It strikes me more and more that governments worldwide but particularly in the UK and Ireland are more interested in the needs of the few than the many. Budget after budget sees tax breaks for big business and more taxes on the already squeezed middle.
The Conservative policy of austerity has seen public services savaged by cuts. The police and fire service are on their knees. Food banks are increasingly used yet the UK’s national debt (that was supposed to be reduced by austerity) has skyrocketed. It is an obscene amount but it was the electorate who suffered, the rich got richer. The gap between rich and poor widened.
There’s always an increase in petrol/ diesel prices, wine and spirits and cigarettes in every Budget. I know it can be said that alcohol and tobacco are harmful to health but there also have to be some pleasures in life. Heaven knows life is hard enough. Standards of living are falling. The homeless crisis is scandalous. Nobody should have to live in hotels/ bed and breakfasts. No government will commit to the building of good quality housing stock because they will not be able to bask in the glory.
Nowadays there are far too many professional politicians. They are more interested in the salary and keeping their seat than actually advocating for and voting for real changes that will benefit their constituents. The people who vote for them to be their voice in parliament. They trot out the party line like sheep. Local government representatives can be equally guilty of this, sometimes they are only visible in the community in the lead up to elections. Not all of them, granted, but enough of them.
It is no wonder that turnout at elections is so poor. It doesn’t make a difference who you vote for, you get the same old crap. Entering into the six week election campaign, what lies will the electorate be told? What will Boris Johnson plaster on a bus this time? Will the tone of the campaigning be more of the same mud slinging that has been heard in Westminster? I sincerely hope not. I know that I’m cynical and disillusioned, it’d be nice if politics proved me wrong! I won’t hold my breath…
