Public contempt for political elites extends beyond the expenses scandal

Peter From Maidstone

A beginning would be the elimination of the term 'political elite'. This is a term which seems designed to disenfranchise the rest of us, and is patently false since there is nothing elite about the shower that desire to govern us.

Publius

Yes, and that contempt is rapidly extending to The Spectator.

Frank P

"Renewal of formerly elite politics must be galvanised"

You still don't get it - do you? What the vast majority (not an 'extreme minority') want is government of the people, by the people, for the people. Not arrogant elite cabals with their unelected string pullers. We want real accountability. And we want all the sovereignty of our country back! Give us all a Christmas present Brown. Off to the Palace - we want an election!

Vulture

To quote Mark Anthony, as imagined by Shakespeare:
'Pardon me, thou piece of bleeding earth, that I am meek and gentle with these butchers'.

The 'bleeding piece of earth' in this case is Britain, and the 'butchers' our political class which has deliberately turned this country into a toilet, and then turned the whole stinking mess over to an unelected bunch of foreign bureaucrats to manage. Cameron's surrender, however clearly anticipated, is the final straw.
We are fishined. f****d. Utterly done for.

No punishment would be too severe for the scum who have done this, but the ultimate responsibility lies with us : the great apatheticariat who let it happen.

It is not only the political class that is dead; it is Britain itself. RIP.

Chris lancashire

You might add to your list the rise and rise of the professional nerd politician.
The likes of the Ballses, brothers Milliband and Osbornes have replaced people with experience of real life who have actually done something like Ashdown, Heseltine and (though it grieves me to add the name) Prescott.

Daniel

How about the fact that politicians lie whenever their lips are moving? How about that everything they say is designed to keep themselves in power and in a job, and not to serve the needs of the country? How about the fact that they refuse to answer a straight question with a straight answer? This is the most intensely annoying thing of all. Their smug grins after having 'won' against an interviewer only serve to display their unashamed contempt to the electorate.

This outpouring of scorn and venom is the result of years of backed up hate from a disenfranchised, disempowered general public.

You can only push so far. This arrogant, venal bunch of sycophants will cause their own downfall. Is it any wonder the BNP are on the rise? What choice do an emasculated public have?

We are close approaching a state of affairs in this country where cutting the nose off to spite the face will not be an appropriate metaphor for voting for the BNP as this phrase suggests a less desirable outcome existing after the action is taken. Peoples' pips are squeaking.

Bob Dixon

Finally we are getting to the nub of the problem.
1:General Election asap.
2:Police investigations moving onto court appearances by those who committed theft & fraud.
3:HMR&C reviewing past tax returns so that tax & penalties can be levied.

Better still Ministers & public officials being held personally accountable for many decisions which did not receive Parliaments approval.

Alexandrovich

So, you have to read Rachel Sylvester to determine the wind direction. Then you hold up a mirror to the readership here. Lately I'm of the opinion that you and your mates are just baiting us for sport.

Geoff Miller

I hope that Labour cling on until the very last moment....

They cannot save the economy - we will be even further in debt.

They cannot save public services - they are unaffordable.

They cannot hold the line on mass immigration - the public are sickened by what they have done to our once beautiful country.

There is even more time left for more Islamic terror plots, attacks, riots, protests.

More time for Europe to take away more of our sovereignty.

Even more time for more crushing stories of political incompetence, corruption, gerrymandering and treason.

As for the Tories and Lib Dems, they will only have more time for their silence and lack of policies on these matters to be blindingly obvious.

The political Punch and Judy show rolls on.

These people are all held in contempt by the British people. They are traitors and thieves - one and all.

The BNP can wait.

The British people are waking up and can be fooled no longer.

Sir Graphus

There have been several phenomenally important moments in the last decade (and a whole host of others) where the public has looked to its representatives to act according to their consciences or upon the views of their constituents, and completely failed.

* the Iraq war, where 2 million (I think) people marched in protest, that’s 3% of the country. Yet the MPs cared more for their careers than the opinion of their representatives. Incidentally, this was Bottler Brown’s earliest piece of cowardice; he could have toppled Blair but elected not to.

* Student tuition fees for England and Wales only.

* ID cards, where the best MPs did against the bill was to exempt themselves from it.

* The Lisbon Treaty, where Labour and Liberal MPs deliberately betrayed a promise to the people.

