2015: Still ‘In it Together’?
In May, we face the most contentious General Election in modern times.
There’s an old adage, “No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in”. This inspires Russell Brand’s ‘don’t vote’ policy. His book, Revolution, topped the best seller lists. Sadly, in modern Britain no-one can expect any sort of revolution if they don’t vote. Russell Brand is no Lenin, and despite his hair and beard, he couldn’t kiss Che Guevara’s boots. If young people are complaining that politicians don’t listen to them, they’ll be ignored even more if they avoid the ballot box.
May’s election is one of serious issues. Paramount among these is the NHS. Its decline began when Tony Blair encouraged PFI (Private Finance Initiatives). This allows the private sector to build hospitals, and we repay the ‘favour’ at ten times the cost, whilst still not owning the building. In the North East of England alone, hospital building cost £1.34bn yet the total repayment to private investors is £10.32bn. Would you buy a £300 TV set and then agree to pay £3,000 for it? This loan shark system has been continued by the Coalition, who promised us ‘no top-down re-organisation of the NHS’, and then, with Andrew Lansley’s secretive Health and Social Care Act, they did exactly that - pulling the rug from under our doctors and nurses. So as we read daily about the ‘failing NHS’, we should look behind the headlines and ask who created this mess, and for what purpose - the introduction of a US-style private insurance system, where the rich get the best treatment and the rest of us would be scared to even visit the surgery. This is another ‘PFI’ - Profit from Illness.
Before voting, we should ask - who can we trust? Little England’s ale and ciggies superhero, ex-banker Nigel Farage and his U-Kippers? Apart from the Kippers’ xenophobia for immigrants and Europe what are their policies? If asked, Farage says the NHS is great, but UKIP's deputy chairman, disgraced ex-Tory MP Neil ‘Cash for questions’ Hamilton, insults our doctors and nurses in The Daily Express calling the NHS "diseased", saying it’s "a more effective killing machine than the Taliban", and a "Soviet-style nationalised monolith … a substitute for religion". The rising Green Party say they’ll “Maintain a publicly funded, publicly provided NHS, oppose NHS privatisation and treating healthcare as a market.” Labour suggest they’ll achieve this by raising £1bn from tax avoidance, tax houses worth over £2m and raise revenue from the tobacco companies. As for the Coalition, the floundering Lib Dems pledge an extra £1bn a year on the NHS – over and above David Cameron’s promise; “The next Conservative government will protect the NHS budget and continue to invest more.”
The May election is a social crossroads. We cannot afford to remain indifferent. Britain has become a bastion of inequality. The ranks of the super-rich expand daily as the poor are demonised. Whilst our nurses beg for a 1% pay rise, George Osborne gives his Chief of Staff, Rupert Harrison, a 17% salary increase to £90,000. May 2015 may well answer the question - are we still ‘all in it together’?