Broken

I have tried so many times to write a piece about how modern British politics is broken, blown to smithereens by the relentlesss assault of politicians motivated by self rather than national interest, the popularity chase that ensues and the inevitable short-termism in policy making. Add to the mix the fact that every issue now has become completely polarised - you are either for everything we stand for, or against it all - and you have a terrible, adversarial world reflected in microcosm by the halls of Westminster. The age of nuance is gone. Compromise is gone. Shades of grey, gone.

I don't know whether social media have contributed - the electorate have become conditioned to either like or dislike everything, after all.

The short-termism worries me too, of course. When you've thinking about climate change, for example, decisions taken now will have ramifications for just about as far ahead as we can imagine. And yet those decisions seem to be about keeping people, and especially vested (corporate) interests, happy now, rather than keeping them alive in a (not too) distant future. A short-term grab at staying popular, staying in power. Looking after number one, basically. And all of number's one's mates, cronies and donors, of course.

The reason I've failed to write this post successfully so many times is that I've always tried to articulate how I think Parliament could work better, and I do have an idea for that, one that really holds water. It feels within my grasp, I just can't ... quite ... put it properly into words. Not without rambling, anyway, and certainly not in a cogent argument that makes it seem so right, so blindingly obvious. I'll keep trying though. Maybe I'll be ready to publish it in time for the next election, whenever that might be. Although God knows why I'm stressing about it, it's not like an unpopular blogger's pet theory on parliamentary reform is going to interest many. And it certainly won't change anything. I just feel the need to thrash it out properly, more for myself than anyone else; and this is where I'll do that, eventually.

Until then, here's a great reminder about who's running the world... this is from an unspecified French TV programme. Hard to imagine it getting broadcast, unexpurgated like this, in the UK. Alons-y!