Tuesday 5 October 2010

Picking Up The Pieces


As the Coalition perform their Major Media Events (aka Conferences) the extent of the difficulty they have in picking their way through the rubble of The Labour Blitz looking for survivors or usable items is becoming clear.

As well as all the shrapnel as in 1940-43 there are quite a number of unexploded incendiaries and some large bombs with unpredictable effects if an attempt is made to disarm them. Unlike seventy years ago anything they do is resented and opposed by most people who still think that 1938, sorry 2006, would last forever.

What is coming into sharper relief are not only the extent to which people fail to realise that the world has changed forever but the weaknesses and liabilities which the Coalition has amongst it own troops and supporters. Some recent spats are an indication of one or two of the continuing difficulties.

“Private Eye” is running a series on the new intake to the House of Commons in its usual critical and merciless style. The most recent is a Tory lady with her own lifestyle and background. This drew some fierce reactions about comments on this kind of thing and how she was to be judged on performance only.

The lady is no doubt able and intelligent. However, she is also wealthy, very well connected to some of the usual suspects and it is alleged that from 1990 when she resigned from the Tories in protest against the Defenestration of Thatcher to 2003 she was not in membership of the party. In the meantime she was pursuing her trade in Public Relations and did very well.

Then, all of a sudden, she was back in the Party running for Parliamentary seats and more or less an “A” listed person. I confess that some of major contributors to the Tory Party worry me for a number of reasons, notably my pocket in that too many of them are amongst the Plundercrats of our time.

The lady did well to win the seat for which she was selected. Alas, she reminds me too much of those heirs in waiting to a Peerage or Ducal younger sons that the local Tories were obliged to select when I was young. She is just another member of the functioning elite of our time who have created the mess.

Meanwhile, away from Westminster, Inspector Gadget in his blog on 3 October painted a graphic picture of life in The Swamp as apparently our law enforcers regard those districts of social housing which supply so many of their clients. He is talking about a nasty breakdown in both society and law where it is everyone for themselves and the violent and criminal reign almost unchallenged.

At one time The Magistrates would have sent in the Militia, but nowadays only demand small fines, rarely paid, and promises to behave. Nevertheless many critics complained that this was just police whinging and they ought to be very grateful for their pay and conditions, especially pensions.

There seemed to be a disconnect here in that the blogger is relentless in his complaints about the way his force is managed, largely the consequence of over a decade of meddle and muddle and much worse modern management notions. It seems that many people have yet to realise the scale of the challenge now in many urban areas.

Not only do we seem to be closing our eyes to what is going to happen and what will be done, whether by people we elect or more likely others we do not want to know about any changes. Additionally, we seem to have forgotten how to either do things or run things effectively in organisations where nobody is taking decisions.

As for Health, we are getting all the usual clatter, but the gathering problems of the epidemics of diabetes, obesity, severe reactions to pharmaceuticals, alcohol abuse and narcotics are getting worse.

Moreover, there is another big one out there on its way and when it hits it will dwarf the others. As ever, those who can see it and have some idea of the complexity are ignored.

As for the picture, I was there. Thank goodness Shaun The Sheep is back on to take my mind off other things.

1 comment:

  1. My late uncle slept on a tram during the raid responsible for the above.

    ReplyDelete