We all want this government to be successful. Indeed we need them to be successful in order to provide us with the functioning health, education, justice, policing, defence and all systems that we require to maintain a healthy society. It doesn’t matter what you voted, the reality is that we all desperately need this country to thrive, grow and be harmonious but in order to achieve this we need to receive clear messages and a clear direction from our leaders. This is true of any leader whether of a country or an organisation. Clarity is key, yet all we have received from this government so far is contradiction.
They give us the message that they are going to hit and punish the “filthy rich” and yet we see these same politicians enjoying the trappings of wealth in freebies of designer clothes, events and spectacles that they themselves have not worked hard to achieve. They tell us there is no social mobility in this country so they must redistribute wealth and education and yet every one of them and most of those who are ever interviewed on the radio these days have come from poor backgrounds similar to Keir’s endless repetition of being the “son of a toolmaker”. If there is no social mobility how come so many people are now in positions of power from supposedly poor backgrounds? Most of those I know who have made money have come from unprivileged backgrounds and done well, so why should they now be punished when they have worked hard, employed others and contributed to this country?
Keir Starmer apparently believes that the fuss made over the freebies is “trivial” which shows how far he gets things wrong. These things matter. Those who are hard working people don’t get these freebies. Indeed they are not allowed to accept so much as a bottle of wine or a meal out in business in case it looks like corruption. I had to stand up in front of businesspeople every day to present but I couldn’t get any tax reduction for a clothing allowance and don’t like shopping any more than Rachel Reeves does. They want the accoutrements of wealth and success without having worked hard at either or accomplished, as yet, anything. They need to wake up to this message.
They say they are not going to tax working people and yet intend to tax and regulate business to an extent that it is bound to impact those working people they say they are here to protect. They say they are here for business and yet none of them seems to have much if any experience of setting up a business, putting their investment and hard work into working 24/7 to make it work, employ others and constantly battle the competitive marketplaces of the world.
They say they are for law and order and have shown themselves to get very tough on those who tweeted after the Southport murders and yet they let out prisoners who have done far worse crimes and allow shoplifting to go pretty much unpunished. Perhaps they see it is as “trivial” to bother to arrest those who have gone into Tesco and stuffed as much as they could under their jacket, as I saw the other day here in Kew, and run out before they could be caught. Maybe Tesco can afford this but a small independent bookshop in Norwich had £1000 worth of stock stolen recently and that is a great deal of money for a small business. But I don’t think politicians understand the small stuff and how it impacts people’s everyday lives. They say they will stop the boats and criminal gangs but they don’t seem to realize how deeply entrenched these gangs are now in our society and that those who shoplift are often part of such a gang. Similarly turning a blind eye to “illegal” immigrants or asylum seekers throws up the question as to whether others decide to turn a blind eye to the word “illegal” in other things, such as stealing.
They say they will protect women and yet in the next breath say they will let transgender men enter women’s changing spaces. They say we need more homes, yet they treat landlords as if they are all greedy criminals and make it as unattractive as possible for anyone to become one. They say they are here to protect the elderly and yet take away the annual heating allowance for most and are, it seems, intent on raiding any of us who have managed to save or need our savings in order to raise income for daily living.
They say they are for free speech and yet we see examples of people being silenced for writing, expressing or tweeting an opinion and they do nothing. It makes many of us writers extremely nervous about what we share these days. It’s beginning to feel like the Stasi, and with Starmer saying he believes that government needs to be like a ‘nanny state to protect the public’ – eg with the ban on smoking in pub gardens – it begins to give him the flavour of a potential authoritarian, and that’s unlikely to end well for any of us.
They seem to be, consciously or not I am not sure, following the examples of the Kremlin in using disinformation. As I mention in my book No Lemons in Moscow, the Russians for sure have an interest in sowing disinformation in their own country and certainly in the West in order to stir up discontent and division. The last Labour Government were the princes of spin and made it almost an inevitable part of political messaging, to our detriment.
Hannah Arendt wrote “The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”
This government need to do better on clarity. They had months to prepare but they have left the UK population with endless contradiction and confusion in that period. No leader can expect people to follow them unless those people buy into what they are being told. You can’t buy into contradiction. I rather fear that they are deliberately making it unclear, knowing we would not like what they were truly intending.
We all need to hold them to account on clarity of purpose, free speech, fair justice and functioning public services, all for the common good. Surely, we all want a successful government of whatever hue. But I fear that if they don’t clear up this messaging soon we shall all end up, as Arendt says, not believing anything any longer. That is a dangerous place for us to be, both as individuals and as a country.
2 Responses
As usual, Helen, I agree with every word. So well put. Many people feel powerless and of minor importance.
Is this the country my father and so very many others died for?
So many crazy situations occur. Thames waterboard caused the most vile pollution but still received generous bonuses. This is not the only example of reward for abysmal failure.
I find it all so depressing. What sort of country will our grandchildren grow up in?
My son and daughter-in-law worked hard to each build their own business, will they be punished for this?
On a brighter note, I think, I have a two month old grandson. Perhaps in five years or more life will make sense. I wonder!
Optimism is essential I think, otherwise we will never solve any of these problems! Congratulations on your grandson. Helenx