Wednesday18th April

One hears the refrain all the time, “All politicians are the same” and it simply isn’t true.  This opinion is usually held, if the term opinion can even be ascribed to ones who think so little, by those who invariably do not vote at all.  They have abnegated all responsibility by not participating in their own future and so are free to criticize at will all that others are trying to do.  And I actually do believe that the vast majority of politicians do sincerely want to improve the world we live in.  One may argue with the methods they use, or the fact that they are careful with their language so as not to become a hostage to fortune, or to scare the children (take your pick), but in the main they are decent people who genuinely believe that the philosophy they are following is in the country’s best interest.  At least they start out that way, even if the intervening years may produce a degree of skepticism and even self-serving arrogance.  The problem is not with the individual politicians but the party system, though no-one has yet devised a system where parties or like-minded groups or caucuses do not emerge.  One may dislike certain politicians intensely, I had no time for Mrs Thatcher, with her thinly disguised snobbery and determined hatred of trade unions, and Mr. Blair, with his unctuous manner and cod-religious justifications for constantly going to war often rubbed me up the wrong way, but say what you like, they were as different as chalk and cheese.  Mrs Thatcher was not even a politician, in the normal sense of the word; she was not prepared to seek out any sort of consensus at all, those who were not with her were against her, and she carried all before her by sheer willpower.  Mr. Blair was the epitome of persuasion, using his skills to great effect with Northern Ireland, but to our awful cost in hoodwinking most of his party and a large part of the country to agree to invading Iraq.   And now we have Mr. Cameron and Mr. Milliband, who may sound similar, but actually are representing completely different sections of society.  And they are quite different from each other, and from poor Mr. Clegg, who may not only have backed the wrong horse but has led his party from the possibility of wielding some real influence from the backbenches into an unholy alliance where they will get none of the praise and all the blame.  So, before making sweeping generalizations just think; would you say that all nurses or all bus drivers are the all the same – I think not.  QED.