Is This a Coup...
...I see before me?
I saw someone on Facebook taking Paul Mason to task for misusing the word 'coup' and two things struck me.
Firstly, given what's going on with the UK's parliamentary system, arguing about the definition of the word 'coup' suggests to me someone has missed the point here.
The traditional way of doing things in the UK democracy is by negotiation. I'm not naive enough to claim that this involves consensus: I've seen too many politicians in action to ever claim that. Nor can I claim that the results of negotiation please me personally: all too often, it leaves politics as a system that cuts out the voter. We get to vote and that's all. Every other decision is then in the hands of the people we voted for and all the voters can do is hope that some information filters down to us and that the people we've voted for have a scooby what they're doing. (And they don't always).
That traditional way seems to have stopped working now. The people most of us voted for are now out of the loop and will remain out of the loop because parliament won't be able to question what's going on from inside the house.
Decisions are being taken by a small - a very small - group of people. From Friday's news, it seems the Chancellor of the Exchequer (in the job for a fortnight and - we can only hope - reading up on the economy) is not in that wee group. But an unelected 'adviser' with the ear of the prime minister is in the loop - so in the loop he's hiring and firing people who work in government offices.
Secondly, has no one else watched a TV mini series called : A very British Coup? It was made in 1988 and shows what was then the normal situation: Labour versus Conservatives, and how a left wing Labour prime minister finds his government's ambitions thwarted at every turn by an international banking cabal, the security services and ultimately the army.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094576/
I imagine it's quite a creaky production now but a few things strike me. It first appeared on Channel 4. It was written as a novel by Chris Mullen, a Labour politician. It was based on rumours that a Labour prime minister, Harold Wilson, was spied on (and undermined) by 'organs of the establishment.' It won awards.
On the bright side, Channel 4 is still the only UK terrestrial TV channel with anything like a wider view of politics in the UK - that is, its news programmes sometimes venture outside the London area.
On the gloomy side, can you imagine a series like this being produced now? Or winning awards? Or, come to that, 'Yes, Minister' or 'Yes, Prime Minister' or the other political fiction that the UK produced in the past? 'Spitting Image' anyone? And if you're thinking there's always 'In the Loop', that was produced in 2009. A long time ago in political terms: the bank crash came along at the same time and then the Conservatives got back into power. And have been making a shambles of the UK economy ever since. Why else does anyone think they're looking to take shelter under the wing of the USA?
Can you imagine a TV series based on the current Labour leadership. No? Me neither. Today I was asked if I thought Jeremy Corbyn was a communist. I have no interest in the Labour Party, but my answer would be: no, he's not a communist - that's a line punted by the right-wing media. He's an old-fashioned Labour leftie. And that's the problem.
Anyway, what would it mean if he was a communist? Is it a sign of how far down the road of Thatcher's free marketeers we've gone that, like Americans, we're scared of other systems of government? I also don't think Corbyn or many other people in the Labour Party are anti-semites. But I have to admit the UK media (most of it under the control of a small number of foreign-based billionaires) have done a great job of scaring a lot of people out of voting for him.
So what happens now in terms of parliamentary democracy? That, I think, is up to English people. Those of us in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have no say. We can't outvote England or persuade English voters to swing back from what seems to a lot of us to be the extreme right and start to think about what's good for the whole of the UK. I feel sorry for the many people in England who don't want to see their parliament hijacked by the Tories or to leave the EU, but honestly - honestly - don't expect people like me to worry about you - any more than you worry about us up here in North Britain.
I'm a Scottish Green. I want independence for Scotland. Then I want a whole new political set-up - maybe without the SNP, unless they can come up with a few dynamic ideas for the future - and with parties that suit Scotland. I want land reform, a better education system, safeguards for health and social care, improved infrastructure, better use of our finances - and I want voters involved at every level, not just at the ballot box. I don't know if we'll get that but it's worth trying.
I saw someone on Facebook taking Paul Mason to task for misusing the word 'coup' and two things struck me.
Firstly, given what's going on with the UK's parliamentary system, arguing about the definition of the word 'coup' suggests to me someone has missed the point here.
The traditional way of doing things in the UK democracy is by negotiation. I'm not naive enough to claim that this involves consensus: I've seen too many politicians in action to ever claim that. Nor can I claim that the results of negotiation please me personally: all too often, it leaves politics as a system that cuts out the voter. We get to vote and that's all. Every other decision is then in the hands of the people we voted for and all the voters can do is hope that some information filters down to us and that the people we've voted for have a scooby what they're doing. (And they don't always).
That traditional way seems to have stopped working now. The people most of us voted for are now out of the loop and will remain out of the loop because parliament won't be able to question what's going on from inside the house.
Decisions are being taken by a small - a very small - group of people. From Friday's news, it seems the Chancellor of the Exchequer (in the job for a fortnight and - we can only hope - reading up on the economy) is not in that wee group. But an unelected 'adviser' with the ear of the prime minister is in the loop - so in the loop he's hiring and firing people who work in government offices.
Secondly, has no one else watched a TV mini series called : A very British Coup? It was made in 1988 and shows what was then the normal situation: Labour versus Conservatives, and how a left wing Labour prime minister finds his government's ambitions thwarted at every turn by an international banking cabal, the security services and ultimately the army.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094576/
I imagine it's quite a creaky production now but a few things strike me. It first appeared on Channel 4. It was written as a novel by Chris Mullen, a Labour politician. It was based on rumours that a Labour prime minister, Harold Wilson, was spied on (and undermined) by 'organs of the establishment.' It won awards.
On the bright side, Channel 4 is still the only UK terrestrial TV channel with anything like a wider view of politics in the UK - that is, its news programmes sometimes venture outside the London area.
On the gloomy side, can you imagine a series like this being produced now? Or winning awards? Or, come to that, 'Yes, Minister' or 'Yes, Prime Minister' or the other political fiction that the UK produced in the past? 'Spitting Image' anyone? And if you're thinking there's always 'In the Loop', that was produced in 2009. A long time ago in political terms: the bank crash came along at the same time and then the Conservatives got back into power. And have been making a shambles of the UK economy ever since. Why else does anyone think they're looking to take shelter under the wing of the USA?
Can you imagine a TV series based on the current Labour leadership. No? Me neither. Today I was asked if I thought Jeremy Corbyn was a communist. I have no interest in the Labour Party, but my answer would be: no, he's not a communist - that's a line punted by the right-wing media. He's an old-fashioned Labour leftie. And that's the problem.
Anyway, what would it mean if he was a communist? Is it a sign of how far down the road of Thatcher's free marketeers we've gone that, like Americans, we're scared of other systems of government? I also don't think Corbyn or many other people in the Labour Party are anti-semites. But I have to admit the UK media (most of it under the control of a small number of foreign-based billionaires) have done a great job of scaring a lot of people out of voting for him.
So what happens now in terms of parliamentary democracy? That, I think, is up to English people. Those of us in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have no say. We can't outvote England or persuade English voters to swing back from what seems to a lot of us to be the extreme right and start to think about what's good for the whole of the UK. I feel sorry for the many people in England who don't want to see their parliament hijacked by the Tories or to leave the EU, but honestly - honestly - don't expect people like me to worry about you - any more than you worry about us up here in North Britain.
I'm a Scottish Green. I want independence for Scotland. Then I want a whole new political set-up - maybe without the SNP, unless they can come up with a few dynamic ideas for the future - and with parties that suit Scotland. I want land reform, a better education system, safeguards for health and social care, improved infrastructure, better use of our finances - and I want voters involved at every level, not just at the ballot box. I don't know if we'll get that but it's worth trying.
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