Firstly, a little history about my own political views.
I will be honest, I voted Conservative at the last one. Partly as I considered myself basically of that ilk, and also I loathed Labour and what they have done to the country in their spell of oppression that I had to vote Tory. I didn't always dislike Labour, however. Had I been old enough in 1997 then I would have voted for them as it was time for a change. Just like it was time for a change in 2010. I didn't like some of the Conservative party leanings however with luck they will be tempered by the Libdems whom I have admired on a number of key issues. I suppose I am a fiscally conservative social democrat with libertarian leanings.
Well. Halfway through the Coalition term, and I don't want any of them to be in power.
The Conservatives have run rough-shod over everything that is decent. Worse, they have done it in a shambolic manner with U-turns and cock ups all the way. I actually don't think they even realise some of the social damage they have caused either accidentally or on purpose. Osborne is not only a joke but is a dangerous joke. He has literally no idea about what is going on other than what focus groups tell him. It says a lot about a party when you have people like Michael Gove feted as a wunderkind. Luckily, the frothing right wingers will have torn the party apart by the time of the next election.
The Libdems are like irradiated Sellafield lambs from the 1980s. They will be obliterated in the next election barring some sort of psephological miracle.
Labour are currently so on the fence about everything that the slightest breeze would see them sailing over the horizon. Obviously the wrong Miliband leads them and the most odious man in politics is in charge of their financial policies. I think most people still (rightly) blame them for poor policies in the 2000s that has vastly contributed to the current state of the economy although the Tories have cocked it up even more. But I think that Labour will sleepwalk into victory in the next election.
So what do we collectively do as a nation?
There is a lot of disaffected and effectively disenfranchise people out there now. It is not quite as bad as the totally two tier partisanship of the US but we certainly don't have the same enthusiasm for our 'teams' over here. Maybe we should set up a new party?
Top of the head manifesto ideas: fund research into non-dinosaur juice private transport systems, aim for interim full nuclear power with long term renewable sources, re-nationalise rail service (introduce full highspeed across the UK), renew all public transport generally and make it affordable, government and privately backed renewal of telephone lines (full fibre rollout to all of the UK), evolutionary reform of the NHS, protected disability allowances but with more stringent testing, cap on welfare but a simplified method of getting access, improvement of job creation schemes (not outsourced), abolish Trident, abolition of PFI schemes and create legislation to introduce break clauses into current agreements, create tax incentives for manufacturing companies to set up in deprived areas, create a British Baccalaureate that emphasises maths, science, and languages, create resourced practical apprenticeships for kids that want to do plumbing, electrical work, be mechanics etc. Make university places free for the first year but then introduce a sliding scale charge for the second and third year with people getting good grades paying virtually nothing.
There are more, and you may disagree with the above. That is good, as it will focus discussion on what actually should be the right thing to do and help crystallise arguments.
The main ethos of the party would be centrist, futurist, pragmatic, and aim to make Britain competitive again within the context of the 21st Century. Our funding would be dependent on small donations from people and donations over a certain amount would not be allowed to maintain independence from big donors. Everything would be run on the internet and we would take advantage of any and all free social media. Every member of the party would have a blog, and all internal voting would be on the main party’s site on their secure forum.
The Tory Party was created from the Agricultural Revolution to represent the landowners; The Labour Party was created from of the Industrial Revolution to represent the industrial workers. Why can’t another party rise to adequately represent the members of the technological revolution?
Let’s set up a political party representative of the people living in the 21st Century.
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