There comes a time in everyone’s life when old prejudices need putting aside, life-long loyalties rigorously examined, and the beliefs of years cast to the wind.
Most Americans have no interest in British politics. Indeed, it’s safe to say that Americans in general have little concern for any politics outside the USA, unless of course those politics interfere in some way with the well-being of the Homeland.
As both British Labour and Tory governments have passionately wooed America since the latter days of King Charles George III, and bent over backwards (and, on occasions, forwards) not to upset the former colonies, it’s hardly surprising the intricacies of British government are not considered vitally important when the education of young US citizens is being pursued.
Consequently, the following will prove of little interest to those born outside the United Kingdom. So, if you’re an American, nip off and grab a Starbucks, or order a Big Mac at….wherever it is that sells them, while we focus on Sparrow Chat’s British contingent.
For years, the Conservative (or Tory) Party was beloved of the British aristocracy, who still viewed the working man (and woman) as servile creatures useful only for fetching firewood, or gracing the master’s bed chamber when the mistress of the house was elsewhere.
The Labour Party changed that attitude (at least, so far as the working man and woman were concerned) by providing a socialist government which created the National Health Service, safety nets for those unfortunates without jobs or other forms of remuneration, and a plethora of benefits for the working classes that caused long-dead Tories to spin in their graves.
It was all very clear-cut in the heady days pre-Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Quite simply, the Tories looked after the rich and Labour fought for the workers and downtrodden.
In the 1990’s, all that began to change. Under the leadership of Tony Blair the Labour Party swung away from representing the workers of Britain and became hand-in-glove with corporate interests. Blair and Brown were fascinated by the ‘American model’ and went all out to change the face of, not only British politics, but the very fabric of UK society. Privatization, though begun by the very Tory, Maggie Thatcher, was the order of the day.
The effect of privatization on Britain is well documented, but there was another spin-off, less obvious but growing insidiously, as a cancer, pervading the whole of British society and creating problems it will take generations to correct.
The Jewel in the Crown of Labour Party achievement is undoubtedly the National Health Service. Blair and Brown’s tenure as Prime Minister and Chancellor resulted in those jewels ripped from the crown and sold to the highest bidder, but the Blair/Brown government achieved a more sinister purpose. In its efforts to still appear as ‘the party of the workers’, it introduced a whole conglomeration of legislation that neutralized authority and gave the underclass a carte blanche to demand rights that previously they would never have entertained.
Those who have perused the excellent British Channel Four documentary series, “Hospital”, (available to expats on the internet, if you know where to look) will note that where once the medical profession were masters of their NHS domain, the patient – or, more correctly ‘client’, or, ‘customer’ is now able to decide the course their treatment should take, even if it conflicts with the advice of those who gave seven years of their lives to learning care of the sick.
One has only to read such excellent websites as the Police Inspector’s Blog[1] or, “The Policeman’s Blog”[2] by David Copperfield, to realize how much the authority of law enforcement has been eroded in Britain over the years, under the pretext of protecting ‘individual rights’.
While Blair/Brown’s ‘New Labour’ was hobnobbing behind the scenes with corporate cronies, selling the nation down the river to the highest bidder, it covered up its crimes by pandering to the underclass of criminals and hooligans given the right to wage mayhem every Saturday night on city streets and in town centers, while removing the ability of police officers to deal adequately with their menace.
Much has been made of the recent death of a protester at the G20 summit in London. The police have been condemned for undue violence. Yet nothing was said of the stressful conditions under which those officers were forced to work, the fact they were outnumbered ten to one. It’s always unfortunate when someone dies, but this man died of a heart attack, not from police brutality. Yet the media, the government, and the police hierarchy themselves were quick to condemn the officers concerned, perhaps more to absolve themselves from blame than from any evidence of serious wrongdoing by the officer involved.
The sad state of teenage drunkenness and pregnancies in Britain today is highlighted by the Channel Four series. Kids of sixteen and seventeen are dictating to doctors how their out-of-wedlock pregnancies should be handled. The cost to the NHS of underage alcohol abuse – a problem paralyzing A&E departments throughout the country – is astronomical, yet does the government move to curb it?
No. To do so would be seen as a move away from championing individual rights.
This fraudulent smokescreen only serves to mask the true purpose behind the Blair/Brown doctrine. While pretending an interest in Old Labour’s worker manifesto, it sells itself to corporate capitalism like a whore to her bejeweled pimp.
There comes a time in everyone’s life when old prejudices need be put aside, life-long loyalties rigorously examined, and the beliefs of years cast to the wind.
There comes a time when the British working man must seriously consider voting a Tory government into office.
[1] “Police Inspector Blog”
[2] “The Policeman’s Blog”
Filed under: Beneath the icing
