Political scandal versus the needs of ordinary people

Local party president Dr Anthony Lynch reflects on the behavour of the political classes and calls on the news media to focus more on everyday issues that matter to ordinary people

I expect you are as I am, depressed and disgusted by the behaviour of our political representatives in Westminster and fromthe headquarters of the Tory, Labour and Reform parliamentary parties. 

Scenes in the House of Commons and the Lords are as chaotic and brainless as the worst football crowds ever seen. We expect them to be reported in our newspapers, on radios and television screens and more comes out every minute from our computers.  

So, the first problem is to encourage these most powerful outlets to get their excitement and revenue by telling us of the everyday tragedies that we may be able to avoid for ourselves, and by rooting out the problems people and communities experience so that our elected representatives  have the facts. This will  enable them with facts, to legislate for all people; (‘all people’ is the public - not just ‘working people’  or ‘the elderly’ or any other described group). 

Such practical sense use of and by the media could, with help, bring our politicians to concentrate on the problems for the public in their constituencies - and how those issues can be resolved. 

Of course, sadly, in Westminster and in Local Government,  there are at least two dangerous factors acting all the time against principles of modesty, honesty, fairness and unselfishness. These factors are (1) the selfish ambitions of individuals to achieve a situation of  status and power for themselves and (2) the use of wealth - their own or/and additionally, wealth coming from an unelected person or body often outside the electoral system. 

There is a third factor acting with (1) and (2) against democratic government – that is our electoral system. It is  - as it is now - only representative of about a third of the voters. The rest of the electorate effectively have no vote. 

The fourth factor that we are seeing tragically in our government now and all over the world is the ability of one man or one woman to make decisions. Keir Starmer is not a bad man; in contrast to him we have at home a dishonest, energetically self-seeking man - Farage - the inventor of Reform. At large in the world are even worse leaders of their countries - Trump- Netanyahu – Putin. The complexity of the present world and even one relatively small country like ours, needs a cabinet proportionately representing every party, and having in the chair a person - the Prime Minister- who will give decisions agreed by the representative body.