Why do so many of us in the UK feel that our lives have been ransacked?

The United Kingdom in 2019

I haven’t been writing about the state of the United Kingdom for some time now because, well, because it’s just so depressing.

I know that there has never been a perfect form of government and that, whether you agree or not, there’s no silver bullet solution to a nation’s problems.

UK has been a good place to live for most of us, but it hasn’t been entirely fair to all its citizens. We are a relatively democratic country, there are inequalities and injustices, but life here is better than in many countries. It’s not so good that we can sit back and relax in the comfort of our own state, or relax knowing that our politicians have got our backs. If we thought that once, we were deluded. These days, after the chaos began, after the infamous BREXIT referendum, I have lost even the limited faith that I had in our political system here in the United Kingdom.

The men who want to lead us over the edge.

These weeks we have endured the ruling (only just) Conservative Party’s search for a new leader and, for us, a new Prime Minister to replace the luckless and infuriatingly blinkered and monosyllabic Theresa May.

Theresa May, the British Prime Minister resigning outside No 10 Downing Street.

Middle-aged men in suits have had a bad press for years now, but these guys, the wannabe prime ministers, have done nothing to redeem themselves in my eyes and they’ve said nothing to disperse my growing sense of gloom as the nation stumbles towards leaving the European Union and worse.

The men who used hollow promises and, yes, lies, to persuade the electorate to vote for BREXIT, are still at it. They are still trying to tell us that everything will be wonderful in their brave new world. Just look at them, and really ask whether there’s a chance in hell that these people can unravel these last three years of chaos.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, ignoring the press on his doorstep.

The Conservative leadership candidates agree on at least two things, that they should avoid a general election, even though the country is going through its biggest crisis since the Second World War, and it should refuse to hold a referendum because it would be, oddly, undemocratic to ignore the will of the people. In 2016, the country may have been like turkeys voting for Christmas, but the Conservative Party know just what would happen on election day, and they will now try anything but allowing the people to vote. They are, of course, frightened of losing to the main opposition party, Labour, led by Theresa May’s equal in misfortune, the equally luckless and infuriatingly blinkered Jeremy Corbyn.

Boris Johnson, Conservative front-runner, ignoring the press on his doorstep.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have something in common with the likely winner of the Conservative Leadership election, Boris Johnson, they all like to ignore the press and, by doing that, us, the people. I don’t believe any of them trust the opinion of the nation in this moment of crisis. They think we will be taken in by rhetoric and by being kept in the dark as the UK carries on sinking.

That’s why I’ve been too depressed to comment here on my website since my eyes were opened to just how depressing our future looks – and why I feel our nation has been ransacked. So, honestly, don’t be taken in by the excitement of leadership elections and the idle promises that accompany them. We are in a mess, my friends, and I see no one out there likely to lead us out of it.

2 Comments

  1. You will not make a referendum again for the remain and if you do it again, the result will be Brexit again, this depresses me. Personally, I still suffer from the loss of Norway. It’s not losing a partner in the economic community that interests me, it’s losing a partner in the European Union that hurts. It is exactly how to be rejected by the spouse you love, plus the fact of being aware that it will happen that you can enjoy the suffering of others as it transpired in the spring of each vote that went wrong in your parliament. I’m sad and I don’t know what the solution to support could be. Sorry for the bad English of google.

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