The dust has settled
on the general election, and it is clear that absolutely nobody has
got what they wanted out of it. There's a lot not to like about the
whole thing, despite the sense of hope it engendered in those of us
who lean a little bit left. Make no mistake, this election was not
about Brexit. It was about disenfranchised angry young people who
finally had something to vote for, giving hope to a generation beaten
down by being told 'Labour can't possibly win here, vote tactically'
by another generation frightened of losing their houses and identity.
It is with great sadness that I see the politically engaged youth
painted as greedy students responding to bribery by the right. The
bribery of cutting inheritance tax for wealthy, triple-locked
pensioners with guaranteed winter fuel allowance in past manifestos
was absolutely fine though.
The rise of UKIP,
and the surprise Tory majority in the 2015 election (because Cameron
promised a referendum) were down to people wanting to be asked about
Europe – they weren't all that bothered either way generally (bar
the frothing masses at the extreme ends) but successive governments
refusing a referendum meant that the people felt they weren't being
listened to. Now they have been, and it's been settled that we're off
out of Europe (however massive a disaster I think it might be. Can
somebody please provide me with examples of real world, tangible
benefits that it will bring, other than some vague bollocks about
sovereignty, imagined amounts of saved money and xenophobic posturing
about immigration? Oh shit, I'm a frothing mass aren't I?) most of
the electorate assume that bit is done and dusted and no longer an
issue. So they voted for policies other than Europe for once. A great
deal of them felt that the Labour manifesto had the domestic policies
they wanted, not enough obviously, but then a great deal of them have
spent their lives being told by their parents that a progressive
socialist program of reform can't work here. Maybe they will be a
little bolder next time.
One happy side effect of all of this is that UKIP have been made redundant.
Fuck off now you irrelevant pair of dickheads
Fuck off now you irrelevant pair of dickheads
The Scottish drift
back toward the Tories and Labour from the SNP implies a negativity
towards a second Independence referendum. Rather cementing my view
that the last SNP landslide there was more about their progressive
manifesto than independence, after all, it was straight off the back
of a resounding vote to stay in the UK, and there was no other viable
party with a left-leaning agenda at the time. Similarly the reduced
Plaid Cymru vote may have been down to having a genuine left
alternative that wasn't covert nationalism at last. Or their
commitment, alongside the Greens, to a progressive coalition –
openly inviting tactical voting for other parties.
The Liberal
Democrats have now received their second spanking for the sins of the
coalition, although Tim 'who?' Farron is not half the charismatic
leader 'I agree with' Nick Clegg was, and that's saying something. On
the other hand, their previous manifestos being more progressive than
Labour's may have been what attracted their earlier higher vote
shares. I personally think that a viable leftist manifesto being
proposed – along with the belief that voting tactically for Lib
Dems no longer works – changed the landscape completely. The
confusing joy from Labour supporters at losing was more down to the
excitement of being able to vote for the party you have always wanted
to support, knowing it is for a manifesto you believe in and not
having to tactically vote for a slightly less bastardy shower of
twats.
Of course we still
have a completely incompetent, unwilling, Tory government. I can't
help thinking that Theresa May called the whole thing, and ran the
shoddiest campaign since Ed Milliband ate a bacon sandwich on a
gravestone, in order to try and get out of having to do the Brexit
negotiations – like my kids used to do with the washing up. Instead
she's made her position laughable, and at time of writing is hoping
to have her position propped up by homophobic, anti-abortionist
creationists. Imagine if Labour had proposed a coalition with Sinn Féin actually taking up their seats for once? All hell would break
loose.
Here's my cousin's,
actually very sensible, plan for the future. It's not often I agree
with him, but here it is.
He's right, I don't like it, but
pragmatically, it makes sense for the utter fucking shambles that the
referendum, and Theresa May's handling of the fall out from it, have
caused. Thus, it gets my support, and before you go all Remoanery over it, I believe he was a Leave voter last year.
There's a lot of
people working excessively long hours, while a lot of other people
can't get the hours they need to live on. I don't wish to boil this
down to a simplistic solution, but it is right there in front of you.
Education for all, in a pragmatic way for all abilities, free at the
point of use right up to degree level could solve a lot of these
problems. Yes, this is a more complicated issue than I have just
suggested, but it's a conversation worth having. Keynes, and
Tomorrow's World, predicted that we'd all be working a lot
less and having more leisure time by now. Universal basic income is
another nice idea you can throw in to the mix here. The maths is
complicated, but the savings on sniffing out fraud, and all the
paperwork for claim-checking might be a start for the budget.
Clock-punching culture in made up jobs to create never-ending
economic growth for 'hard-working' families is not healthy.
These long working
hours (see it wasn't a totally unnecessary tangent) also make voting
on a Thursday between 7am and 10pm a bit harder than it needs to be.
Do it over a weekend, two days, compulsory attendance – spoiled
ballots okay – and everyone can probably make it. Hell, make it a
public holiday, people will be more than happy to drag themselves to
the polls for a day off work. The 68.7% turnout this year may be
higher than usual, but wouldn't 100% be better? Not for those trying
to keep the Status Quo I suspect, otherwise there would have been
more than a few nods and an apathetic referendum for a slightly less
shit AV voting system given towards electoral reform.
Whatever the next
year or two bring, it is clear now that something needs to change,
and there's a real appetite for it once more. Thank you millenials,
you are giving hope to Generation X, and we're a bunch of miserable
nihilists that needed it. Here's to the next election (probably not
too far away).