Of course it will. But it will also add to the continual drip, drip drip erosion of trust not just in politicians as individuals, but in the system as a whole, another brick of cynicism is added to the pyramid. And even though in my view the system, even if it was populated solely by shiningly honest, hugely intelligent, completely devoted public servants, is a piece of crap, having something limping along on the back of apathy is equally crap, and the alternatives people turn to if they do reach the end of their tether in these circumstances are rarely pretty.
Unfortunately the days of principled politicians has long long gone by (did they ever really exist when looked at the gap between ‘elite’ politicians and the people of the day). The erosion of standards within government has been going on for so very long that those within can’t even see the problem anymore. It isn’t even seen as corruption or manipulation of position by MPs or, I suspect, many public servants. The question is do we have to accept it? The answer might be, how the hell can we stop it now? It is endemic of our political set-up - the rules aren’t being changed to stop it, they are being changed to enable ALL parties to get away with it. It’s a runaway train!
Interesting case study in productivity happening outside my house. Over a year ago, probably more like 18 months, we got a bit of paper from the council saying they would be painting double yellow lines on the corners of the roads in my neighbourhood. Good idea, the parking really blocks visibility on exiting these narrow streets and there have been numerous scrapes and bangs, though nothing serious because of the low speeds. It means I won’t be able to park right outside my house anymore - Victorian end of terrace on a corner, no off street parking- but no problem. Then nothing happens, until Tuesday, when some no parking bollards are placed at various points on these corners, where possible because of some of the cars parked there. No signs or notices to say why, but eventually we remember the letter from the council. Some builders working on a house over the road immediately take some of the bollards to reserve a place for their skip and trucks. For most of yesterday, by some miracle, people did not move the bollards or park where they were, but sadly nobody turned up to paint the lines. Today, when they have arrived with their medieval looking furnace on a flatbed, they will be able to paint about 25% of what they are meant to. What a waste of time. Why not a simple, easily visible sign to say what was happening and warning any car owner of a substantial fine if they parked where the lines were to be painted? In Italy (Italy, hardly the paragon of bureaucratic efficiency) when I lived there 30 years ago, any roadworks, including cleaning the gutters, were signalled in advance with the advice that cars not moved would be moved by the workmen, which in practice meant being picked up by a special vehicle and dropped - literally, from at least a metre - on the pavement if it was wide enough or elsewhere (they had no obligation to tell you where) if there was no space. Any cars still on the pavement 24 hours later we’re taken to the compound. Very few cars had to be dealt with in this way, for obvious reasons. Oh, and the work, including street cleaning, was done overnight to minimise disruption. Brutal but effective and one of the rare occasions I saw Italians playing by the rules. The blokes outside my house now will have to return several times to get this job done, just to paint lines around, by my calculation, 8 corners. This rubbish all goes into our magnificent productivity stats of course. Oh, the government is ‘rethinking’ its attempt to institutionalise corruption……..
I think they did/do exist. For every Mark Francois and Dominic Raab there’s a Ken Clarke, David Amess or Jess Phillips. Wildly different views but certainly respectable and principled. Truth is it probably can’t be undone. Loyalty to this government trumps any level of ability for the role, expertise or intelligence and we have a mostly apathetic electorate and system which makes the opposition pretty powerless. It’s grim.
I’d like to think you’re right WW, but bringing up a minority of MPs as an example out of 650 MPs isn’t the best example. It’s not just the elected government, it’s right across government, opposition and remaining parties. I suggest there are a lot of pots calling the kettle black right now - if only those without sin were casting any stones Parliament would be a relatively safe place I’m sure.
"I feel incredibly unsafe in the chamber… I see most of the Tories not wearing masks,” Labour MP Zarah Sultana on #PoliticsLive today. Zarah Sultana at Labour conference: please log in to view this image
Boris Johnson flew in private jet for dinner at Garrick Club Kieran Gair Thursday November 04 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Times please log in to view this image Boris Johnson urged other countries to do everything possible to pledge lower emissions but took a private plane to dinner IMAGEPLOTTER/ALAMY Share Boris Johnson was accused of hypocrisy last night after he travelled back from Cop26 on a private jet to attend a dinner at a men-only private members’ club. The prime minister flew 400 miles from Glasgow to the engagement at the Garrick Club, attended by Conservative peers and the climate change sceptic Lord Moore of Etchingham, according to The Daily Mirror. The newspaper reported that the dinner at the club was for Daily Telegraph journalists, where Johnson was a columnist. Moore is a former Telegraph editor. Johnson has left himself open to accusations of double standards after urging other countries to do everything possible to pledge lower emissions and warning that they would be judged by their children if they failed to act. Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chairwoman, said: “This is staggering hypocrisy from the prime minister. After warning world leaders it’s one minute to midnight to prevent a climate catastrophe, Boris Johnson clocked off from Cop26, jumped in his private jet and flew down to London for dinner. It seems that when it comes to taking action to tackle the climate crisis, there’s one rule for the Conservatives and another rule for the rest of the world.” A No 10 spokesman told the newspaper: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints. The prime minister travelled on one of the most carbon efficient planes of its size in the world. The UK will be offsetting all carbon emissions associated with running Cop26.” Related Articles
Every single MP should live in a one bedroom flat on the worst sink estate in their constituency for the duration of their term. They should only travel to Westminster using public transport. Watch things change overnight.
A big difference between 'placed under investigation' and 'suspended'. An even bigger difference between those two and 'arrested' or 'charged' Then of course there's 'found guilty', which isn't even mentioned. Surely your mysterious source can provide a breakdown between these categories? Oh, and between councillors and MPs?
you can ask him please log in to view this image Even more Normalish Bloke (Billy) @drinking_night · 10h Replying to @GBNEWS
James Melville @JamesMelville · 6h MPs are elected and paid by us to work on a full time basis. Yet our MPs are allowed to indulge in other sources of employment that can cause conflicts of interest. Want to repair the trust in politics? Start by abolishing second jobs for MPs. #OwenPaterson
Priti Patel’s abject failure to tackle illegal Channel migration can’t be allowed to continue please log in to view this image https://t.co/uGXBOwyPZq?amp=1
