About Me

Sunday 15 December 2019

Post election reality check



I am part of a minority. A large minority but still a minority. Rejection of this fact is futile.

Imagined conversation with some family members, friends, colleagues over the next x years:

'Whilst I realise I may be in the minority here, have you ever considered that renationalising the railways would be a good thing/an end to zero hour contracts would create employment stability/a decent minimum wage would protect families/a basic minimum income would help the sick, the unemployed, people who have not worked out how to live their lives yet /the acceptance of transgender/gender fluidity would simply mean acceptance of otherness /that austerity is  causing real problems,/that it's incredible the sixth wealtiest county in the word has citizens relying on food banks, etc.

Oh hum.

Saturday 14 December 2019

Blame

The failure of the Labour Party in this week's election is a massive blow to those of us who believe in a collective approach to running the country.  I am sad but I don't want to be full of bitterness and hatred. I look on social media and see the defeated variously  blaming the press, blaming Jeremy Corbyn, blaming the parliamentary Labour Party, blaming those on the left who called out an anti-semetic tendency, and, perhaps most of all viewing those who voted for Brexit as morons. In the end all this is toxic. In terms of the last point, it is true - for whatever reason - that we live in a country in which a majority of people want to leave the EU. This is a fact. Justifying our position by saying they are deluded doesn't help and dismisses them as somehow less than us, which in turn diminishes us.

We have to move on while keeping faith.