The Lemon Fool

Does anyone have any faith left in our politicians? Or for the Government, whatever its colour?

Candidates seem to be selected by party members for their enthusiasm as much as anything else. Qualifications are not deemed necessary.

Once an MP they are rewarded for their loyalty by a junior cabinet post. Then again for their loyalty they are rewarded by becoming ministers. Keep your nose clean, head down and display more loyalty you'll get a senior cabinet ministry. Loyalty trumps competence every time. The big ministries are surely as tough to lead as any industry in the private sector.* Instead they are treated as rewards by the PM for his cronies. Is it any wonder that blunders, cover-ups and denials are these days accepted as the norm for everyday politics?

The consequences of past short termism are appearing now to bite us on the bum. Look at the NHS, the rail network, the water companies our infrastructure.

Our system is daft. There must be something better.

* Yes the remuneration difference is vast.

FWIW, I wrote to my MP a while ago (Labour were in power at the time), asking him to oppose changes in state support for existing charities.

Let us ignore the subject of my letter, arguably the government actions were right.
However I got a letter back explaining that as a government minister he had to support the policy.

So much for representative democracy then!

My arguments didn't matter, because he didn't represent the constituents who voted. No he represented the establishment.

Leothebear wrote:Our system is daft. There must be something better.

Technocrats would probably be better.
Provided they were the right technocrats.

V8

I have no faith whatsoever in any of them. Politicians are nothing more than self-serving gobsh....s who will say anything to get re-elected. However, the real blame lies with the electorate who continue to vote for them regardless. Insanity is truly doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

My solution is a benign dictatorship something like Singapore. That or just allow the top 50 CEOs in the UK to run the country....

Maybe not AI, but I have great respect for one MP in particular who is AB … Andrew Bridgen. Courageous man.

I know, I keep banging the drum, but Sortition would be the way to go.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition

Oggy wrote:I have no faith whatsoever in any of them. Politicians are nothing more than self-serving gobsh....s who will say anything to get re-elected. However, the real blame lies with the electorate who continue to vote for them regardless. Insanity is truly doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

My solution is a benign dictatorship something like Singapore. That or just allow the top 50 CEOs in the UK to run the country....

I agree. The trouble I find with democracy is no matter who I vote for, its always the government that gets in.

(To paraphrase someone I've forgotten. Who was it?!)

Mike4 wrote:The trouble I find with democracy is no matter who I vote for, its always the government that gets in.

(To paraphrase someone I've forgotten. Who was it?!)

Bonzo Dog Doodah Band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi5a1xkMmuA

BJ

I guess the question is if having a human democratic government has actually helped the country move forward or made it worse?

Well we're definitely in a better place than we were even just a few decades ago whilst a number of others have stayed the same.

For those who oppose democracy, everything is progressing swimmingly.

bungeejumper wrote:

Mike4 wrote:The trouble I find with democracy is no matter who I vote for, its always the government that gets in.

(To paraphrase someone I've forgotten. Who was it?!)

Bonzo Dog Doodah Band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi5a1xkMmuA

BJ

Thanks for that. They really were (are?) good, weren't they?!