Local elections have highlighted the urgency for influential leaders and the responsible media to direct the public to the core national problems of the day, and to debate solutions. They should reject the pointless pining for change for its own sake.
Various conclusions are being drawn from the results of recent UK local elections with predictions about future government. Perhaps however the only real thing that is currently clear is that there is a confused madness which pervades political debate, with misinformation and deception at its heart. The next three years until a general election offer a one off opportunity to pull back from misinformation and deceit, sound bites, buying the public with undeliverable or unaffordable goodies and short term placebos; and to replace them with real debate of policies which truly will enable the UK public to shape their country with prosperity which is sustainable, with realism based on hard graft and intelligence.
LOCAL ELECTIONS HIJACKED
Politicians abused the public grotesquely in these elections. All encouraged by a media which seems uninterested in seriousness. In Tower Hamlets for example the dominant Islamic powers at the local council have been elected on the back of a purpose to help the Palestinian State: local services seem irrelevant. Throughout the UK the Gaza/Palestine issue and an antisemitic undercurrent have been abused to attract the Muslim vote. Zak Polanski for the Greens utters nonsense much of the time but seduces the public with slogans or promises which have a veneer of appeal to extreme camps but which lack coherence or realism. But he has a personality which can at least rouse emotion, while Starmer stultifies.
If broadcast opinions are to be believed, a predominant factor which turned people away from Labour to perhaps Reform has been that Labour at the national level are a disastrous government, delivering nothing which was promised, and infected with cronyism. “Anyone but Starmer“ guided some opinion. Irrelevant of course to local issues. Wales and Scotland both rejected Labour reverting to their nationalistic parties, Plaid Cymru and the SNP. So, some are asserting constantly that now we have a five-party system, or seven party including those nationalist parties.
Labour and Conservatives have declined in credibility without doubt. Reform and Greens love to declare the Tories as dead, which is absurd. And, if you agree with Labour’s David Blunkett, that demise would be a disaster for democracy if true, as they represent potentially a centre right intelligence, much needed if there is to be sensible debate on issues and choice.
There is clearly a lasting protest against the Tory years of power, rejected at the last election by the vote for Labour, not out of love for them, but yearning for change of any kind: unfortunately without knowing what change is planned is not a sound basis for a vote; as is now obvious from the woeful Labour performance: the “anyone but the Conservatives” driver may peter out as the substance of the alternatives becomes widely appreciated.
Given polls and the results of the local elections, Reform support has grown exponentially, and at least broadcasting media, SKY and BBC, seem committed to promoting Reform as the real opposition instead of the Conservatives, as Reform casts itself. Misleading of course as a general election is 3 years away and much can change. But are they perhaps seeking to establish a narrative which brainwashes the public?
Is it not time, when it comes to local elections, for politicians and commentators to restate what these are for: to get the best local people to deal with local interests in the interests of the local community, not to reflect national issues or the selection of Prime Ministers. Can they today be dismissed as a guide to national thinking as they involve no debate of the core issues that the country has to address? They serve only to confuse that debate.
SERIOUSNESS MUST REPLACE CHAOS
Because there is a lack of serious assertion and debate about big issues and longer-term problems, the cult of exaggeration and disinformation, abuse and division dominate political argument. Even the respectable Trevor Phillips on his Sunday SKY show begins interviews with nonsense statement like “Everyone thinks…”. And instead of national leaders guiding the public with thought leadership and telling hard truths and addressing things with realism, they largely respond to of the moment polls, resulting in changes of mind based on hearsay or wrong thinking rather than long term interests. Craving popularity is a current disease. 24-hour scrutiny and repetitive news reporting leads to soundbite and off the cuff statements to impress not convey carefully considered opinion.
Chaotically the Labour party is building up for a leadership contest, with Andy Burnham being represented as the messiah. Oddly, Starmer in their last such contest was billed as the reliable, constant saviour who could bring change and restore faith in politics. But he had no real credentials, as has been proved. And now, just two years in, he is almost a pariah.
Andy Burnham too seems to have few real credentials, flip flopping from being a Tony Blair type to an ardent socialist and back again. His current mantras are the old-fashioned hammer and sickle socialist ideas to make the working class the focus, where financial success or personal achievement bringing rewards is sneered at with the State being the vehicle to resolve all problems. So far, he has no new ideas, no economic strategy to grow the UK economic cake, only plans ultimately to tax more and redistribute wealth.
To disguise those features of his political soul which might deter voters for now, he has u-turned, renouncing or downplaying previous passions for rejoining Europe, transgender power and rejection of fiscal rules. His supporters hail his coming because he allegedly transformed Manchester, but commentators who examined his record there in detail expose the hype and in fact a lack of major achievement. He and Starmer have much in common.
Burnham and Starmer both believe that the State can best lead people to the promised land of prosperity rather than letting individuals make their choices and reap the benefits of so doing. Their creed belongs back in the bin from where it is now being dredged up. This instability in leadership is all because local elections have been hijacked to promote national contentious politics not to serve communities.
It is surely time for the media to insist on debate of the ways to really galvanise the UK into entrepreneurialism, ambition and growth, not indulging cheap journalism focussed on personalities and trivia, as political dystopia infects public discourse.
It is essential that the British public are directed to address seriously the issues that really matter, instead of being blindsided by disinformation, personal attacks and empty rhetoric. The media must stop politicians corrupting the public with deceit.
See also : – The Public to Restore Honest Order
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