Unfolding events cause abandonment of a plan
This is the naked truth. I rose just after 11.00pm last night – slightly earlier than normal, to be honest – in order to begin my (first) day shift. Shortly afterwards I began hearing ‘breaking news’ on Radio Five Live about the explosion(s) at the Manchester Arena after a concert by Ariana Grande … but that tragedy is not the topic of today’s post.
My original purpose, as part of a self-delegated initiative on the Rust’s coverage UK General Election, was to ‘report’ on (or should I say ‘record my reaction to’) Theresa May’s appearance last night on BBC1 in the first of Andrew Neil’s set-piece interviews with the leaders of the five main political parties – one per evening – scheduled for this week.
As yesterday dawned it had not been my intention to watch this interview but, when I was making my evening meal at about 6.45pm I was reminded that it was happening at 7.00pm and for no particular reason – at that point I hadn’t yet hatched the idea of reporting upon these interviews – I decided to see how it went.
To be honest with you, I thought Mrs May’s performance was woeful.
It epitomised in 30 minutes all the reasons why the UK public have become totally disillusioned with UK politicians, fail to respect them and instead are resolutely cynical and disengaged from politics.
This, famously, is a ‘problem’ that the pundits, academics and indeed politicians themselves have all identified and claim to be concerned about. In some cases they have even gone so far as to form focus groups, commission research and/or set up inquiries to establish the whys and wherefores … thence (presumably) also to determine how best to reverse, improve or eradicate the phenomenon.
Because, of course, the greater the proportion of the electorate that votes in elections makes for a better run, more representative and, ultimately happier and more prosperous country, right?
Er … no. Or – to be more accurate – not necessarily.
My entrenched position on politicians – not just UK politicians, all of them – is no secret and I think I can speak for the bulk of ordinary folk because I am one.
Politicians are a different breed – they’re obsessed with ‘playing the game’, not – like the rest of us – concentrating upon just getting on with our lives whilst hopefully not being bothered by others (and, of course, simultaneously not bothering other people as they go about theirs).
The minority of politicians are of the ‘conviction’ variety – they have principles and a view of the world (how the world is now and how it might be better in the future) and they stick to both, at the bottom line not actually caring whether they get into power because to them principles matter more than that.
The remainder, however, are interested in just two things.
The first is ‘getting into power’ (with the intended consequence that, if they get elected, they then get the opportunity to improve the world as they believe it might be improved).
The second is being part of the whole political process and the joys of coming into contact with (and then living in) the glided bubble that is political ‘Establishment’ – with its compelling ‘buzz’ of trying to devise policies that hopefully might appeal to the electorate, or at least that part of it that are their target to attract at this Election; the fighting to get these into the Party’s manifesto; the scheming as to how best to present these to the public and deflect awkward questions; the endless 24/7 campaigning on the street and in the media; the systematic dissing of the other side and what it’s standing for this time; and at the end, of course, the winning and the losing.
The problem with all this is that – paradoxically – the one group that don’t matter in the world of politics are the electorate. Not really. They’re just cannon fodder.
Somewhere out there – if a credible research project was to throw up the news that most of the population would like to see (1) the restoration of public hanging; (2) a ceiling of £100,000 placed upon all salaries in all organisations operating within the City Square Mile; and (3) a universal ‘living income’ entitlement of £30,000 introduced for everyone in the UK population, with work and employment only an entirely optional extra of choice – you can bet your bottom dollar that some policy wonk/strategist in some political party or another will start from the proposition that all three should be included as headline policies in their manifesto.
It would not, of course, mean that any of these policies would necessarily ever be enacted or implemented – a situation that could be explained away by the blanket explanation that ‘that was then, and this is now’ – in other words, that subsequent events have changed the circumstances and the government must always retain the right to drop anything it ever said it would do in the past.
That’s all I’ve got to say really.
POSTSCRIPT (1)
Since I began to compose this post I have briefly visited the UK broadsheet newspaper websites and now feel I don’t have to continue any further – they’ve all covered Mrs May’s problems since the publication of the Tory Manifesto last Thursday in depth, including her disastrous campaigning day yesterday culminating with her Andrew Neil interview on BBC1.
Her obvious lack of the common touch, personality and warmth; her infinite capacity to spew politico-speak by the yard (her go-to default phrases being “I’m very clear about this …”, “That’s why we need to ensure …” repeated endlessly); and her total refusal to admit any fault, mistake or U-turn and/or [in particular for me] to answer any direct question put to her, all mark her as a stereotypical politician of the type the average person on the UK street recoils from.
For those with strong stomachs, here’s a link to the website of political pundit Guido Fawkes on which – several hours before her Andrew Neil interview – Mrs May was embarrassingly exposed by Channel Four reporter Michael Crick at a press conference in Wales – readers will probably have to click on the arrow mid-screen to play it – see here – GUIDO FAWKES
At the rate she’s currently going, the Tories are going to be lucky to get returned with exactly the same majority they had in 2015 under Cameron. No wonder they announced at the outset that she wouldn’t join in any general Party leaders’ TV debate – she’s beginning to have the same effect upon the prospective Tory-voting public as Jeremy Corbyn is alleged to have upon its Labour counterpart!
POSTSCRIPT (2)
Sadly, what began as a suspected shooting and/or firework close to Manchester Arena has now developed [I’m now writing this at 0205 hours Tuesday morning] into a major, probably terrorist, incident in which no fewer than nineteen people have died.
