It’s easy to forget that prior to Thatcher, armies of homeless on the streets of Britain was not a norm.
The political punishment beatings of working-class
people that began with the 1979 government, went nuclear with the Tory
administration of the 21st century.
Even during the Labour government from 1997, which
began with two years where Blair stuck to Tory spending restrictions – it was
the rich who got richer with the most exponential growth in the wealth gap the
country had seen in the post war period. And that is before you take into
account the illegal invasion of Iraq and subsequent global destabilisation.
Cameron’s debacle gave us a Con/Lib coalition which
saw a generation betrayed over tuition fees and finished off the post office
(subject of much current debate due to the Horizon scandal and miscarriages of
justice that have been allowed to linger for years) But it was the cruelty of
Osborne-led austerity which saw the introduction and the normalisation
of Food Banks.
Today we live in a Britain where – while those on
benefits are still vilified by wealthy Tory ministers, targeted by the
right-wing media and demeaned by thugs like Deputy Conservative chair Lee
Anderson – it’s actually working families who are most likely to be in receipt
of some sort of benefit or subsidy.
In September last year, a
BMJ article indicating that the cost of living crisis could lead to thousands more
premature deaths (The Guardian). Additionally and shamefully, longevity fell in poorer parts of Britain this
century for the first time since such records were kept by the likes of The
Rowntree Foundation.
While the recent expensive Covid enquiry provided
the opportunity for many we hoped we’d seen the last of, to get before cameras
again and lie again – little we heard was new or surprising. What we do know is
that the cavalier attitude of ministers who literally partied while people died
and who used the pandemic to enrich their mates, meant that a country with a sophisticated,
developed health system, nevertheless had one of the highest excess death rates
in Europe (according to the BMJ).
Historically, low voter turnout has favoured The
Conservatives. When I was campaigning for election as a very young labour
candidate in 1987 I was told by more experienced members to pray for good
weather because that would definitely help labour. I thought they were joking.
They weren’t. But we did have good weather and I did win. In 2024 I will, again, be voting for the party that supports governing Scotland from Scotland and, come flood or heatwave, I pray for all who can to exercise their precious democratic right.
Young people, while eschewing the mass student
protests that were a regular feature of my student life, seem happy and willing
to go on demos, enjoy photo ops but are difficult to get to the polling booths.
Meanwhile complain that those in power do little for them. I wonder why…
Voting is more important than demonstrating.
Especially these days when those in power know that the reality TV-watching
public have a short attention span.
Being politically active through a union is still
important, however, since many of the larger unions, apparently stuck in the
1970s voted for Brexit and encouraged their members to do the same – I question
if they really understand where their workers’ best interests lie. Certainly the
harm done to the economy and Britain’s global standing not to mention
opportunities for business, commerce, science and the arts by Brexit has been
catastrophic and highly damaging to the UK workforce.
From 1922 to 1997 voter turnout held above 70%.
In 2001 voter turnout dropped below 60%
In 2019 Boris Johnson won (or the abysmal Corbyn
lost) on a turnout of 67.3% - of that turnout, the win rested on 42.4% BJ 40%
Corbyn (Statista)
Huge numbers of people are not voting. The majority
are not actively voting for the people who rule our lives. This is very
problematic in what we think of still as a democracy.
And yes – what you hear when things go wrong is
people pleading for accountability. Pleading to be heard. Disgusted that they
are not treated as if they matter. However, unlike the vast majority of the
disenfranchised – those in power are not reliant on food banks, or the NHS or
the state education system.
There is one simple answer to this. Vote. Vote every
time. Vote vote vote.
Forget bitching on twitter (or whatever).
Voting is more important than being a member of a
union or waving a placard.
Some countries including Australia have mandatory
voting.
UK Conservatives would never introduce such a thing.
If they did, they’d be out of power for a very long time…
*
Thanks for reading. There are links to my books on the previous post.