Politicians have a thankless job at present. So, why do they do it???

As I’ve always said, it takes a type. Most likely individuals who feel they must lead.
The current toxic environment of our politics is a huge deterrent to the brightest and best. It now takes more guts & thick skin (to take repeated vile abuse) than brightness, to be a politician. It’s a surprise we have anyone left willing to get into politics.

Yes, it’s always been about power and getting quick access to power, which leads to post-politics jobs etc. But, is it worth it these days? Many no longer think it is…

We are cutting off our nose to spite our face. If we deter the brightens from entering politics – because it’s become so toxic – we end up with just anyone who is brave enough and willing to take the abuse and toxicity. That’s not helping anyone is it? We need the brightest and best, going into politics, so that the country is run by the sharpest people we have.

Take housing as one example. The country is short of houses. It’s nothing to do with illegal migration nor migration. If you kicked everyone who isn’t a direct descendant of Henry the 8th out of the country, we are still short of houses. It is a problem that’s built up over decades of underfunding (the same problem with the NHS, services across sectors etc). But where to build new houses? NOT IN MY BACKYARD (NIMBY) says everyone! They want green spaces, clear open skies, no increase to traffic on the road etc. No planning, no consensus. We want to eat our cake and still have it. So, we find someone to blame. We are a country of over 65million people. How can the influx of, say, 2million illegal migrants over a 20 year period, be the reason why everything we have has disintegrated? Is that really being honest? I don’t have the exact figures, but let us assume that of our 65 million population, those that are not 10th generation British are a whopping total of, what? 20 million? How can they be the reason our service industry is on its knees and the NHS, housing etc., are crippled?? We are a great nation, a resilient nation. Why have we not invested and kept things going? HATE won’t solve anything. INGENUITY will. YES, we must secure our borders – for so many highly credible reasons. YES, we must integrate newcomers such that we do not lose how we live our lives here etc. BUT no, no and no, to scapegoating. It’s gone on for too long. We need to face today’s reality: if we want to maintain the exact same scenery as we had 100 years ago, when our population was a lot less than 65 million, then we need to come up with other solutions. Find previously uninhabited or uninhabitable islands to develop and create incentives to move people there? Build artificial islands? Find a new habitable planet? Whatever. Sitting about doing nothing but just blaming everything on migration and repeatedly whipping up hate and intolerance, is a basic human flaw.

Not listening to those NIMBY folk and plowing ahead with sticking houses in places that will lead to generational tension is also shortsighted. But when we have created a toxic environment where our brightest minds had run off and do not wish to enter politics, we are sunk.

The government is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Double-damned if they try to be decent or honest (like our current government). The only government that can be popular today, is one that’s willing to just say what the people want to hear. Get the slogans out there e.g. “oven-ready Brexit”, “stop the boats” etc. while knowing fully well that they are all just empty words. Honesty and decency now gets you nowhere. Combine that with an era where only the brave and thick-skinned can enter politics (with the brightest unwilling to enter politics) and you can see why we are where we are today!

We no longer allow for any planning nor thinking time! Today’s government have targets that they must meet – to stand half a chance of reelection – so, they just have to get on with it. Little in support from the baying public. We want immediate fixes. It is such a dire situation. It seems so hopeless. It is depressing.

What we should be doing, is setting out exactly what the situation is. The facts. How many social housing units do we have in total? How man6 people who do not consider themselves migrants are in need of housing? How many migrants do we roughly expect each year (say, 500,000 legal migrants (net) and 200,000 illegal?) how many of those will require social housing? What kind of housing units do we need to build and what level of increase in services (transport, schools, health etc) do we need?
Then let’s see how best to fix a totally broken system. Instead, we just want to play politics with it all. It has all become just a convenient weapon to divide us all and pitch us up against each other. It’s become a very potent tool for divide & conquer. Divide & rule. Very few actually want to fix it. And when the try – as the current government is – they get crushed for trying. Because we don’t really want the problem solved do we? We just want something to carry on moaning about….

American is the same. Just look at the size of the USA. Should a country of that size and resources get so impacted by a few million people trooping in through their southern border? Why not build more, or find a new planet? or anything. Solutions. Instead, they fixate on mass deportation. It is just so unbelievable really. And they get so whipped up about it. Ok. Fine. Round up all the millions you say you want to deport America! Round them up. Deport them. Build a sky-high wall across your entire border (make the Great Wall of China look like a mini wall), do all that. Let’s see what you have left. A loving society? Nope, you will find the next thing to quarrel about (probably LGTBQ). The same people who are up in angst against migration, will find the next topic they are angry about. There will be no end to it. That is what divisiveness is. The topic is irrelevant. They will always find the next issue. Sort migration and it will be something else next..