Now Do You Get It?
by
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In 2010 the messages that we should be giving to our MPs, (and to those who are trying to become our MPs), are these:
We are fed-up with being screwed by many of you. We will no longer tolerate your hypocrisy, your platitudes, your underhand dealings and your selfishness. We are fed up with your political posturing. We are fed-up with comments such as: “We are all in this together.”, when manifestly that has not been true of many MPs for years. We are fed up with comments about the need to `tighten our belts' and `act with restraint' in making pay claims. [Statements such as these merely succeed in making most of us feel sick, when we discover that such restraint and belt-tightening applies to everybody in the country, except MPs.] We shall want some much harder evidence than mere words before we begin to believe that any politician has earned our trust, and is worth listening to. Only then might we be persuaded to vote for her/him. The message is clear and yet, right now, they don't get it. What's more, they don't get it that they don't get it! If our battered UK system of democracy is going to change for the better, then we, the voters have to make it change. That means you and me. We, the voters, have taken a backseat with regard to democracy, and we have left it in the hands of our representatives. Some of them have managed to comprehensively screw it up. They have demonstrated very clearly the truth that: DEMOCRACY IS TOO IMPORTANT TO LEAVE IN THE HANDS OF POLITICIANS. It's not rocket science. If we are not happy with the way things are going in this country, then we need to do something to change it. And, what better time to do it than in the run-up to a General Election? MPs know that they can rely on most voters in UK to shout a lot when they are angry, and then to do nothing useful. They know that we really do believe that 'ordinary' people cannot do anything to change our democratic system. Many MPs are hoping that, by the time that the election date is announced, we will have forgotten their shady acts, their dodgy expense claims, and their pathetic attempts at self-justification. Some MPs have developed an argument that could be described as the skin-care offensive. The argument goes along the lines that they should have more money: "Because we're worth it”. Yes, the argument is surreal. It would even be funny, if it were not so pathetic, misguided and totally inappropriate given the economic climate in UK at the moment. As it is, unlike a skin-care product with a similar name, this one has a nasty smell.
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About the Book
This book is the result of frustration and anger with our political representatives. The outrageous expense claims of a significant number of Members of Parliament was the last straw. For decades we have complained that MPs are arrogant, patronising, evasive, contemptuous and insincere. They talk AT voters, rather than listen TO them. They spend more time criticising their opponents than they do explaining their own policies. Now, we can add the term 'dishonest'' to our list of complaints. For decades, MPs have managed to undermine our democracy, and disengage millions of voters. 40% of the UK electorate do not actually vote in general elections. This is monstrous, In the last two years, large numbers of members of the public have written vitriolic blogs on the subject. Unfortunately, in UK, that's the best that we ever do - we are good at complaining, but we never actually do anything effective. This abuse of our system of democracy by Members of Parliament, has to stop. This book suggests how we might do it, by getting more voters more engaged with our democracy. The book is written with three beliefs in mind: Ordinary People can make a difference. Each of us must vote. The loyalties of an MP are, in order to priority, to (1) constituents, (2) Parliament, and (3) party.
If we are not prepared do something life-changing for UK democracy in the year of a General Election, then we deserve everything we get.
About the Author
The author was the Headmaster of a large London comprehensive school for 22 years and was also the seconded Head of another London school in Special Measures. In the last thirty years he has experienced, at first hand, the effects of numerous, often mutually contradictory, educational 'reforms' initiated by successive generations of politicians. Whether those 'reforms' were useful to young people, or not, the effect of constant ill-conceived fiddling was to ensure that what we do this year is different from what we did last year, and neither will be the same as what we shall do next year. This is bad news for young people, as well as everyone else involved in the service.
Such experiences have lead the author to suspect that one of the qualifications required to be a politician is to have had a reality bypass.
After forty years of teaching Biology, general science and mathematics in state schools, the author is still passionate about education. He has three daughters and a son, and lives and works in Sussex.