| View Blog
|
|
|
|
| MPs Expenses |
So, we're in the middle of some sort of political turmoil, it seems that many of the Right Honourable's in our government are quietly lining their own pockets behind the scenes in westminster. Altough most of this story is quite boring I have noticed some interesting things:
1. The power of the press. The telegraph is making lots of money from this. After breaking the story it has released the data in just the right way to make sure that it maintains its monopoly on the story - its drip-drip approach has made people keep on buying it day after day, like some sort of collectable. However it has been very annoying when they say things like "...the people are shocked by..." or "...the public outcry from this is..."It may be true, but how do you quantify something like that? Its not a real thing, the public, its just some sort of idea. So for a newspaper to start acting as the mouthpiece of public opinion is very arrogant. On the other hand, that is the one of the purposes of the media, and I suppose that even if the average guy on the street doesnt care at all about politics, and would rarely vote let alone go campaigning or protesting, it is good to have people who can speak up, on loud, papery megaphones, for the rights of everyone, to point out governments shortcummings and discrepancies - to make politicians hot around the colar. So even if it is the case that most people couldnt care less about the expenses of MPs, its right for newspapers to say "the people" because to some extent they are the most reliable market indicator of public opinion and do speak for us.
2. The eviction of the Speaker. This was crazy. But it shows that what might seem unthinkable in most circumstances can become quite possible in a political crisis. The system is supposedly broken and needs fixing, and it was his job to point this out to everyone and tell them off before the press did. He didnt and now we have no more speaker. Who knows how the next one will be elected? Its interesting that he has had to go, in shame, taking (currently) the brunt of the blame, even though he wasnt the one taking the advantage of the system, he wasnt the one breaking the rules - but in our blame culture someone must be to blame for everything, and the MP's, who could not own up and take responsibility for their own actions, had to look for some sort of scape-goat, and lo! here is someone, on his own, not really able to defend himself against the whole of the commons, lets pick on him. Disgraceful.
3. The call for a new general election. David Cameron is leading a cry for a new general election to clean out the cobwebs, as he puts it. Many MPs are echoing this cry but the question has got to be, why? I assume its because they want something else to have on their minds, or that they think the Labour party is so weak at the moment and they therefore have an ironclad chance of election. The truth is that if there was a general election in the very near future, it could pose some very real risks to us. There needs to be a thorough going through of all the ways that MPs behind the scenes activities compromise the ethics and standards of government. Right now there are too many things which are allowed to go unchecked, and they need to be brought out into the light for us to see. If some useful changes to "the system" can be implemented before the next general election, then whoever is the next governing party will be able to focus on the actual job in hand, not on internal standards. This will also help in the making of new manifestos; parties will be able to make promises based on the recomendations of the report, they will be able to see where they are going wrong and make promises that they will not keep making the same mistakes.
4. Electing new MPs. When there is a general election there will be many, many variables. People will want to know about strategies for health/education/the environment/government/transport etc The big issues in our soceity will be talked about, things like child poverty or crime statistics. But also there will be a lot of talk about corruption and about the individual MPs themselves. All of them will want to present themselves as honest characters, worthy of respecting and trusting. I heard an interesting quote - revolutions happen depending on the man. Thats to say, people ultimately vote for personalities, and this crisis has shown how twisted and shadowy some of the personalities are that are running this country today.
5. Wales. Being Welsh, I just want to point out that the assembly has had its expenses on the table since its inception. Its still too new to have become corrupt, the people working in it havent had their ideals crushed as much as those in westminster, and so its a far more respectable institution. I hope that it can stay this way, that people working there remain trustworthy. It is necessary for us to continue to monitor it though, because it is up to us to hold those in power to account, and to keep them in check.
|
|
Posted by A_Welshman on 2009-05-20 04:25:51 | Rating: | Views: 33
|
|
| |
|
|
Email This to a Friend 