General Election 2017 | Is the NHS safe in Conservative hands?

If you want a publically run NHS: "Vote for anyone but Conservative..." Dr James Crane, Registrar


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Why people will always need protest

At the Tolpuddle Martyrs museum 2017 

Throughout history people have always had to fight for their rights. Rights denied them by the ruling elite, whether those in power be emperors, Russian Tsars, French, or British monarchs, fascist dictators, or unelected administrators handing out directives in organisations such as the European Union.

Over time, and considerable struggle, people have achieved a great deal to overcome oppression. For example, the right not to be treated as property, as the slaves were until the abolition of slavery in 1807. We also take it for granted today, but it really wasn't that long ago that only the very wealthiest property owners that were allowed to vote in general elections. Men with urban property got the vote in 1867, while men without property over 21, had to wait until after the end of First World War in 1918 to be eligible to vote. Women without property, thanks to the Suffraget Movement, finally got the vote ten years later in 1928. Finally, under a Labour Government, Harold Wilson in 1969 made it possible for 18 year olds to decide who represents them in Parliament, and so the fight for democracy goes on. Today, 16 year olds, while old enough to get married and have children, are unable to vote. It must be right that young people should have the chance to choose who makes the laws that they are expected to obey? Democracy, it seems, even now, is work-in-progress.

As a consequence of past class struggles men and women are now able to vote in general elections and choose, if they wish, to elect representatives that will demand a descent living wage, a proper education, adequate health care and to be cared for when they get old.  Progressive change would not have happened were it not for the 19th century liberal approach to politics, or without 20th century Socialism. 

For me it seems an enduring truth that there are two broad views of how people are to be governed: The Conservative way and the Labour way. The distinction is simple, the Conservative Party exists to look after and maintain the the interests of the owners capital while the Labour Party's purpose is to protect the workers (the people that created the wealth) and to make sure that the ill treatment and shameful exploitation of human beings that existed in the past should never be allowed to come back again. 

There is still much work to do and damaging inequality still remains in the UK. For example, the richest 1000 people have more wealth than the poorest 40% of the population.

Realistically, it's going to be difficult to persuade, or legislate to compel those currently controlling the country's wealth to part with it, because once the cash is in their hands they are adept at finding imaginative ways to cling on to it. The money goes offshore, squirreled away in trust funds so that the very wealthy never really pay a fair share of tax. As a consequence life remains a struggle for those without the financial means to compete, so the best most people can do is hope for is an occasional Labour Government who, if they resist the temptation to slip back into Tory Light, should be capable of temporarily tipping the balance in favour of working people and take sufficient power away from the wealthy few so that, maybe, nurses, carers and others desperate for assistance, won't have use food banks to keep going? I think we're due for that kind of change right now. 

History of Voting
Equal Franchise Act 1928
Labour's Manifesto 2017
UK Equality Trust
World Wealth Inequality
More on Socialism
Why I voted for Jeremy Corbyn in 2015

May Polls aren't what they used to be | 2017 General Election

What is Alternative Media

Theresa May's popularity is falling week-on-week according to an opinion poll by YouGov.

 

In the recent UK poll YouGov looked at how people say they would vote in the General Election and compared the results with those collected in the previous week. YouGov's analysis also suggest that the Conservative Party remain way ahead in the opinion polls, but what’s significant is how much the gap between Labour and the Conservatives has shrunk from 23 percentage points to just 13 Sunday to Sunday. 

So what can Theresa do? The usual strategy in these circumstances is to simply wait and trust that The Daily Mail, and the 100 and their ill, to frighten people a little more about Crime and National Security and let the opinion poll gap between Labour and Conservatives should fall naturally back into line.

In the run-up to June 8th General Election we should all keep an eye on the headlines for stuff like:

Theresa May is toughest on crime.

Despite the Conservative Government having cut the money the Police need to fight crime by 20%.

The bulk of the mainstream press will also try to terrify us by pretending that it is only the Conservatives Party that is strong enough of on defense to keep us safe.  

Remember though, that it was them that scrapped our only proper Aircraft Carrier before a new one was built and, at the same time, plans to buy an off-the-shelf nuclear weapon from a foreign country rather that building the UK's own independent nuclear deterrent.

When there's a clear alternative to full-blown capitalism the media-knows-best attitude kicks in and it usually works. It didn't happen so much under Tony Blair's leadership because then the Labour Party was Tory Light and the Murdoch press, as long as it didn't affect his empire too much, appeared to quite like Tony's sanitised version of capitalism. Under Jeremy Corbyn, however, the Labour Party is a very different animal, and represents a genuine and more up-front socialist alternative to the kind of hard-nosed capitalism we have at the moment and, as a consequence, the Labour Party has few powerful friends controlling the media. 

It's not the Labour and Lib-Dem crime and defense policies that terrify me, it's the failure of the press to provide a balanced view of what is really going on in our society and the world for that matter.  There are alternative views out there, but they haven't the reach of a mainstream media who are predominantly owned by self-serving billionaires with a vested interest in maintaining a Conservative Government and it’s dog-eat-dog version of capitalism. Put simply, the media have to prevent  Labour, Lib-Democrats, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party from winning power and, above all else, keep a more just and equal society just out of reach of the people.

More on politics

Who owns the media?

Are we Corbyn phobic?

Why the English working class get hooked on voting Tory

What do Conservative fear change?

What is Alternative Media?

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