A Pox on All Your Houses

One of the interesting (for me) things about writing all of this stuff over the last few years is that the way I've often written about the same thing from an enormous amount of angles or perspectives. Politics is a serious interest for me from an anthropological point of view and toa sit in my armchair and comment on it degree of activism; it has caused arguments and loss of friendships on both sides of the political spectrum - because, I do have friends who vote differently to me, but life is too short to allow flare ups to hinder the big picture. We all have to live together whatever the outcome.

This is the underlying problem with Brexit. We cannot split the country in half and let the Leave side have the bit that's furthest away from mainland Europe; even if it was as simple as that, I don't think even our current government would consider it. So, whatever the Brexit outcome the country is going to have to heal and the shock of the lack of money for investment in all the areas who want change will probably be the most devastating in the long run; the spectre of Brexit is going to linger for generations - even if it turns out much better for many.

A great example of what the UK might end up being like would be if you talked to any social historian who knows Corby, in Northants. 'Little Scotland' is notorious in my old stomping ground, but it is everything that might happen to the UK encapsulated inside 40 years. It boomed, it wavered, it crashed and it was ignored. It took generations to change the attitude of resentment towards any government, any council or anything politics. Corby's working class suffered like almost no one else in the country in the late 1970s and throughout the 80s and 90s. Despite the investment and improvement; the growth and the influx of new people, there are areas that are almost ghettos - yes, I know, there are almost everywhere, but these are enclaves of the habitual unemployed; the petty criminal, a black market and a place that has always existed slightly outside of the rest of the world. The hate of government is so strong, there are areas that do the worst things a right wing government would love. The 21st century brought new opportunities, but the unemployed - long-term and the children of, blamed Poles and foreigners for taking the jobs they believed were rightfully theirs despite probably only a handful actually applying. Unemployment as a career was a life option and it was through government neglect not some plot devised by someone other than cynical governments.

No one has done enough or the right things. What are the right things? Who knows any more. We don't have the equipment to do anything on the scale the country needs; we don't have the politicians who can change things because the powers that be will resist that kind of change regardless of the consequences. Yet, we are seeing the death of politics as we know it. 100 plus years of the status quo being held between two parties and a couple of also-rans could, foreseeably, be destroyed over the next few years. The disdain, lack of trust and anger under the surface from all corners of society is palpable. The blame game is out in force like nobody's business and the information war ratchets up another notch. The problem is the political parties who encouraged their factions and supporters to champion their causes via the internet have created marginalised fundamentalists, unseen in this country before. It is the fault of all the governments of the last 50 years, but escalated with the advent of faster digitalisation.

What can be done about it?

Nothing; is the simple answer. We actually had a referendum a few years ago about some form of proportional representation and that was convincingly dismissed without so much as a complaint from either side about reruns or unfairly handled, but it was the LibDems and they don't really do much at all any more. They're just this small party with 9 seats and a history of propping up the scumbags who caused this mess we find ourselves in. There won't be a change to the way we elect people, so presumably there needs to be a bunch of new parties to sit alongside the Conservatives and Labour, offering a hybrid of policies but with differing ... national... concerns.

This isn't actually a joke. Say all the Tories right of Anna Soubry and left of Michael Gove decided that they were not going to be held to ransom and weren't going to have a No Deal Brexit; a far right 'Tory' party could emerge, maybe stealing the name the Commonwealth Party, looking at Nationalism, independence, reunification of Empire and following the ideology of Rees-Mogg and his cronies. This might sound like a far right party, but it would be marketed as a party that looks after National interests; has many policies that would attract a lot of Tory voters; arguably it would concern CCHQ in seats where being slightly right of fascist is a way of life.

