Hearing Ed Miliband on the radio this morning makes me wonder if I'm the only person in the country who is tired of the meaningless rhetoric spouted by our politicians.
Not that Miliband used all of these today, but phrases such as 'rebalancing the economy', 'the squeezed middle', 'hard-working families', 'investing for jobs', 'the Big Society', and so on are so nebulous as to be worthless. This might be, to use a word last voiced by Jacob Rees Mogg in the House of Commons, floccinaucinihilipilification, but anyone who ever listens to a political speech will hear these and an array of other equally meaningless expressions of apparent strength and support for the population at large.
For decades, successive Chancellors of the Exchequer have, in presenting their spring Budgets, claimed to have taken thousands, or even millions, 'out of tax'; indeed, so many have supposedly been 'taken out of tax' that surely there can be no tax payers left - perhaps I'm the only one ! The very use of such a nonsensical phrase should be anathma to any intelligent person - everyone pays an assortment of taxes, not just the high profile income tax to which Chancellors refer on such occasions, but we also have national insurance, VAT, stamp duties of various sorts, petrol duty, car tax, road fund licence, air passenger duty, alcohol duties, tobacco duty, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, council tax, corporation tax, gaming duties, the television licence and probably others that I've forgotten. It is unlikely that any adult avaoids all of these and, if memory serves, we currently pay, on average, around 50% of our incomes on taxes of one sort or another.
When Prime Ministers, and others, claim that certain measures are necessary for reasons of 'national security', what do they actually mean ? When they say that pursuing a particular course of action 'would not be in the national interest', how do they arrive at such a conclusion ? It is a sad truth that many people have become so disillusioned by the failure of our political leaders to say anything meaningful and of substance that they no longer trust any of them; one only has to listen to Prime Ministers Questions to realise the extent to which ruling politicians will go in order to avoid saying anything of note. All they are interested in is besting their opponents and voicing memorable 'sound bites' which they hope will serve them well in future elections.
With local elections upon much of the country next week, though thankfully not in my area, what choice is there for the population ? In London, will it be more of Boris or a return to Ken ? Either choice will be a continuation of the same, leadership by a member of a political elite that has crowded out 'real people'. Across the rest of the country, the choice is virtually the same - Conservative or Labour, with the Liberals a weakening force and others bringing up the rear. None of those elected for any of the major parties will be true representatives of the people, but will be servants of their parties, almost all bound to follow a party manifesto rather than the true wishes of the people they claim to represent. Many will also be no more than time-servers, members of councils for decades who want nothing more than to have a quiet life.
If I had a vote next week, who would I vote for ? One thing for certain is that I would vote - not voting, out of a sense of resignation, to the inevitable would be wrong. Something else that is certain is that I would not vote for any of the major parties, Labour (whether 'New', 'Old' or 'Middle-aged'), Conservative or Liberal. If no other parties appeared on the ballot paper, I would deliberately spoil it; otherwise, I would vote for anyone else, UKIP if standing but Green, Communist, BNP, Independent or any other flavour, simply to voice an opposition to the status quo. What will you do ?
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