in British politics"?

Yep.

The first question I shall ask any canvasser for my current local MP that knocks on my door will be "how much expenses were claimed by the MP during the last parliament, and how many times have they voted against the party whip?"

I think those are the two most pertinent questions in British politics today, because no one wants to vote for a con artist, and no one wants to vote for a sheep.

I can virtually guarantee I won't get an answer on either, and that will be when the door gets closed again with a cheery "come back in five years when you've got some ethics!"

No one trusts politicians any more. They are on major damage limitation and thats what will make this coming election interesting.

reply to post by neformore


Well said. First GE I'm eligible to vote in as well (I turned 18 the week AFTER the last one ) so I'm aiming at getting my democratic money's worth, especially since our up-until-recently Labour MP of many years turned out to be one of the worst offenders in the expenses scandal...

Originally posted by Kolya
As for trying to make people "believe" rather than simply turning up on Voting Day... That depends on just how dangerous non-belief really is. We don't have any kind of outright anti-establishment movements to be afraid of from the establishment perspective - no angry men in camo behind a barn with automatic weapons, a grudge and five hundred likeminded friends. Or is that a potential prospect "they" would wish to nip in the bud?

(All entire speculation from an ill, tired Londoner who should have gone to bed hours ago

)

Aww, bless! hope you're feeling better.

How dangerous is non-belief? Good question, for which I have no glib answer. But (wish we were more like the French, though, burning lorries at the drop of a lamb chop) we do have a tradition of civil disobedience in this country. And, let's face it, something close to 5% of the population actually got off its arse and took to the streets to try and stop us getting dragged into the Great Iraq Asset Strip of '03. Apparently that did give Bliar a bit of a clenched moment - though not enough, obviously.

reply to post by neformore


While I agree to a great extent, I also think that the whole MPs expenses thing was actually kind of a sideshow. What big story did it effectively take off the front pages? Bankers' bonuses.

I also noticed that the paper breaking most of the stuff about the MPs expenses was the Torygraph, which has long had connections to the security services and acted as a conduit for their agenda.

I'm really coming round to the POV that says, the real enemy are the bankers. I couldn't help notice that Mandelson was "running the government" from Nathan Rothschild's summer home in Italy, and I'd only recently watched The Money Masters... it's interesting that the first Rothschild sent to England was called Nathan. Plus ca change, and all that...

[edit on 23-3-2010 by rich23]

Originally posted by rich23
I couldn't help notice that Mandelson was "running the government" from Nathan Rothschild's summer home in Italy

Mandelson.

Just the name makes me angry.

Theres one good reason (if anyone needed one at the moment) not to vote Labour, don't you think?