The Politics of the Parrot

So: dearest Theresa is now playing the patriotism card whilst declaring her love for murdering innocent animals; to appeal simultaneously to both the rich backers who own her and the working classes that she despises but wants to vote for her, and definitely won't let the grubby little buggers publicly ask her any questions, whilst parroting her strong and stable motto.

Jeremy is having to prove how tough and strong he is by stating he is not a pacifist and would send the army to war at some point, if needs dictated. Perhaps even if needs don't dictate, or else what's the point having an army? Half the mp's in his own party publicly despise him, as do the media, and would happily knife him in the back at a moments notice, whilst parroting his own for the many motto.

Jeremy's leaked manifesto is microscopically examined point by point and costed by people who wouldn't vote for him anyway, yet no one questions how we can afford the billions to renew Trident, or how the bankers who almost brought this country to its knees and were bailed out by the public avoided prosecution, or how Brexit, hard or soft, will take us back to the 1870's, never mind the 1970's.

Nothing new from the media, just the same old ways of reporting everything; stock phrases, cut and pasted from previous elections. This one to make so and so sound good, that one to make so and so sound bad. Tired, lazy, can't be bothered click bait hackery; their own profession as out of touch with the people they depend on as the politicians, serving no one but their own wealthy owners.

Here in Colchester, Labour and the Greens have gone begging for the UKIP vote, (which the Tories will get anyway). I assume the Lib Dems will at some point; all of them arguing publicly and amongst themselves as to which of them is the only party that can unseat the Tories, a vote for any other party is a vote for the Tories, etc etc etc, blah blah blah blah blah.

And on it goes. Nationally and locally, the same old same old. Rhetoric, insults, posturing; claim and counter claim. Anything to score a point when political careers are at stake.

Am I the only one who is sick and tired of all of it? More and more of us benefit less and less, whichever party gets power. How demeaning is all of this, to us and to them? I've never felt more like not voting for anyone; never felt more ignored and more insignificant.

It's 2017 and we are still arguing over who funds education, the NHS, transport and necessary utilities when more and more people are relying on food-banks to survive, more and more people are suffering with physical and mental illness, whilst we fill our oceans with plastic, pollute our rivers and choke to death on exhaust fumes. More and more slipping through the system, yet at the same time we have more millionaires than ever. Hoofuckingrah!

Is this the best we can do as human beings? Does this serve us? Do we benefit any more from individual party politics with one prime minister elected, whatever their colour, whoever foots their bill?

At some point, somewhere, we are going to have to start talking to each other, all of us; putting differences aside and deciding priorities. Will this ever happen? I don't know, I genuinely don't know anymore. I know that if we don't, we will all lose (if we haven't already), whatever the result of the general election.

What's the plan?

So that nice Mr Farage has resigned as UKIP leader. The same UKIP he resigned from briefly in 2009 and then again after the 2015 general election because he couldn't get elected as an MP, but then stayed because they said 'Please don't go Nige'.

His work is done and we've 'Taken our country back'. But he's going to keep attending the European Parliament as an MEP (on a very nice salary thank you very much). The same European Parliament that he's spent the last twenty years of his life campaigning against because they are telling us what to do and are evil. But he's not a career politician and is a 'Radical'. The man who shamed us all has no shame.

David Cameron, who promised us the EU referendum to get himself elected as prime minister again (and did) has resigned now it didn't go his way and left the Tory party to sort things out. Even though he promised he would stay and serve the decision of the electorate. The same electorate that elected him in the first place, on the basis of an EU 'in or out' referendum.

Boris Johnson led the leave campaign to victory because he really wanted to be prime minister, and now they've won has withdrawn from the leadership contest that could (and more than likely would) get him his PMship, because nobody likes him any more and he didn't have a plan and might have fibbed a bit.  

Michael Gove is now standing for election as Tory party leader, even though he doesn't want to be Tory party leader, because someone has to take charge and everyone else is useless. The Tory party, who are in government, are now fighting amongst themselves rather than govern. Two fingers to the electorate that elected them. Or one big blue middle finger. Same show of contempt either way.

The Labour party are doing everything they can to 'get rid of' Jeremy Corbyn as party leader, because it's his fault entirely that the Remain campaign lost. The same Jeremy Corbyn that didn't want to be party leader because he was busy growing vegetables on his allotment but was put forward anyway and eventually elected by a massive grass roots movement that saw thousands join Labour who never would have otherwise. And now his MP chums don't want him he's going to stay. Awkward or what. 

So Labour, rather than take a united lead and show themselves as fit to govern and come up with a plan, are now fighting amongst themselves. Two fingers to their party members and the electorate that elected them to oppose. Or one big red middle one. Different colour but same contempt.

Then there's the Lib Dems (bless them), the very same Lib Dems who millions voted for at the 2010 election to 'Keep the Tories out' and then, when there was a hung parliament and they had the balance of power, formed a coalition with........... The Tories. Thus letting them in. And then, after suffering a humiliating thrashing at the 2015 election because no one liked them anymore for letting the Tories in, thus allowing the Tories to stay in alone and with a bigger majority, are now attracting an upsurge in membership because people want to get rid of the Tories. 

At some point in the future, maybe sooner, maybe later, there will be another general election and the above parties will all stand and campaign and say they are the only party we can trust and expect us, the general population, to vote for them. And even less of us will, and even more of us will complain.

The very same general population who turned out in their millions to vote in the EU referendum, and chose to leave (based on a few rather large porkies and without a plan) confounding everyone, none more so than the leave campaign themselves, and who then went online to Google exactly what the EU was and what leaving it meant. And the remain campaign got very upset at losing, when they expected to win, and started calling the leave campaign names and blaming everyone else and asking what the plan is. 

And as it turns out, there is no plan. And never was.

So now everyone is upset, not just the one's who wanted to leave, and we're all in a worse position than we were before. Staring isolation and regression directly in the face. We're all calling each other names and blaming everyone else. We're all in it together. All cut from the same cloth. All of us getting what we deserve. 

Do we carry on shouting at each other or do we start talking and listening. And making our own plan.