We still vote. We still pretend that Parliament matters. But behind the curtain of this ritualised theatre, Britain is no longer a functioning democracy in any meaningful way sense.
This is a grim but precise and excellent analysis of our contemporary system of 'government', and I agree with every point you make. I'd just add this to the Truss 'theatre': Ms Truss was a product of her Whitehall handlers - surely we know by now that all our ministers in this and the preceding governments have their thoughts, their speeches, their agendas, created by the mandarins in their offices and departments. Once in No 10, she stopped doing as expected, as she was told - and had to go.
Indeed, more and more of us are disengaging -not just from any participation in the political arena but also from perusing 'news' as presented in the establishment MSM, not even when simply trying to raise one's blood pressure.
My Lin won a 5-day civil case against WM Police in 1999 (before a jury) for 'wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution', being awarded costs and damages. Though very no-nonsense and contemptuous of being 'a victim', L remained unhappy about the experience. While chatting to her GP (during a routine appointment) he, a wise doctor, said "Look, Lin, you're suffering a bereavement" "How do you mean?" "All your life you've taken it for granted that the system - police and courts - can be trusted. You had an encounter in which a police officer told a lie, and that lie was supported by his colleagues. You were arrested, charged and held in custody for something you didn't do. The effect of that experience was that you've lost something that was quite basic to your understanding of the world. and your trust in 'the system'" What a superlative example of non-medical care from a doctor! To our relief, and to the credit of our barrister, the judge and jury, L's civil action - proceedings that went on for 3 years - put things judicially right, but the sense of a 'bereavement' endures. Your piece is so spot on. It grieves us 'in our bones'.
This is a grim but precise and excellent analysis of our contemporary system of 'government', and I agree with every point you make. I'd just add this to the Truss 'theatre': Ms Truss was a product of her Whitehall handlers - surely we know by now that all our ministers in this and the preceding governments have their thoughts, their speeches, their agendas, created by the mandarins in their offices and departments. Once in No 10, she stopped doing as expected, as she was told - and had to go.
Indeed, more and more of us are disengaging -not just from any participation in the political arena but also from perusing 'news' as presented in the establishment MSM, not even when simply trying to raise one's blood pressure.
My Lin won a 5-day civil case against WM Police in 1999 (before a jury) for 'wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution', being awarded costs and damages. Though very no-nonsense and contemptuous of being 'a victim', L remained unhappy about the experience. While chatting to her GP (during a routine appointment) he, a wise doctor, said "Look, Lin, you're suffering a bereavement" "How do you mean?" "All your life you've taken it for granted that the system - police and courts - can be trusted. You had an encounter in which a police officer told a lie, and that lie was supported by his colleagues. You were arrested, charged and held in custody for something you didn't do. The effect of that experience was that you've lost something that was quite basic to your understanding of the world. and your trust in 'the system'" What a superlative example of non-medical care from a doctor! To our relief, and to the credit of our barrister, the judge and jury, L's civil action - proceedings that went on for 3 years - put things judicially right, but the sense of a 'bereavement' endures. Your piece is so spot on. It grieves us 'in our bones'.