A very dear friend maintains a blog and I have been pondering her post from earlier today to be found at www.mutterz.com
I don’t suppose for one moment that other Countries are so very different from the UK but I am curious about the future.
In the UK the financial policies pursued by the current Government, in particular the current Prime Minister, have left this country morally and fiscally bankrupt. He has robbed Peter to pay Paul, until Peter has nothing left. I am curious to know what will happen next – and, frankly, trying also not to be fearful.
My husband is a member of the armed forces, fortunately for us now too old for deployment anywhere exciting, but his work each day involves trying to make an increasingly onerous training schedule fit into the ever decreasing budgetary limitations that are imposed on him. He is expected to teach pilots to fly – with little or no fuel for aircraft and a shortage of spare parts for repairs.
Many military installations have been sold off to (often foreign) property developers with the armed forces not receiving any benefit from the proceeds of the sale, as those are all required to shore up an economy that is largely held together by cobwebs and feathers.
We are subjected to a form of NewSpeak from Politicians where we are bombarded with words which are meaningless. A few years ago a National Newspaper analysed what the then Chancellor was announcing in the way of new funds for education. They proved that these ‘new’ funds had been announced multiple times during the preceding 12 months and yet nothing had actually reached schools and teachers. We were being bamboozled by a maven bamboozler.
Flaminglacer in her blog post comments on the voluntary sector and the shortage of funds for services that the Great British public have come to rely upon. Members of our society who have money of course do not need the services of bodies such as the Citizens Advice Bureau. As always seems to be the case, those who need something the most are those who are least able to support it financially.
As I sit here typing I feel ashamed. Ashamed at the apathy that has crept into so many of our lives. Ashamed that more of us (and I include myself) haven’t been more proactive at calling politicians to account. If more of us started asking difficult questions and using our blogs to voice our disquiet and discontent perhaps, bit by bit, we could see a change.
Surely we have nothing to lose by trying?
