Disappointment of the Year
Jan. 1st, 2011 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thermalsatsumaIn the dying days of the last Labour government, I wrote to my MP expressing my concerns about the Digital Economy Act and in particular the way it was being rushed through parliament without any real debate or oversight. She replied with a lofty dismissal that waved away the points that I had made with an air of 'we know best'. This attitude, combined with years of increasingly authoritarian policies including ID cards, detention without trial and repressive policing in the name of anti terror laws made it impossible for me to vote Labour in the election.
I chose the Lib Dems with an air of optimism that their priorities - for science funding, education and civil liberties - matched my own. I thought that in a hung parliament the Lib Dems would have a real shot at influencing politics for the better. It seems I was wrong. David Cameron has effectively used Nick Clegg as a human shield whilst he has embarked on a ruthless series of cuts that seem anything but fair whilst the richest in the country are still getting richer (and paying less tax).
Wither politics? Yes, it might. All I know is the Britain of 2011 is a colder, more divided and less hopeful place than it was a year ago.
I chose the Lib Dems with an air of optimism that their priorities - for science funding, education and civil liberties - matched my own. I thought that in a hung parliament the Lib Dems would have a real shot at influencing politics for the better. It seems I was wrong. David Cameron has effectively used Nick Clegg as a human shield whilst he has embarked on a ruthless series of cuts that seem anything but fair whilst the richest in the country are still getting richer (and paying less tax).
Wither politics? Yes, it might. All I know is the Britain of 2011 is a colder, more divided and less hopeful place than it was a year ago.