From: ravis@axion.bt.co.uk (Richard Avis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: The Decline of Britain (was Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy)
Date: 14 Apr 92 09:18:03 GMT
Reply-To: ravis@axion.bt.co.uk (Richard Avis)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs


In article <1992Apr13.174106.23153@athena.mit.edu>, danny@athena.mit.edu (Daniel A Lagattuta) writes:
|> 
|> 	It seems to me the problem is with the opposition parties.  If Labour and
|> the Liberal Democrats could cooperate and not compete for the same seats, they
|> could have formed a coalition government between them.   Unless, of course, the
|> British voters who vote Liberal Democrat might prefer a Tory government to
|> Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition.  Proportional representation sounds like a
|> good idea but it had led to very unstable governments in countries like Israel or
|> Italy.  In America, first past the post system has created a stable 2-party
|> system.  This is not to say that our government is doing a good job, but
|> proportional representation would not solve these problems.
|>
Stable 2-party system, come on! A republican presdient and a democrat run
Congress - result stagnation and HUGE debts.
 
|> 	It is too bad Britain had become regionally fragmented, but the old
|> manufacturing and mining belt were doomed to die from international competition. 
|> I do not think they began their decline in 1979.  Mrs. Thatcher just refused to
|> prop up these dying industries any longer.  In the long run, the depressed areas
|> should benefit from the pro-business policies of the Conservatives who have made
|> Britain an attractive place to invest in again. 

I don't believe I'm reading this crap. Firstly, this man is talking about a government that is 
quite happy, through free market dogma, to allow the coal industry to practically 
disappear while the electricity companies squander natural gas which will now last
20 years at most. Coal is our BIGGEST strategic asset and will cost billions to start
extracting again in 40 years time as oil runs out. But then the current crop of 
Tories never did understand the strategic imperative, otherwise training would be
top of their agenda, rather than the creation of a have and have-nots sweat shop
economy. (You could almost call it `the Hong Kong of Europe'.)

While I'm enjoying this tirade :-), I have to say that I agree with a lot of Phillip Carney's
assertions, but I don't think he goes far enough. Proportional Representation is not
the whole story, far more important is the manner in which the royal prerogative
has been abused to ensure the collapse in the idea of Cabinet government.
Before the arrival of Mrs. Thatcher, the idea was that we elected a party, of which
the Prime Minister was just an important cog in the wheel. Since then, 
the office of Prime Minister has been reinterpreted so that it has effectively
become a Presidential appointment with fantastic powers. Firstly, there is 
no constitution to rein the PM in. Secondly, party discipline ensures that the PM gets
her/his way. The classic example of this effect was the Poll Tax - dreamt up on the
back of a fag packet in the PM's office in about five minutes, with the disaster
played out over the next three years. This is the sort of political clout that 
Latin american dictators dream about - no wonder British politics has become
even further personalised and issues have become steadily eroded in importance.

Further erosion of democracy has taken place in other areas, notably:

1) The virtual disappearance of any latitude for movement at county and borough
level. Being a local councillor is now all responsibility and no power what so ever.

2) The stacking of NHS management and hospital trust committees with `our'
people - making them a rubber stamping mechanism for any daft scheme.

3) Politicisation of the Civil Service - to the point where a government of any other
hue would have to fire half the senior civil servants. The best example was 
Mrs. T's press secretary - he certainly couldn't have been trusted by anyone else.

4) The 10 fold increase in Government's advertising over the last 13 years and
the tendency for it to look more and more like propaganda.

5) Banning of unions at GCHQ (and the practical destruction of unions period). 
I have never understood this one and even the CBI has argued against much 
of the union legislation because they realise the unions are better than 
random vandalism as a means of expressing grievances.

Some of these things are indeed indicative of a one party state, and let's face it
the Conservatives have been in power 35 out of 50 post war years. But the problem
is that they will now begin to reap the winds sown by their own idealogical, moral
and political bankcruptcy. A government which needs to do nothing to get
elected will do just that, or worse become corrupt. To be honest, I have 
(personally) lost all respect and sympathy for the squalid little people who
keep voting the Conservatives in. Frankly, I think they are turning into a bunch of
bigotted, self-interested morons who seem unable to understand that the country
is descending into a terminal decline. And why shouldn't they be, after all that's
what the tabloids keep telling them they should be, along with the 
tory propaganda and red scares.
They deserve everything they get, including:

1) High phone bills

2) Decaying schools

3) The most expensive railway travel in Europe.

4) Almost the most expensive electricity in Europe.

5) Sky high water charges.

6) A remarkable tax stunt which has shifted the burden of taxation
from the rich to the rest, particularly VAT increases on a grand scale.
Plus and increase in taxation from 31% of GDP to 34% of GDP.

7) The Uniform Business  Rate

8) The Poll Tax

9) The worst trade deficits in the country's history.

10) The worst state of Government finances since the war

and so on....

Ironically, many of these things (particularly the collapse in infrastructure investment - look
at the rail link to the Channel tunnel) are not in the best interests of business. Funny
old world isn't it?

 I must admit, I would love to live in the safe, comfortable little world of the Conservative
voter. One not populated by the homeless and mentally ill on the streets, 
the unemployed and not rife with crime and social decay. One where Britain has
a strong economy instead of the bankcrupt casino economy it really has.

But then even unemployed people and those suffering from house repossesions
vote Tory - it must just be me!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richard Avis (Mr. Forgettable)

EMail : ravis@axion.bt.co.uk
Mail : BT Laboratories,
       Martlesham Heath,
       Ipswich,
       Suffolk,
       IP5 7RE.

"We had to destroy Ben Tre in order to save it." - Unknown U.S. Army Major

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.british