Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Promises, promises . . .

So it looks as if Scotland has taken over British politics - again!
Last time it was James I of England and VI of Scotland.
Now . . . have you noticed that all the leading politicians have Scots names or ancestry - or both?
Gordon's an out and out Scot. David has the eminently Scottish name of Cameron. Sir Menzies (pronounced Mingies) Campbell is a Scots ex-athlete of note with a posh English accent to disguise his roots.
Even Tony before this present lot has a Scots-rooted name - Blair.
It looks like the beginnings of a Scottish Empire!
It seems lately that a prerequisite for becoming a politician is to have Scots roots.
Now I don't give a damn where my leaders come from, or their background. All I want from the government of the day is a fair and just society.
Dream on, Mac! One promises to cut this tax. Another says he'll take this many millions out of certain tax brackets by raising threshholds. Another says he'll make the country greener and cleaner. Another says he'll increase the number of people sent to prison. Another counters that prisons cost us too much and he will reduce the costs by executing everyone who has broken the speed limit. Then the first comes back and says he'll do all this and do it without costing any of us a penny!
And so on . . .
All of them have election fever and would promise to provide flying pink elephants for all same-sex partners of 16 and above if they thought that would tip the balance in their favour.
Whoever gets into power - whether it be the present incumbent or some other twat - all the average person wants is to be able to live decently, safely and comfortably.
But that would be Utopia.
I suppose I will have to vote for a lying prat - otherwise the wrong lying prat will get in . . .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This goes along with what I've been saying for a long time - that politics is all about....well, politics.

If I come into your place of work and buy a drill with a drill bit that says it is for drilling through metal and it turns out it was only designed for drilling through cream, then your company would be in the dock under trade descriptions. If I said to my boss: "I know you set me 10 targets, but I've only done the one" I'd be sacked or at least disciplined and put on some kind of "trial time".
How come, then, political parties can say: "This is what we are going to do" and then not do it?

Now don't get me wrong, I accept that things change over time. But that can be tackled. The manifesto could say: "This is what we WILL do. This is what we will do if we have time. We will try and do this. We might do this, but only if we can be arsed closer to the time."

A classic newsnight episode with Jeremy Paxman and some politician before the last election.

Pol: "We've completed 97% of what we set out to in our last manifesto"

Paxman: "So would it be fair to assume that your new manifesto is 3% lies?"

Hehe!