Over on the left, Corbyn's Labour party may end up deselecting a number of MPs who have, frankly, been a thorn in the Labour party's side since Corbyn was elected. Like the Tory Eurosceptics, the Anti-Corbyn MPs are just as dangerous because they represent a very middle ground of the party. If the Tory party drift further right and the likes of Anna Soubry and left of Jo Johnson might be tempted to join up with the middle ground Labour MPs and form a British Democracy Party - as dull and status quo maintaining as you can imagine; but, more important than anything else, with a inclusion manifesto with enough constraint to keep as many happy as possible. Economic policy might not ever do enough to convince more left wing voters, but the point is there would be, at least, four factions of MPs and something's got to give (The reality is there are actually about 10 differing ideologies at play across all parties; but the lines are starting to blur which is why talk of splits and new parties has risen - it shouldn't be ignored; it's the best idea politics has had in years).

There is also the other possibility; a new party that is both a mix of socialist - investment in people and industry - while being slightly protectionist with a sprinkling of national pride and understanding the things that the people are concerned about. A party that steals as many ideas from others in a way that interests voters, the way UKIP did with their 'It's Fun to Be a Racist' slogans and fine line in hate crimes and stupidity.

What is really needed is for someone to look at the major issues that affect different regions; see if these issues can be solved or if they need major surgery in and around to ensure the issues can be solved. If racism and anti-foreign is a problem, then educate people about the benefits of multiculturalism but have enough constraints that people coming to this country cannot expect the same freedoms as they would have once - however you word it, it's going to sound racist.

Equally, we desperately need someone to slowly change the way Brits think about others. Xenophobia - because, deep down it is a fear more than a blatant KKK-styled racism, this is probably the largest part of the problem; the giant pink fluorescent elephant in the room playing the trombone and drums. Yet it isn't just this, it's educating rural people about towns and cities and city people about rural lives. It's ensuring that the social problems of regions stay regional. To get the newspapers to stop fuelling what can only be described as hate crimes in order to continue selling newspapers about the hate they stir up. This is not censorship, this is prevention of propaganda, whether overt or covert and ultimately a public service, even if some red-faced twat in Barnsley thinks it's wrong - tough. Frankly, the media has far too much power now; we once believed that corporations owned the planet, but the media does, and the media is a desperate rabid beast. It is narcissistic and self-destructive; it has essentially become everything science fiction films brushed over because it was too long and drawn out to make interesting. Digital made the media into monsters and the people who own them are beginning to treat the world like it's actually a giant soap opera.

So, we need new types of politics to suit the way the world is. That, ultimately will be two kinds of people - generally speaking - socialist/liberal/conscientious humans or national/libertarian/introspect tribes or tolerance against intolerance. These two 'political' positions are like oil and water - they don't mix and both sides have militants who will go to extremes for their ideologies. History tells us that whenever the Right rises beyond tolerable levels we have a war; the world doesn't look that safe at the moment. If the world continues to fuel wars, civil or major, then the displacement of people will continue; we struggle to 'keep them out' at the moment, if things get worse...

In an existence that has peaceful humans on one side and confrontational humans on the other, confrontation always wins out. Humans are the epitome of chaos.

At home, we do need new parties that offer different agendas and ideas. We need, as crazy as it sounds, more coalitions but less perilous than the last two; we need two parties sitting on 400 seats, split in a way that one cannot bully the other into things that could destroy them for a generation. We need politicians who will work for the country's interest but prioritise its people. If not all of them, then as many as possible - no one is perfect, this world has too many imperfections, but it could be fairer. We have to acknowledge there are a lot of people in this country that would probably vote for a party because of one issue because people have grown so accustomed to economic restrictions they like their scapegoats to become sacrificial lambs. It could be because no one really feels that the government can be stopped and if Brexit goes badly that feeling will fester. The divisions are already too far gone for reconciliation; democracy needs to work and it won't with the present incumbents. The people need to trust politics is working for the people; it needs to be seen doing things in the public interest.

Too much of what is happening recently is about preserving political institutions while looking after personal interests. Governments are not private industry franchises for MPs to make gain; it should never be like that and it should never be so laissez-faire about the way it uses parliament to supplement already largely wealthy existences. Government should be run by people who want the best for as many people as possible. Lobbying should be abolished to be replaced with procedures to make cases for and against things; money should never be more important than a human life. We need to change politics to change the country.

Then, maybe, we need to spend less looking over our shoulders at what others might be doing and more looking forward, together.