I am prompted to write this post in January 2025, in the aftermath of the Trump second term election, and the ensuing reshuffling of the pack of cards often referred to as the “World Order”. Of course there is the excitement of something new, and also the apprehension of the unknowable. The seond event was the tagic stabbing of the children in Southport by the son of a Nigerian imigrant, the signicance of which I will later address. BUT I DIDN’T. The third big event was my return to posting on Twitter after 6 years, now Muskified. The Starmer government is currently on the ropes, and which way thing will work out is unknowable. My prediction, having it both ways is that Starmer will contiinue to double down adding more and more restrictioon to the freedoms in the UK until somethiing snaps and there is a revolution, violent of otherwise, or he falls on his sword and leaves it to the like of some other nonentity to give a little, the carry on as usual. Make no mistage the hydra has many heads.
Someone made the hackneyed old point of view that if you don’t vote you dont have the right to complain. Well first of all I didn’t think I needed anyones approval to complain, I thought that was the whole point of free speech. So the only way to change thinks is by voting, is it? I beg to differ.
It’s always been taken as read, and was sometimes the case that voting was a worthwhile endevour, and people would pop out in the lunch hour to make their mark. What else can you do?
It may help if explain how I was nudged into thinking that voting was useless,and will follow up by outlining one alternative of many, to the present process. Back to the 70s whan I enrolled in a middle of the pack redbrick university in the days before it was called “uni”, and it still required a reasonable academic achivement to get in. I remember my offer was like two E’s ( no not them E’s ) and a D. Which didn’t bode well for the standard, and I later found out that I was right.
In the day it was as still is fasionable to be left wing, works od mao, comunist manifesto by Marx. Always seemed to be very slim books on the left. It was may years later, I tackled “Atlas Shrugged”.Maybe there’s a point to be made here, maybe not. So having gone on a few demos and downed a few halves of mild after, helping paint the banners, buying the Morning Star etc, we were occupiing the Univeristy buildings and on a rent strike ini the halls of residence. All very exciting, and a greed feelinig of comradery. One by one we cheered the leaders of our mini revolution as they told us what a blow we were giving to capitalism. Eventually the strike ended with non of our demands met, but not before out leaders stood up and made 180 degree arguments as to why we sould quit. The very same people. Later I found out why. They were studying for a law degree and would ina few years return to their well to do families in some expensive commuter village and take up work in dad’s law firm. This was giving them practice. I felt somewhat disillusioned by all this, as you might expect.
My second experience was a talk by Sir Keith Joseph, one of Mrs Thatcher’s hench men at the students union. He was barracked and pretty much prevented from speaking by a baying mob of “no platform to fachists”. I felt somewhat irked, as I was still a lefty and was waiting for Sir keith to get his telling off by the rapier sharp intellect of the left. Unfortunately it was not so, I could barely hear him speak. So really the message was that I should listen to my leaders, and not to think for myself. In 50 years, nothing has changed. I stilll rememeber Sir Keith’s parting shot, that if the Berlin Wall ever came down, he asked which way humanity would surge.????
Later down the line I had the privilege to experience communuism in the wild a few times, and my impression of the result was that people were not so happy about it, but were not free to voice the opinion.
So, back to the future. Maybe we are in for the same old same old. Looks like if we get an election any time soon, Reform may get in, or maybe the UK will stumble on with Keith Starmer or some othe lackey at the helm.
To end this, lest you think I distain all politicians, I’ll list my hall of fame, of those I would give the time of day. These are conviction polititions as opposed to career politicians. I feel they would have done the job for free if they could have.
Margret Thatcher.
Dennis Skinner.
Frank Field.
Donald Trump.
Jimmy Carter.
Ronald Ragon.
Tony Benn.
John Major.
Ron Paul.
Javier Mil. ???
I could add quite a few more, but they have not passed through my desk.