(Politics)
How much did you win on your bet on the UK election? I ask because I feel I am the only one in Britain who wasn’t in the know (nothing new there) and didn’t cash in on the right date. With fifteen Conservative Party candidates and officials along with police officers close to Number 10, all being investigated, I continue with my theory (voiced to anyone who will listen) that Rishi Sunak’s election campaign isn’t riddled with cock-ups but he actively has a member of his campaign team working against him. I mean, no one can have that many disasters all at the same time, right?
Anyway, I’m still miffed no one told me betting on the election date (or in the case of a Labour candidate, betting on himself losing in the byelection in Suffolk) is an actual thing…
In other, less silly, news, David Allen Green has written about calls for a better constitution in the UK parliament. If this sounds like stuffy nonsense, it isn’t. Green is a superb legal expert who unfailingly writes witty and informative short-form articles that are well worth reading. I’m only sad that he doesn’t write every day any longer. He’s worth a follow.
In this article, he comments on a letter in The Times from very eminent people suggesting seven much-needed changes to the UK constitution to restore public confidence in government. They make an interesting read, not so much for the detail, but for the fact such a demand is being made at all.
Most of the suggestions pretty much revolve around anti-cronyism which, under the Tories, has reached epidemic proportions (hyperbole deliberately considering so much of the scandal came out of the issues with PPE during the pandemic).
Interestingly, Green himself has regularly criticised the calls for a written constitution. That’s not to say this is what’s being called for here, but I raise it because his argument against is that there’s no such thing as anything ‘enshrined in law’ as so many like to claim. Written constitutions can be re-written by successive governments. And written constitutions can make things much more draconian. So with a Labour so-called ‘super majority’ likely on the way next month, beware of what you wish for. Green’s arguments may prove prescient.
Another political writer worth following is Sam Freedman, although the post I want to highlight today is a guest article by Sir John Curtice and Lovisa Moller Vallgarda. It is a fascinating look at the six voter types these experts have identified and the rather fragile coalitions that may exist between them that could influence the general election next month. I’m a sucker for personality questionnaires and if you’re like me you might want to click on their link for the twelve questions they ask to assess your voting leanings. I’m down, not surprisingly, as an Urban Progressive. What’s perhaps most interesting – but also most depressing – is that the largest group is only a quarter of the population (the rest around 10-15% each) and it is pretty much centrist and couldn’t care less. While it is true to say we’re a horrifically polarised nation (pretty much the same all over the globe currently) what we’re polarised about is all over the place leaving us, not so much polarised, as splintered into a myriad of minority fractions. It’s a sad place to be in the UK because, due to our exceptionalist nature, it guarantees we hate just about everybody.
Across the pond, I highly recommend historian Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. She is one of the most engaging political writers I have come across.
I will be frankly honest immediately – she’s unashamedly a democrat who is intensely critical of the Republican party and Trump in particular. She tends to gloss over criticisms of Biden and her posts can seem somewhat like democrat propaganda.
But the fact is, her research is second to none and she cites all her sources in every ‘letter’ so you can check the veracity of her statements for yourself. She criticises republicans largely by letting them be hanged by their own words and she is faithfully accurate in her use of statistics when promoting the good things to happen under the Biden administration.
I would love to read someone who is equally as honest and factual as HCR on the republican side. The closest I’ve come across is Ben Shapiro who initially impressed me with his sharp intellect but these days bores me with his conservative quasi-religious rants. If anyone can point me in the direction of an intelligent, researchable republican commentator, I’d be delighted.
Anyway, the other great thing about HCR is that she periodically gives a political history lesson. Every single one is informative, in-depth and utterly fascinating. I’ll share this one here on the whole Watergate scandal purely and simply because it explains where the phrase “expletive deleted” comes from. I grew up with this being something people just said when pretending ‘not to swear’. I had little idea, growing up in the 70s and 80s that it was a new expression not unlike terms like ‘bigly’ and ‘fake news’ are today thanks to the red-faced-wannabe-führer-in-waiting over there. But now I know – thanks to the brilliant Heather Cox Richardson.
And talking of führers, I am reading Ian Kershaw’s ‘Hitler: A Biography’ at the moment. It is scary stuff. Really scary. Looking at his upbringing and insane rise to power, I’m reminded again that we learn nothing from history and so are doomed to repeat the same mistakes again. There’s so many Hitler types around – Trump, Farage, Putin and many others – all in various stages of political rise. It is hard to guess which, if any, will bring us back to where we were 100 years ago, but if I was a betting man (and clearly, I’m not) I’d say it is likely at least one of them is going to bring carnage on a global scale.
Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.
Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.
D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.
Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.
Wednesday Banker is inspired by a play on words. This is about politics and you can guess my thoughts about politicians realising this should be an alliterative title…
kenthinksaloud 
Over to you! What do YOU think? Comment here…