dancingthroughchaos

‘Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.’ – Rishi Sunak, announcing the date of the General Election outside 10, Downing Street, May 2024

The political landscape in the UK is pretty bleak right now.  With a General Election hurtling towards us this week, this is highly disturbing.

I’ve never felt less sure about who to vote for and have pondered the idea of putting a giant cross through the whole ballot paper (Mrs Pankhurst would not be happy with me). No one can remember the last time we had any politicians who we could reliably call ‘statesmen’ or ‘women’.  Questions about the apparent death of democracy abound.

A blogger from across the pond, where they face their own car crash of an election this autumn, wrote this week, ’I’ll support whoever’s in charge for the mere fact that they’re steering the ship that I live on. No matter who’s president, I genuinely want them to do well as it can only benefit me.’

Fair enough, and don’t we all want the best person for the job regardless of geography?  But there’s my dilemma.  While they are celebrating their independence from us, I’m faced with having to choose the lesser of several evils from a bunch of people who appear either incapable, incompetent or quite probably, both.  It’s really no choice at all, is it?

I met a young man this week (at the first of the services where my car broke down), who told me he reads only sci-fi fantasy and Buddhist philosophy. My interest was piqued so I asked him why that was. ‘Because,’ he told me without so much as a trace of irony, ‘I think if we were all kind to each other the world would be a much better place.’ Quite. Well, he’s not wrong, just rather naive and if he’d ventured further into the car park on that blistering hot day amongst the crowd heading for Glastonbury he may have concluded he had muddled his genres.

Like everybody else I’m fed up to the back teeth with the Tories and their flagrant butchering of both the NHS and our education system over the last fourteen years.  With MP’s scrolling through porn in the House of Commons or having a flutter on the election date, they’ve shown themselves to be seedy and self-interested.  Voting for Labour leaves me with another dilemma since I wouldn’t trust them with my lunch money.  Keir Starmer presents as ‘a feather for each wind that blows’ to me; his convictions seem to bend with the winds of opinion rather than any convictions of his own.  I also think that a Labour government may well herald the end of free speech as we’ve understood it, plus, I haven’t seen any policy of how to support our military.  No wonder the rumour is that Putin is laughing into his vodka at the prospect of the predicted landslide victory.

The Liberal Democrats are actually in power in my own constituency. I’ve had oodles of communication with my MP over the last few years, none of it helpful.  While I understand you can’t legislate for morality, she and I do not see eye to eye on almost any related topic, which suggests that that’s not the way for me to go either. 

The Greens?  They appear to be so focused on a single policy that everything else may be up for grabs; or so it seems to me.  Perhaps I haven’t read the right leaflet. Reform UK?  Er… no, sorry; I just can’t. 

So what do I do?

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trawling through websites to read up on policies and manifestos – what values parties will or will not stand up for etc.  I’ve even taken a couple of online quizzes to guide me into a clear landing at the ballot box based on my interest in social care, the economy, foreign policy, the NHS, education etc.  Alas, the result was a mere 1% difference between the two main parties which simply can’t be true.

You see my dilemma?  Perhaps you’re facing your own.

 Finally, I found a small party which have nailed their colours to the mast around the subject of the family, which is important to me.  Alas no word on much else.  In fact, when I researched the individuals who are standing in my constituency, that party is not represented by a single candidate, although we do have someone wearing a box on his head who is advocating for a Brexit-type departure from the entire solar system. You can almost sympathise.

I imagine a lot of people will not bother voting at all on Thursday; the candidates are just not really worthy of our votes and it’s all just too gloomy for words.  On the other hand, most of us are now living at such a level of simmering anger at what is falling down around our ears that we may just surge into the polling systems roaring for something new and chanting for revolution.  

The other option appears to be to reluctantly vote for an independent candidate who hasn’t a glimmer of a hope of getting in but in doing so, perhaps my disillusion and growing disgust with the whole circus might register somewhere, but my duty will be done (Mrs Pankhurst can exhale again).

While I am struggling, you may be a lot clearer on where to place your X. I truly hope so.

I’m still not sure, but am somewhat comforted by the staunch belief that God is bigger than politics.

I was reminded today that the people who used to live in the territory now being reduced to rubble in the Middle East once had to live under the rule of both Caligula and Nero.  This tells me that not only could things be a lot worse, but that the ‘Keep on keeping on’ motto of my father is applicable yet again in all our circumstances be they physical, emotional, financial, geographical or political.  That’s not to say we should be unaware or uncaring but if we’re truly to take the allegorical ‘adventure Aslan sends’ then we can take heart in the timeless truth that He will walk into it with us.

Thank God for that. Really.

[Images from Pixabay & Unsplash]