THE LEADERS DEBATE

 

I agree with the tweeter who pointed out that none of the winners were male.  In fact, the nondescript, passionless and characterless leaders of the 3 main parties might well have spoken as one, they were all so eager to send out nods and winks to each other in the event of any deals being required, that they kept to their scripts and became as one.

Austerity MUST continue, even if it is killing the weakest and most vulnerable.  We'll only do it a little bit says Ed, we are not for turning said Dave, and we could go either way said Nick. We live in a society that has now stopped evolving and is going back to those dark and miserable days when workers had no rights whatsoever and unscrupulous employers worked them to death.  We now face the same sights as our predecessors from the Victorian Age, people sleeping in the streets and queuing for food. 

The three main leaders spoke warmly and nostalgically about the NHS as if it had already gone, doing the sums in their heads as to how they could cut back on it even more (or sell it off) while smiling ruefully.  Not one of them, said, we are going to invest in the NHS, we are going to improve every area and bring it back to the world flagship it once was.  In improving the NHS, we will be employing thousands up and down the country, more Doctors, more nurses, more ambulance staff, more auxiliary staff, more help within the community.  We will be investing in the highest level of care and rehabilitation, we will be putting the health of the nation first, taking care of every UK citizen from cradle to grave.  Radical, outrageous thinking?  Not really, those ideas were born in the 1940's and put into practice after World War II, a time when Great Britain knew a thing or two about austerity.  Yet in 2015, as the health of the nation declines, it must be cut to the bone. 

The three women on the panel spoke out for the millions who no longer seem to have a voice in Westminster, those who are presently paying the price for the bankers' greed.  I agreed with everything Natalie Bennett of the Green Party said, most particularly, they would end austerity.  Bravo Natalie for putting human life first.  Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru spoke from the heart with a sincerity that put all the men around to her shame.  Nicola Sturgeon for the SNP gave a solid, sincere performance, her confidence and her undoubted ability make her a formidable leader.  I was especially touched at the end when Leanne and Nicola had a quick hug, they did well, and they are coming from the side of good.

All three women clearly interact with their constituents and understand the problems of the ordinary people they represent. They spoke out against the sheer inhumanity of this government's present path.  They said all the things Labour should have been saying, and they said them loud and clear and with feeling and passion.  Mass unemployment, homelessness and millions of kids falling into poverty, no longer seems to offend Labour leaders.  Pity Ed can't run ATOS by Nye Bevan or zero hours contracts by Joe Gormley, because he seems to have forgotten the people he represents. 

I wonder sometimes if it is all a mass conspiracy.  High unemployment and desperate people lowers the wages bill and zero hours contracts makes the units work harder, everyone wants those precious 'hours' and overtime.  As the Unions, the defenders of the workers, were put through the mulcher by a previous tory government, they no longer have the muscle to fight back. All those basic human rights they fought so hard for and won for future generations, have been clawed back, bit by bit, to a stage where the unemployed can now be forced to labour for rich employers for no remuneration whatsoever.  They used to call that slavery. 

On the 'word is my bond' front, I wouldn't believe Clegg if he told me 2+2=4 (and I used to like him) Cameron will always look after his Eton buddies, and Ed is so far removed from the reality of working class life that he, a Labour leader has committed to continue with atrocities of austerity.  Unbelievable.  Clegg knew he was inbetween the devil and deep blue sea, so he should have gone for something completely different, something that offered hope to all those he clobbered after selling his soul. An end to austerity maybe? Because none of the main parties offered that.  None even attempted to find a new and philanthropic way in which to end the misery of millions. 

Well here's one.  The only way in which to get the economy moving is to feed money into it.  Building projects employ people who then have disposable income to buy luxury goods, etc, etc.  It kickstarts spending, but if there is nothing to spend, it will never happen.  The UK needs to invest in science and technology, medicine, the arts, the leisure industry.  Yes!  The leisure industry.  Whilst it may satisfy our Methodist need to work our fingers to the bone doing pointless jobs, it just isn't necessary anymore.  We need new industries, the old ones are antiquated, out of date and no longer fit for purpose. 

New industries need to be created, ones that will enhance and improve our lives and improve the lives of future generations.  Industries that will educate and nurture the children of today and promise a better future for all of those who are living longer. The UK still has the movers, the shakers and the innovators but they are having the lives sucked out of them, by skinflint old misers who would prefer to turn the clock back a couple of centuries.  The UK once led the world, it now limps along behind.

As for Nigel Farage, I have little if any respect for him as a human being, but he does at least understand politics and human nature.  His crude 'say it as it is' rhetoric appeals to humanity's baser instincts by using patriotism and fear of foreigners to build up his popularity.  Its a common ploy, so too appealing to greed.  People don't like sharing their goodies, they like to keep them all for themselves and more besides just in case.  Greed is something a lot of people understand and can relate to.  They are proud of what they have worked for, and no-one is having it.  However, with this attitude, also comes paranoia - they believe that everyone is after their stash.  So they put fences around their properties and the more neurotic ones electrify them and buy guns. 

Farage must convince the voters that all these foreigners pouring into this country are after their hard earned luxury and white goods and possibly a few metres off their gardens.  This is not a difficult task, see Goebbels, page 1 for propaganda stuff.  Farage wants to protect 'our' borders from invading foreigners, he is the crusader standing on the white cliffs of Dover with his trusty sword and an army of wannabe white supremacists behind him. Borders and boundaries etc, are big issues in world politics, some people get very touchy about them and they have been known to start wars.  Will the mean 'lets not treat sick people if they are foreign' spirit of Nigel Farage make him next Deputy PM?  After the last General Election, I guess anything's possible.