What have we got in government in England today?

Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey of the Opposition Labour Party has today pointed out: "Since the last election we've had five Chancellors, four Foreign Secretaries, three Prime Ministers, two Defence Secretaries, but only one Armed Forces Minister". While there is unease as 63 Conservative MP’s in today’s House of Commons have given notice not to stand at the next election, as well as two if not three, by-elections being held next month, the country is at a crossroads contemplating the date of the next General Election. Polls have all come out with different scenarios, of the colour of the next government, whilst ordinary working people are reflecting what can happen between now and the General Election, for that matter, between now and the Local Government election to be held, in the first week of May 2024.

According to a new poll survey, by Redfield Wilton Strategies, Reform UK, the Nigel Farage linked party is sparking nightmares as 1 in 5 of 2019 Tory voters now will turn to Reform. Just 44% say, they would vote Conservatives again. This will put Labour in clear lead with 20 points. But, is it all done and dusted? Not really? Election polls are accurate but can only reveal voter intentions on the day they were taken, they don’t predict the future? Election polls also comprise only a very small portion of the population surveyed. The public might say it’s time for a change, they prefer Labour to Conservatives. But public expectations’ of delivery of party manifesto are still to count. If Labour or the Conservatives are only able to limp into No.10, off the back of dissatisfaction with either, not much will be achieved? Both main parties and their leaders have at today’s date, a negative favourability rating, with Rishi Sunak not considered less able to do than Sir Keir Starmer? The question on voter minds is will things get better under Labour? Will things get better in the two wars, Ukraine and/or Gaza? Not until, there are changes in both wars, can anything change in Great Britain? Britain is a country that increasingly votes by age? The Labour Party will need to muster 2/3rds of the voters who are 65 and over to obtain a big majority. This a tall order in the present circumstances with electoral boundary changes that the Tories have “juggled” already in the pipeline? Likewise, will the Red Wall votes of North England be re-claimed by Sunak or by Starmer, even with Boris Johnson leading again the election campaign for the Tories as in 2019? Will Women voters consider voting for Sunak or Starmer in large numbers? Many, young women would rather prefer Labour to Conservative? Starmer to Sunak? These and many other questions will be troubling the minds of each party’s strategists in the run up to the next General election in Britain? Victor Cherubim

What is considered "Good Taste"?

Social symbols have for centuries been the ban of the elite society in UK. Nathalie Olah in her book "Bad Taste" elaborates her argument that "good taste" is a construct enforced by the elite to maintain the status quo. According to her book review,she is one of the sharpest social critics of the Post Crash (2008)Era. She lays bare the ways in which a cultural war has submerged Class War. Capitalism far from giving us what we want has conditioned us to accept a narrow view of what is possible,in favour of austerity. Her disilluionment is with neo-liberal economics; how money,power and social class shape our present lives, which appears to be a dissection of the culture we live in. Britain has over time been noted for its luxury beliefs which conferred social status on the Upper Class,while often inflicting costs on those beneath. Theories abound that while in the past people displayed their membership of the Upper Class with material "accoutrements," status symbols have today become more accessible to the masses and thus seem devalued. Society has thus decoupled social status from goods and reattached it to beliefs. What is Social Status? We are reminded by ettiquette experts that mobile phones at the dinner table are usually considered poor manners, that elbows on the table at dinner bothers the elder generation, not the Gen Z. However, new research has found that more than half of modern Brits think table manners are a thing of the past. Brits are becoming more casual when eating out.Likewise, loud chewing, or people who don't wait for everyone's food to arrive before start tucking into their own plate, are doing what is now acceptable. Brits who were surveyed have also admitted that they have recently been unhappy with their fellow diners' table mannerisms. There appears to be a dichotomy. Is the trend in Britain to search for a new idenity today?

Things change and ways of acceptance also change. We now have had to accept the first Asian, an Indian as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was only days ago that the Welsh voted for a coloured West Indian as the First Minister of Wales. We have a Muslim as the First Minister of Scotland and a Sinn Fein leader as the First Minister of Northern Ireland, a thought which would never had occurred a few years ago. Whilst these changes are noted, and changes are happening, we also notice a deep seated debate going on in the corridors of power,in Parliament and elsewhere. Some say there is a serious questioning of attitude, a challenge to zenophobia. Call it Muslimphobia,Anti-Semitism, race and colour prejudice. There is simultaneously a strong sense, an underlying fear or a diversity of views,opinions, which is threating the smooth functioning of liberal debate,named "freedom of expression"?The issue in my mind is an unease, which is challenging the lethargy of government or the lethargy of people governing us. My considered view is the Brits have had too much of cover up for far too long. There has been a malaise for too long. Severe illusionment coupled with a discernment or an interwoven feeling of what was once unquestioned belief? There seems to be a new grounding in how to repair and live in a broken world in Britain. This is understandable in a fast changing world and words cannot comprehend. Victor Cherubim