Democracy is wrecked:
About Democracy (An Anti-Tory Song)
"“Blue
meanies,” “Tories,” or “the nasty Party” - it really doesn’t matter what you
call them – Asking For A Friend has had enough of the hostile and austere
British government! New single Democracy is a bouncy, catchy - yet scathing
- critique of current UK politics."
I'm angry because I'm paying attention...
I am an artist and musician, not a political commentator as such, but I can no longer resist the compulsion to add my voice to those on the underrepresented left of the political spectrum.
I’m actually a really reserved, mild-mannered person, brought up to respect authority and not challenge the accepted way of things, raised to believe anger is a shameful and unhealthy emotion; an ordinary wife; mum to a primary-school aged child; a former front-line employee in the NHS. However, I also have a university education that helped me to become an enquiring critical thinker. In sharing this, I acknowledge that am speaking from a position of considerable privilege.
I consider it my
civic duty to be politically engaged, to judge the facts based on a range of
verifiable sources, instead of being spoon-fed by any specific news outlet or section of the media. Sadly, this is not (and - as I shall try to explain - cannot be) the case for everyone currently.
So, WHY isn't EVERYONE as angry as me about the current state of UK democracy? Having thought long and hard about this question, I have formed the opinion that there are many barriers to people's engagement with and understanding of politics:
- Education (or lack of)
- Poverty (linked with Housing and Employment)
- The Mental Health Crisis
- The Erosion of Democracy (connected to Lobbying; an Inadequate Voting System; Corruption and Interference)
- Media Propaganda and Manipulation
Education (or lack of)
As I understand, Politics is not widely taught in UK schools (indeed, teachers are not allowed to express any political bias), unless students opt to study it at A Level (although a GCSE is available in some nations of the UK). Please note the article is from 2018, but gives a good overview:
https://blog.oup.com/2018/01/politics-teaching-secondary-school/
However, government and politics is touched upon as part of the Citizenship GCSE, whereby students might be shown material such as this simple and misleadingly positive video from BBC Bitesize:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/citizenship-gcse-what-is-political-power/zhdf47h
As I write this, a friend sent me a link about the newest government attempt to enslave the next generation into unquestioning acceptance of the current system: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, that's just how it works, kids! There's no alternative, sorry!
A lack of education regarding politics is (duh!) extremely prohibitive to people's informed engagement with political matters. This means that - instead of being able to research and draw their own, reasoned conclusions - people are vulnerable to manipulation through politicians' rhetoric and how issues are presented in the media.
Whenever I receive a reply to correspondence with my MP, I note the condescension in the tone of the communication...as if she has deigned to reply in helpfully simple terms about something I can barely fathom. Indeed, politics is difficult to understand - intentionally so! A good example is the fact that our democracy still depends on archaic, sometimes seemingly esoteric practices that I believe make it deliberately difficult for people to understand (such as: Filibustering, Henry VIII Clauses, Black Rod, Points of Order, Statutory Instruments). Yet the institution of government is supposed to work for us all. Tradition should not be considered more important than transparency or efficiency. People generally think the affairs of Parliament are beyond their understanding...so they remain that way.
Poverty
1) Housing:
The private renting sector has seen huge growth in recent decades, with legislative changes largely benefitting landlords rather than tenants:
"A raft of changes to social security policy have been under way since around 2010, which have made housing (especially privately rented housing) less affordable...The growing number of households in the expensive private rented sector is part of the picture of rising poverty levels." (Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Findings of 2019-20 Report) https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2019-20
When considering the issue of poverty amongst private renters, it is impossible to ignore the selling-off of social housing as part of the 'right to buy' scheme in the 1980s (whereby tenants were permitted to purchase their council-built home from their local authority). This policy led to a shortage of social housing that persists to this day.
