It’s true that these voters were often misled – by David Cameron’s promise of “strong and stable government”, for instance, and the Leave campaign’s pledge of extra NHS spending.
There hsa been extra NHS spending, hasn’t there? Vastly more than what was suggested too. So if Beckett’s that malinformed about reality then what value his opinions upon it?
One way to picture a healthier democracy is as a place where voters and politicians have frequent clashes but also a degree of mutual respect – and an awareness that they are co-creators of a political culture. It may be optimistic to expect grumpy old Britain to become such a country, not least because so much of our media has a vested interest in voters angrily believing that they are badly governed. For rightwing, anti-state editors in particular, a sour public mood produces better stories.
See? If only we voters, proles, just did what we were told by the revolutionary vanguard.
Incoherent drivel. I had a lecturer who looked just like him. Chap was a card carrying CPGB member ( might even have been on the executive ), trapped in his own ideology.
This made me laugh
“These days, Farage has a particularly self-satisfied and expectant air, as if he’s found a political magic formula; but plenty of other British party leaders over the past 15 years have believed that too.”
Thing is, I don’t think they have. The approach has been mostly “Vote for us because we’re not the other bunch.” Johnson possibly was the exception.
Farage is exactly that – he is ” not the other bunch” .
“The voter is never wrong. In this era of vox pops, phone-ins, focus groups and constant polls, this view of democracy is more prevalent than ever”
Um, yes. In fact, that’s pretty much a working definition of what democracy is. The more you depart from that, the more you approach technocracy, plutocracy, theocracy, or some other system. Now, you might not like the policies that democracies give rise to, but the voter “not being wrong” is the defining feature, not a bug.
Had Corbyn got in, or the Brexit vote gone the other way, wispy little boss-boys like you would not tap out shite like this.
“believing that they are badly governed”.
So we aren’t really being badly governed, we are just being gaslit by the evil right wing media to believe so. Cunt.
Who is Andy Beckett, and why should I care?
“Beneath the nonstop call for political change, moreover, is often a demand that change be minimised for voters themselves. Drastically reducing immigration, dropping diversity targets and other socially conservative policies especially popular with supporters or potential supporters of Reform UK – the minority group around which our politics currently revolves – are essentially intended to slow down, halt or even reverse social trends that some Britons believe are too disruptive. Thus much of the feverish quality of British politics these days paradoxically comes from a desire for the country to stay the same. With his pints of bitter and old-fashioned country clothes, Nigel Farage always seeks to present his hard-right revolt as reassuringly retro.”
Because it isn’t a positive social trend. We know the numbers on this now. Low-paid migrants (like that army of care workers) are a COST. And it’s all robbing Peter to pay Paul. Social care costs fall in the short term, but the costs of pensions, NHS etc will rise in the longer term. Governments put a thumb on “women shalt have careers” which means Grandad doesn’t get looked after, and now it has to put a thumb on immigration to bring people in to fill the gap.
Grumpy voters? I wonder why? Wasn’t it a socialist politician who went to court to prove that in law, poltics, unlike every other human transaction, doesn’t require the seller to tell the truth? And hasn’t a Marxist politician taken full advantage of that to lie through his teeth to get his party elected? And haven’t his ministers lied on their CVs to attain positions of power about which they know nothing?
So the government is a bunch of incompetent liars but the ungrateful bastard voters are grumpy.
Grist:
Very fine post. Which politician who went to court are you referring to?
Simon Neale said:
“Very fine post. Which politician who went to court are you referring to?”
He’s probably referring to Gordon Brown (the Wheeler case on an EU referendum), but there was an earlier case with Tony Blair (Begbie, on the ending of the assisted places scheme for schools).
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11541708/The-court-case-that-proves-you-cant-sue-politicians-for-breaking-their-election-promises.html
Andy Beckett is almost a caricature of a stereotypical leftoid…manic stare, semi-permanent sneer, poorly maintained beard, untrimmed hair, and shabby clothes – including a dirty denim jacket! He probably wears a donkey jacket in winter and on picket lines.
Andy Beckett is The Mekon.
Denial – The first reaction is denial. In this stage, individuals believe the precipitating event is somehow mistaken, and cling to a false, preferable reality. Some may also isolate themselves, avoiding others who may have accepted what is happening. “Grooming gangs aren’t real”, “immigration is popular”, “Reform will never win”.
Anger – When the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue, they become frustrated, especially at proximate individuals. Certain psychological responses of a person undergoing this phase would be: “Why Farage? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to Labour?”; “Who is to blame?”; “Are voters stupid or are they racist?”. Some may lash out at loved ones
Bargaining – The third stage involves the hope that the individual can avoid a cause of grief. “Maybe if we Rejoin the EU, Reform will go away?”
Depression – During the fourth stage, the individual despairs at the recognition of their mortality. In this state, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time mournful and sulle.
Acceptance – “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it; I may as well prepare for it.”
In this last stage, individuals embrace mortality or inevitable future, or that of a loved one, or other tragic event.
But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Nigel Farage.
One morning, when Andy Beckett woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked.
“Trump did this,” he thought.
I had a quick Gurgle. Andy Beckett looks like the hermit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Probably is.
Steve: this bloke will never reach Acceptance. He’s a clockwork mouse banging against the brick wall of Bargaining. Or perhaps ricocheting between that and Anger.
Steve,
“Bargaining – The third stage involves the hope that the individual can avoid a cause of grief. “Maybe if we Rejoin the EU, Reform will go away?””
This is roughly where these people are at now.
They will never, ever, EVER love Nigel Farage, though. In the same way that lefties hate Thatcher and proclaim their love for Che, but love the free markets that give them cheap spectacles, good coffee and Macbooks. And treat a trip to Cuba like a child going to the petting zoo.
And treat a trip to Cuba like a child going to the petting zoo.
Can they get cryptosporidium on their trip, please?
Norman – Despite all his rage he is still just a twat in a cage.
WB – Loving Nigel is easy, cause he’s beautiful. A doo doo doo doo doo doo…
I don’t understand how anybody could hate Nige, he’s a good lad who means well.
@ Norman,
He’s a late-middle-aged man who went to the fourth*-oldest college that pretends it is oldest and probably has an inferiority complex because Balliol has some extremely clever guys reading “Greats” (Greek, Latin and Philosophy for those who don’t know the jargon) whereas he was reading Modern History and then studied Journalism in California because no-one can earn a good living from Modern History unless they write a best-seller on WW2. He’s since made a living on writing for the Grauniad and equivalents.
Why should you care? Because the Beeb treats articles written by Grauniad hacks as if they were facts and quotes from them to the wide world so his errors (if not actual lies) get broadcast.
*Even Merton, which for some definition of “college” is the oldest in the world, admits Univ is older and St Edmund Hall is also older than Merton and Balliol.
He’s no historian because he evidently has no interest in empirical fact unless it supports his “narrative”. He is, in fact, simply a writer of period propaganda.
Steve says Nigel is beautiful. Does This show Steve is either gay or as I suspect a woman?
I do not hate gays or women. But Steve is deeply warped and depraved.
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