Tag: uk-politics

Uncomfortable views in the news promoted as normal and yet anything but!

Just watching the news on television tonight and this week it seems it is not currently trying to inform me, but to indoctrinate me. I’m no believer in the view that the news is all lies, but what it certainly is is opinionated and what it does have is an agenda.

Top headline tonight on the TV is about criminal smuggling gangs getting immigrants to the UK. There is a lot of hate stirred up by illegal immigration stories. One person in my workplace even turned around last week and openly said that he thought that illegal immigrants coming over in boats should be shot as they approach our shores that would soon stop them.

I was not expecting such a violent response from a person that I worked with about such an issue as immigration. There was no way of telling if he believed his view or had a dark sense of humour but where ever he was coming from he felt emboldened enough to say it, it kind of sums up an undercurrent of racism and hatred to others that seems to be amplified across the media and then teaches people to be emboldened in their hatred of others.

You won’t get a documentary on a main screen television showing reporting on the horrors of war, famine and poverty that humans are desperately trying to escape and why they flee to wealthy countries, such a report might be controversial or deemed inappropriate propaganda promoting the people were being taught to hate and fear.   

Smash the gangs and stop the boats are both terms used by former heads of government of the UK when promoting their policies against immigrants again adding fuel to the fire of fear, hatred and paranoia of strangers. I have always thought that the left of society were more eloquent, critical and show amusing senses of humour ridiculing of the establishment and those in power who abuse the power that they have.

But it is one think to laugh at those in power, its completely different realisation that anyone in power is simply being voted in because the many support their potentially hateful and right-wing view points. People don’t like to elect kind and informed and fair minded individuals the majority appear to enjoy electing a bunch of ?!?!( I want to use a swear word hear but in my own head can’t justify it right now). Let’s just say more often than not self serving millionaires aimed at defending their own power and interests or those that will do that job for said millionaires for them.

One of the greatest mistakes and also predictable errors by our present Labour government is that they will not tax the rich and powerful in a way that is needed by society in order to strengthen our social services and pay for what we need to provide a functioning western democratic society.

The Labour government has instead argued for the removal of benefits for the disabled and removal or reduction of money to help pensioners through the winter from fuel poverty and also arguably destroy the ability of farmers to pass down the assets of a farm from one generation to the next. Oh and not forgetting stopping illegal immigration from war torn countries and poverty from entering the UK.

I’m not a member of the Labour party and also did not vote for them in the last election but they are a better devil than the Conservative party or Remain. It’s likely Remain could make it in to power one day or even at the next election and if I thought our present Labour government has tones of right wing paranoia and policies then I have not seen anything if Remain are elected in. It seems the hope and dreams I grew up with in the 1990’s as a teenager that the planet was on the dawn of a new dawn of fairness and being saved from itself has been reversed and suppressed by an establishment whose agenda and direction of travel I simply do not understand or respect and where it will all end nobody quite knows. In hindsight is this the era of Trumpism on a global scale and we are not being told the dark side of what happens when we do his bidding, just being taught the dark side of why we must do his bidding?

James – All the colours of you

😍Weird is Wonderful 😍

I’ve never really wished to be normal, I often get confused by and fearful of those that express how normal they are and then start to say how different from their norm others that they hate are. The UK is really starting to have to consider the possibility that we could have a right wing Farage Reform government in place after the next general election cycle.

Those that vote for him like those that vote for Trump feel ignored by what is described as the establishment and will be offered electoral treats to endorse him and his policies so that they turn around and go, what the hell, why shouldn’t I vote for Farage and his right wing party. He has already boasted that no taxes will go to health care services or in other words will be making tax cuts at the expense of not having a National Health Service.

That will seriously impact on my health with life long medical condition such as diabetes and also a mental health condition that requires daily lifelong medication, I know I will be uninsurable or a waste of money to any health insurance scheme. A good health service is there to treat the ill not profit from them. We are learning the hard way in this country that the privatisation of utilities such as water and transport links on the rail result in poor services with ever increasing profits for share holders as things get worse. I would love to invest in shares of a ethical company that sees’ providing clean transport links and clean water to customers as a force for profitable good but sadly that’s just not the way it works in the UK.

My present political perspective is to try and vote for someone that will not make things shitter than what they already are which for a blue-sky thinker, dreamer kind of person is very disappointing.

Sit Down By The Fire – The Veils

Democracy the worst form of government, except for all other forms that have been tried!

I really enjoy trying to understand and paying attention to politics – even though it is perhaps normal or fashionable to express no interest or have no view. But for me politics does matters, democracy matters and having a view and interpretation matters.

When you have a political discussion with someone or listen to the views of others in the news it’s exceptionally rare to agree or not find disagreements or points to have further discussion upon and maybe the increased amount of disagreements and diversity of opinion is what some people love about politics and on the other hand the disagreements and diversity of opinions is what puts some people of politics!

I have so far in my life voted in 7 general elections have supported 2 political parties so far and might end up supporting a third party in the next general election. Considering how interested I am in politics and democracy I feel my actual input into the political and democratic system is very small.  

When I was 18 I was a member of the Liberal Democrats a smaller party in the UK that you could have summed up being a left leaning party that believes in personal liberty for individual and advocates a change to the voting system of the UK so as to see proportional representation and more people have their views represented in the house of commons and also believes in the funding of political institutions for the benefit of all. One of the things that put me off them is when they went into power with the Conservative party which resulted in from my perspective a considerable amount of damage to the UK, where as others can argue through majority rule the British people got what they asked and voted for with Brexit when we left the European Union and introduced Conservative policies to cuts in taxes and damage public services due to lack of vision, investment and resourcing.

I have never been a member of the Labour party but I have voted for them in a general election and been served by a local Labour MP called Ben Bradshaw he was culture minister in the last labour government well over 14 years ago and is now stepping down and making way for a new local MP at the next general election. So most elections in which I have voted for have been for the Labour candidates and this election I will likely give my vote to the green party candidate in Exeter. I have regularly voted for local city councillors that are members of the green party and fortuntly they were elected to stand in my local city council. I have been a paid up member of the green party now and respect and believe in the principles and points of view of the green party. So on the election I will be choosing to vote with my principles and vote green or vote to beat the conservative and vote Labour.

I am more of an anti-Conservative party voter than I am a pro one particular party voter, I am a member of the green party because I believe they are a progressive party with practical solutions on how to  invest in and protect our environment and have policies on the local, national and international level that reflect this. But mostly I am an anti-conservative voter, if the greens seek to protect the environment then the conservative party seek to damage the environment, society and people within my own community so as to benefit from that damage financially themselves and such policies and actions I find repulsive.

A conservative will often boast about what freedoms they give to you while they profit considerably at your expense when governing you. It is argued that we live in a capitalist society and it is the only way to live. But I do not think it is that simple I would argue we are consumers not capitalists. We produce goods and services to be consumed and that way of existence can be managed and governed to ensure that the system is safe for the environment and the citizens that live within in e.g. safe water to drink and safe places to work and live. A capitalist mere profit is king society does not care whether the water is safe it only cares whether it is profitable or whether your work or live is safe only whether it is profitable to the economy.  We should aspire to work towards a consumer led society not capitalistic profit at the price of everything else society it is damaging road to destruction of this planet and must be voted against and spoken out against at every opportunity.

Deacon Blue – Peace Jobs And Freedom