An Election coming ..... Oh deary me from the frying pan into the fire

Many times do we read about politicians. You know the type – usually named MPs, councillors and such. They catch quite a bit of criticism. But I have begun to ask myself whether that is fair. For myself as well, I have been pretty caustic about politicians. Although it is questionable whether it’s all their fault. Certainly, they make the laws but what happens after that? On what basis do they make the laws? These are the questions us ‘normal’ people do not ask or contend with. We steer our ire towards those who are visible! Lately, especially with the looming election, which incidentally is likely to be a disaster for the Conservatives and possibly undeserved, we only see and hear those who are in the firing line. But what happens afterwards? After the election? It is likely that the Labour party will call the shots but how effective will that be? Our political system is basically quite a simple one. It is running in this country with a plethora of political streams but only perhaps 4 parties that matter. With two occupying top spot. Their MPs are selected and will stand in 650 constituencies. These will at election time win the ‘seat’ on the basis of having obtained the most votes. The ‘First Past The Post’ as we like to call it. This quite obviously does not take into account the various political streams that rumble on below that. Greens, Liberals, and many more including ‘Independents’. 

Well, all very nice so far and now within parliament consisting of 650 MPs the ruling party (the party with the most MPs which in number must outweigh all others plus 1 more – preferably quite a few more to have a ‘working majority), will start to promulgate its plans. New laws will be proposed etc etc. These proposals will be made Law when passed but what then? Did anyone check whether these work as intended, or not, as the case may be? Who carries out the requirements? Here lies the conundrum, we also have a vast bureaucratic body, lovingly known as ‘The BLOB’. The Civil Service. These are mostly persons who administer the various departments AND ensure the made laws are implemented. The questions asked are, ‘Is this what they do? And ‘How do they do it?’ Plus ‘Who checks whether it is done the way it was intended?’ Big questions because many times the results show that the law in that respect falls short, in other words ‘does not work’. Is this because of an unwillingness by the BLOB to carry out the wishes and laws made by Parliament? Or if not, are the laws fit for purpose? From where I am sitting, reading my papers and having a look at various media, it seems to me a bit of both. Take the recent Welsh law of the 20mph rule in build-up areas, I suppose the intent is as they said, to save lives. But is that really true? Or is it just to show the world the Welsh government is goody-good shoes with respect to global warming? That we are the only ones serious about reducing CO2? I would call that ‘Virtue Signalling’. Because the truth of the matter is, it won’t reduce CO2. Probably increase it as car engines running slower will produce more. It will however reduce deaths but people generally are careless and accident prone so injuries will still occur and some will still be life threatening. Well, we will see before too long how it will have worked. Whether there was a trade-off between lives saved and the general economy.

In the meantime, we await with bated breath the general election coming. By all accounts it is already decided – well, maybe I do think it isn’t as straightforward as that. I still think a hung parliament might be the outcome. We’ll see.