I have just read that China has imposed Article 23 which among many draconian restrictions can impose a sentence of 10 years for “incitement of hatred against the Chinese Communist Party” ! I will not list the other powers they have introduced or the long prison term sentences for being found guilty (which once arrested is inevitable). 

It occurred to me that should such a law be passed in our country and this government  is a whisker away from similar legislation, there would be far to many people who would fall foul of the “incitement” part. I am sure that there are many thousands who would happily incite hatred against our inept Conservative Government! I am not diminishing the terrible regime of China and the crushing hold they have on any form of democracy (whatever that is these days)! The UK is a beacon of freedom by comparison and we have few restrictions in reality and those we do have are not easy to enforce.

There will be a general election this year, unless Sunak tries to hang on to the bitter end? Assuming the vast majority of our voters will not wish to see any return of the Tories, who do you vote for? Labour have the lead and in our “first pass the post” electoral system are likely to form the next government. There is no credible alternative and many will find voting for Labour to be just as unpalatable. If we had proportional representation, things would be massively different and other parties would stand a chance of at least getting a share of government. This lack of meaningful choice may well lead to a large proportion of the electorate not bothering to vote at all. Many of us no longer feel we are represented by any party and certainly those of us on the more “liberal left leaning side” have no party that speaks for us. Having said that I urge you all to vote, it is you hard fought right and your only means of getting change! 

The feuding within the Conservative Party (which has never stopped) continues at a pace as they are already debating who takes over from Sunak when he loses the election. Whilst it is understandable that you have to have the support of your own party in order to govern and implement legislation, the Conservative have been fighting each other for their entire term of office. Decisions have been made which were solely to placate various wings of their members and had nothing to do with the us. However you voted in the 2016 referendum, Brexit was nothing to do with giving the people a choice but entirely to do with the internal wrangling of the Tories and those wealthy patrons who support them! Throw in Farage and you had a recipe for disaster, Can you honestly tell me that had we not had a referendum we would all be shouting and protesting that we should leave the EU?

Stay well

It seems some while ago, someone, within this nonsense of a UK government, pitched the idea that refugees could packed off to Rwanda. short of any other more sensible solution for reasons we the public fail to understand they decided to run with it! Not withstanding that it has been roundly condemmed, deemed illegal, they refused to drop it and have continued to waste money and time to the point, where we now have the utter lunacy, that if you enact legislation, that Rwanda is a safe place then it must be! Of course the whole premise is based on the stupidity that it will stop the illegal trafficking of refugees and asylum seekers coming across the channel? Two things: Rwanda is not safe (which they themselves openly admit) and it will not deter people who want to come to the UK. Ironically we need people to fill vacancies. If the money spent on the Rwanda project had been used to process the people waiting for their case to be heard perhaps the backlog would be reduced and people could find work and pay taxes? One further point if there are undesirable refugees arriving surely processing them quickly will determine if they should be allowed to stay. It is safe to say that I for one am not threatened or against people fleeing poverty, war, persecution and other issues trying to find a better life in our country. It is inevitable that some elements of criminals will get in, although one would ask why would an existing criminal want to risk coming across the in a dangerous craft?

The issue of immigration will not be solved by ridiculous schemes and glib soundbites. Europe is an attractive place for those who come from somewhere much worse but many of these people are actually no better off than they were when they get here! Immigration is going to get worse for many reasons . Climate change will affect millions of peoples habitat prompting them to move, we need to come up with solutions that are humane and practical.

The “West” has no appetite to confront Putin directly. We are not prepared to put our forces lives on the line to combat his illegal aggression. The last 30 odd years have seen too many conflicts, where our military has lost many lives and the result of prolonged occupation, such as Afghanistan proved to be a disaster. As a result, governments and the public do not want o see our forces embroiled in another war. The West is relatively weak, which is one reason, why Putin is conducting his aggression against the Ukraine. Be warned, if he succeeds, he will not stop and other countries, such as Poland, Estonia, Latvia etc will be under threat as he continues to “claim back” territory he believes belong to Russia. If we do not stop him a war like no other is coming. As pessimistic as that reads there is always hope and situations can be negotiated to arrive at a peaceful solution but beware, he is a nutter, a mafia boss, a dictator of the worse kind and unlikely to listen!

Stay well

As the year passes flowing past like an unstoppable torrent , we reflect on the short period we have experienced this year. Not an encouraging one for the world, conflict and division, death and destruction, the seemingly irresistible rise of the populist right. In America it is going to be Biden v Trump once more, neither man being a particularly good choice but Trump of course would be a disaster, an incomprehensible mistake that would encourage right wing politics everywhere. Let’s hope that their voters are sensible. Biden is too old and the lack of alternate candidates on both sides is concerning! 

We will also have an election this year, unless Sunak decides to hang on to the bitter end? It seems almost certain that Labour will form the next Government but there is still a long way to go and anything could happen. Starmer maybe in the lead but he is not personally popular and cannot afford to make any more mistakes. If the predicted defeat of the Conservatives comes to pass, it will be interesting to witness how they react and how the internal factions will fight each other to control the party. There are many sitting MP’s who will be standing down at this election, including as of this morning Theresa May. 

Whilst there are always new candidates hoping to become a member of parliament, it is one of the worst times in my memory to want to be one. Having said that, I recently listened to a podcast about the troubles of the Heath government in 1974 and the problems they had with powerful unions, oil prices, 3 day week and much more, it did put todays problems in perspective without diminishing them in any way! We all have witnessed the decline in our country, its health and social services, councils going bankrupt, the roads in terrible condition and so many other issues, far too many to list here. We understand that not all the causes are controllable and world events affect much of what has happened but there can surely now be no doubt that Brexit, the prevarication that followed and then he heightened by the pandemic bears much of the blame for our present problems. 14 years of poor governance and a merry go round at no 10, as the party that is supposed to be governing seems to have spent more time fighting itself!

We may never get the representatives we want, not all of us will get the government we would like, we may be disillusioned with all politicians but when that election comes around those who can must vote, it is our only recourse to have our say! Indeed I believe that we should have compulsory voting, Australia do and it has changed their political landscape for the better.

Stay well