Indeed, Margaret Thatcher's rise to the highest political office in Britain from relatively humble beginnings underpinned her neoliberal ethos that those unable to better themselves (in terms of education, employment and earnings) deserve their lot, regardless of the barriers to self-sufficiency they may face:
"In the late 1970s, Thatcher's fears about the welfare state were twofold. First, she and her advisers thought that generous collective provision for unemployment and sickness was sapping some working-class people's drive to work. Second, they feared the corrupting influence of what Thatcher's close ally Keith Joseph called 'the Father Christmas state' on the middle class, who were thought to be in danger of relying increasingly not on their own hard work and thrift, but on collective action through trade unions and state hand-outs. Thatcher wanted to re-establish an economic and legal framework and a cultural ethos which rewarded what she saw as the 'Victorian' or 'bourgeois' values of thrift, self-reliance and charity among all classes." http://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/margaret-thatcher-individualism-and-the-welfare-state
2) Employment:
Zero- (or low-guaranteed) hours contracts are becoming an accepted norm. It benefits large employers to have casual staff because they can avoid paying for sick leave, maternity/paternity leave and holidays:
http://www.safeworkers.co.uk/zero-hours-contracts-explained.html
Another worrying trend is the number of people in employment who rely on Food Banks. Here are the latest stats on rising Food Bank use:
https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/
Many workers in the UK are reliant on benefit payments to top-up their earnings and allow them to pay for basics such as food and accommodation. This summary of how much the UK government spends on benefit payments shows how interlinked the issues of housing and employment are with regard to poverty: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47623277
To generalise hugely on these two points (Housing and Employment): People on low incomes usually work longer hours in order to pay private rent. Additionally, people in low-paid menial or physically labour-intensive jobs (which may lack any particular sense of personal satisfaction or any job security) are likely to be stressed and exhausted at the end of their long working days. This 'hand-to-mouth' survival state of mind is effective in preventing people from examining or questioning the current system too deeply, because they exist in perpetual stress and fear of not being able to afford the basic necessities of life.
The Mental Health Crisis
Poor mental health reduces your capacity and motivation to enact change: If you have mental health problems in the UK, like me, you may be familiar with the most common treatment options being CBT-based psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. The therapy teaches you how to overcome the symptoms of common mental health problems such as anxiety, OCD, depression. I have seen some brilliant therapists and derived many genuine benefits from talking, challenging my negative thoughts and practising mindfulness. However, I believe this therapy only ever really scratches the surface of why so many of us suffer with common mental health disorders. Depression and anxiety are the result of prolonged stress. Stress, of course is a perfectly normal mammalian reaction to any and all situations where we feel under threat. To give examples, this information sheet from the mental health charity MIND lists common factors that could contribute to a person being clinically anxious:
- exhaustion or a build up of stress
- long working hours
- being out of work
- feeling under pressure while studying or in work
- having money problems
- homelessness or housing problems
- losing someone close to you
- feeling lonely or isolated
- being bullied, harassed or abused.
Here are some stats about the rising use of antidepressants:
The Erosion of Democracy
1) Lobbying:
Lobbying gives big business access to and influence upon our politicians. MPs now increasingly work in the interests of their donors rather than the populace at large.
Not a recent article, but a good overview of this can be found here: https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/why-money-still-rules-the-roost-in-british-politics/
The following piece examines the influence of fossil fuel companies' lobbying on the government's inaction regarding the climate emergency: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/24/fossil-fuel-big-five-spent-251m-lobbying-european-union-2010-climate-crisis
2) Our Inadequate Voting System
The way our votes are counted is fundamentally flawed. Looking again at the BBC Bitesize video 'What is political power?' (see above, in my paragraph on Education), one could be forgiven for thinking that all those who cast their vote have a say in who governs them at a local and national level. This is simply not the case!
In Britain, a vote-counting method known as 'First-past-the-post' is used. This ensures minority rule and does not reflect true democracy. For example: "The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn't vote for and don't agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like." https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/first-past-the-post
If our government cared about the democratic representation of the electorate, they would put an alternative system, called Proportional Representation, in place: "Most democracies - and the vast majority of developed countries - use some form of Proportional Representation for their general elections. There are several families and countless formulations of proportional voting systems - each with their own features. No proportional voting system is as flawed as First Past the Post." https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/proportional-representation
If I could hope for one positive thing to come out of making a (superficially) silly song about a clown and a pencil, it would be for people to investigate proportional representation using the resources provided at makevotesmatter.org and electoral-reform.org. THIS IS KEY - BUT RELATIVELY FEW PEOPLE SEEM TO KNOW ABOUT IT!!
3) Corruption and Interference
An internal investigation into alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party (leaked in early 2020), found evidence that some party election campaign staff actively sought to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn as party leader in the run-up to the 2017 UK General Election. It has been reported that Labour were just 2,500 votes away from winning this election. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-leak-report-corbyn-election-whatsapp-antisemitism-tories-yougov-poll-a9462456.html
New Leader Of The Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer, has addressed this factionalism within the party, not by casting out those responsible for the sabotage, but by removing socialist members from the shadow cabinet, signifying a move away from the left and towards the centre of the political spectrum.
