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Reginald and Howard want me to blog on politics so I will. The more the merrier. I too believe that those who write in this forum should add their name.
I do not know how old my fellow bloggers are, but I was born before the Second World War; however, too young to fight in it. I have grown up with seeing the political scene change from post war elation to a feeling of anticipation for the future, to abject austerity for the masses, to opulent living for the rich and powerful. To a point where the utilities and British assets have been sold to powerful investors probably politicians and foreign buyers. After all there seems to be little knowledge as to who is buying our assets. However plenty of knowledge on who is selling them and who is not benefiting from them.
Why does society have to put up with people who can get away without paying their fair share of taxes? Surely, the government can change the law so that these tax havens can be closed and 122 billion in lost taxes will not be lost again. All it needs is a change in the law. Illegal and legal have become words the government plays with as the situation arises. Why should most of the people be expected to pay their taxes while others have mechanisms in place, like creative accounting, which most working taxpayers cannot afford, that help them to avoid paying their taxes...unless the politicians are in it also? In a fair society everyone should pay their fair share including those who are abusing the system...no matter who they are. This is not Communistic in any way. Not if it benefits the Community.
Reginald says the County Council idea is not viable. I say it could work as the people in their respective Counties do know who they are voting for. It is costing us billions in politicians who never seem to get anything done, but still get paid huge amounts in salaries. Expenses too, and what they can make out of the all-party lobbying systems we have in place. The system of non-executive directorships is rife. Share options are rife. And fees for services rendered as to Consultancies are rife, even nepotism of close family members is rife. There needs to be more transparency as far as politicians are concerned. It is only because the people as a whole suffer from reluctance to vote. Mainly because of an inadequate 'First past the post' voting system, which splits the vote that we do not get the true result of the vote in our General elections
If we go on as we are then argument will follow argument and nothing will come to fruition. I do not believe our MP is up to the job. He has too many distractions as a Whip in the House of Commons. We need someone who is totally committed to his or her constituency.
It would be better if each head of a County was an MP working closely with other County MPs, all duly elected. This system would give us 92 counties in England, 33 in Scotland, 13 in Wales, and 6 or 7 in Northern Ireland, all voting in proportion to each other. All Counties with a duly elected second-in-command who could sit in the House of Commons while the Main MP could sit in the House of Lords. Both could be of differing political parties.
Why do we have to put up with over 800 unelected Lords and Ladies, and 650 Commons MPs, plus the County Councils and town councils to boot? All with excellent salaries, expenses, and debit cards...plus a huge army of public servants. This, not counting the hundreds of MEPs and Commissioners we have in the European Union...We as a nation and a European Union are being grossly over governed and it is becoming worse as more are jumping on the Bandwagon...or is it the Gravy Train?
All we have for their 'Hard work' since Thatcher's time is Austerity more Austerity, and the constant bailing out of the banks by those who pay the taxes. I believe it is the bank's debt the taxpayer is paying off and not the peoples'. Iceland did not stand for it neither should we. When it comes to selling the banks off again plus selected publicly owned companies like the Royal Mail, the taxpayer is asked to accept huge losses, well over a billion, without any recourse to the law. As I mentioned before we may as well be ruled by a Dictator.
Those who fought in the Second World War for our freedom from tyranny are now in their late eighties and nineties and rapidly dying off. Why did millions of British Commonwealth, British, American, and Russian citizens have to die? Why? Because they were made of sterner stuff and would not stand for defeat by Hitler...It was lucky we had a politician who would not lie down. If we were invaded today, I believe our politicians would negotiate Britain to the invader for profit... They have the power and it seems the greed. The people have had nothing but austerity year after year. They do not even have a voting system that works.
It might seem harsh to some to criticise our politicians of today, but nothing has changed for the better for decades. The young still cannot afford to buy a family home at a reasonable price. The education system is in tatters. The NHS, I believe is being deliberately run down to planned privatisation. And in the end the working people will be the rent payers of those developers, big and small, who will exploit them. Britain has become nothing more than a giant game of Monopoly. It must be a game won by the people or the future will be bleak.
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