The first-past-the-post system (see above) makes for a bipartisan government, with the same two parties (Labour and Conservative) having formed the UK government and opposition for over 100 years. Some social media commentators have wittily described this system as being like "two cheeks of the same arse." I tend to agree. Obviously I am anti-Tory - this is largely because of the damage I have seen during my lifetime from neoliberal policies such as austerity. However, centrist Labour governments (such as Tony Blair's New Labour) sought power on broadly the same terms. They support (through lobbying, tax breaks and limited regulation) the same unethical global industries (including "Big Tech", fossil fuels, the arms trade and sweat-shop manufacturing). Therefore, the two major parties in UK politics could be seen as simply a "good cop" and a "bad cop," using different strategies to achieve the same result: power and control - instead of a better, fairer society. This problem is highlighted by American philosopher Noam Chomsky, as follows: "The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum – even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate." (from The Common Good, 1998)
Additionally, I found this article on our government's lack of action with regard to ongoing digital political interference:
Recently, the government's use of taxpayers' money to fund private health contracts in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the headlines. Close personal links between cabinet members and private business executives who were awarded contracts without tender has lead to accusations of "cronyism," as detailed here:
I also include this interesting report from the BMA on the privatisation by stealth of our NHS by means of outsourcing:
https://www.bma.org.uk/media/2885/the-role-of-private-outsourcing-in-the-covid-19-response.pdf
Propaganda and manipulation by an unaccountable press
Here is an interesting roundup of the types of manipulation employed by the media to influence public perceptions. I am particularly interested in the description relating to how the image of a clown may be used to make a public figure seem foolish! No mention a pencil though:
The following link (although it features some data that is several years old) explains how the information we receive via mainstream news comes by way of a very small number of gatekeepers with their own agenda (control and profit):
Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently condemned Extinction Rebellion protestors who shut down News Corp printing presses in September 2020 as attacking the "free press:" https://extinctionrebellion.uk/2020/09/13/extinction-rebellion-statement-on-printworks-action/?fbclid=IwAR2tAEiwtfmkXbaUXE1iau0xlK5bs8-88_7vQC_SJHGO8ra5QrWxT9kRIUA
However, looking at how the media's power is concentrated in very few hands and joining the dots to identify some extremely close connections/relationships between British newspaper editors/journalists and those who govern our nation, it is impossible to conclude that we have a "free" press that works for the common good:
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18700394.political-editor-hits-back-pm-hypocrisy-vital-free-press/
In the 2018 Guardian article below, Ed Miliband (former Labour Party leader) writes about the importance of learning lessons about the culture and ethics of the press (and other media) following the Leveson Inquiry, held in 2011-12 (to which a second part was originally planned but has still not materialised): "Nor can we take comfort from the response to Leveson part one. The press declined to set up the kind of independent regulator that both Leveson and parliament wanted to see. Instead we have Ipso, a toothless organisation that, despite bold promises, has yet to impose a single fine or deliver a single equal prominence front-page correction in a national paper. There are also significant issues around the lack of rules or redress around much of the news on social media."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/08/victims-phone-hacking-leveson-inquiry
As Miliband notes, there is nothing to prevent newspapers from printing big-impact, front-page falsehoods, then later recanting their claims (to protect them from legal action) by way of publishing tiny apologies or corrections at a later date, after the damage (with regard to public perception of the issues) has been done, as in this example:
https://splinternews.com/uk-paper-makes-small-apology-for-giant-racist-error-1819879074
"Enraged by fruitless correspondence with a local MP she did not vote for, solo act/home producer Kat Torrie (aka Asking For A Friend) unleashes gently mocking, juvenile humour to express deep disdain for a self-serving, manipulative Tory government." [Excerpt from my Press Release for the song/video]
I know I am in a "leftie" bubble: I follow political blogs including 'No, Actually, That's Bollocks' and 'Another Angry Voice' and it seems like everywhere I look on social media, I see analysis and criticism of the government's handling of Coronavirus and Brexit, immigration and homelessness, climate catastrophe and tax avoidance. Algorithms are responsible for this, I know: social media shows me what resonates with me in order to hold my attention. However, anti-Tory feeling seems to be growing outside my little sphere, too, with even the traditionally right-leaning press condemning Boris and co. Heck, even my parents (who I'm pretty sure have voted for the self-servatives since before I was even born) seem able to see through at least some of the lies.
It might seem strange to say, considering I have focused on JRM and Boris as the targets for my "rage," but the song Democracy is not truly intended to be a personal attack (this is why I did not direct the song at my local Tory MP: she is whipped to be complicit, but does not dictate party policy). These particular Tories are merely figureheads - grotesque caricatures of the larger regime they represent. I don't know these men, I can only judge them by their political standpoints, their words and actions.
Sure, you could see Democracy as a bit of a novelty song – my lockdown project – a cheap shot, a clickbait-style dig at a floundering PM and a dire government. But the rage and the hate I sing about are very real, because I honestly care about everyone who suffers for the wealth and power of the few. The policies of the Conservative party have undoubtedly penalised society's poorest and most vulnerable over the past 40 plus years and even those who challenge their political power do little to combat their harmful ideology.
Kat (Asking For A Friend)
Listen to the song or watch the video here:
https://linktr.ee/askingfriend