For us to then find they’d been fiddling their expenses was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Dennis Churchill

A certain former Spin-Doctor laments, on his blog ,that the British public are the most sceptical in the world about Man Made Climate Change and the proposals being put forward to limit/stop it. I’m not sure if it is meant to be ironic but if it isn’t then he needs to face up to the fact that after 12 years of lies and spin the British public no longer believes anything it is told by its political class.
Open door immigration will destroy tolerance, the non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction support for further military intervention anywhere, and the Lisbon Treaty will end any shred of legitimacy our subservience to the EU had left.
The political class are not considered “Elite” merely chancers with no loyalty to the country or identification with its people.

Robert Saintfield

Just so Alexandrovich...

Jez

This is just my opinion;

The elite's Ivory Towers are cracking and straining under the weight of their wholly unacceptable UK social vision / selfish personal advancement.

Last night on BBC News, the Immigration 'report'.

The Tory spokesman 'spluttered out' the bog standard lines, as always.

The only thing that he *did* state catagorically was that 'we' could NOT stop immigration.

Why not just say; the country's in a state. We have to stop immigration- or we'll try extremely hard to do so. We will make this our number one concern and this will strengthen the diverse make-up of this country, as we can then all work together in the British way. After a first term of a Tory Gov we can re-assess the situation and move forward from there.

But they really won't.

Because there's something that's not *quite* right with these big three political parties.

And when these utter, *utter* sell-outs are eventually dragging themselves out of the dusty rubble of their collapsed Ivory Towers and they take a look at a nation in chaos, then maybe *we* could get an answer on that one?

strapworld

I think, Alexandrovich, is spot on.

You have had your sport with us, but the end result is you have turned supporters into critics!

My opinion of this blog has gone downhill since the editor has failed, miserably, to do what he promised to do!

If you insult those that, once, admired you the only way is downhill.

strapworld

There is one answer. Bring the military home and let them take over!

OR get Verity to bring the Singaporeans here to run the country! They will stop the illegal immigrants and the drug trade rather quickly I suggest!

Joan

"Public contempt for political elites extends beyond the expenses scandal" with a byline by "DAVID BLACKBURN".

Well, that gave me the first laugh of the day.

Look who's talking, Mr Blackburn.

And, yes, Alexandrovich is right.

Jez

If fact, looking back, that Tory Immigration spokesman actually looked uncomfortable even being there!

Is this near the mark;

"Hi this is libleftwet from the BBC. Tell us Tory spokesman, This huge meteorite that about to plunge into the face of the earth. What's your response?"

Bluetorywet; "er, well there is *nothing at all* 'we' can do about it- at all. Coming to think of it, i've actually got a bunker on my estate so Farrk Orf!.... must we really do this interview? i've some champers to guzzle whilst planning a lucrative chairmanship of a multinational i've lined up."

That's more like it.

Moraymint

" ... has engendered a minority culture of apathy and extremism".

Are you sure that it's just a minority of the electorate that is either apathetic or extreme?

Ironically, the performance of our political class in recent years, ably led by the Marxist nutters holding office for so long, has probably galvanised more people out of apathy for politics than ever before ... me included.

My guess is that the majority of British people are fuming at our politicians; despairing at the dolts in power and at the lamentable lack of mainstream alternatives. Hence, perhaps, the rising interest in parties like the BNP and UKIP?

Our political class is an absolute shambles, of that there can be no question.

On virtually any measure you choose to select, life in the UK has deteriorated rapidly and shamefully over the past decade - and the prognosis for putting right the socio-economic mess that is the Labour Party's legacy is not good at all. Nothing I hear from the Tories or the Liberals fills me with confidence about the future; nothing at all.

I really do think that if the Tories win the GE - and the chances are that they will, of course - then the country will continue on its downward trajectory for some time to come.

One senses that the Tories have yet to fully understand the true nature, scale and scope of the challenges ahead and the very profound changes that are needed to right our economy and our society.

The Tories still talk about nipping and tucking when what we are going to need is life-saving surgery, and fast. The longer we have to wait for a GE, the worst this situation becomes. Our democracy is shot.

Public contempt for our political class is an understatement.

Alexandrovich

The Spectator's entry in Wikipedia could do with some updating. Not this bit though: "Editorship of The Spectator has often been part of a route to high office in the Conservative Party."
Understandable, I suppose. But why the need to crap so heavily on the highway whilst en route?

EC

Alexandrovich, Est!
Chris Lancashire, Est! Est!!
Frank P, Est! Est!! Est!!!

Cheers, or more aptly Bottoms Up as the tripartite cabal toasts the gerrymandered electorate.

Publius

@Alexandrovich
"Lately I'm of the opinion that you and your mates are just baiting us for sport."

Agreed! Spot on! Lately the sneering contempt has been almost palpable.

(And PS - Why hasn't my earlier post on this thread appeared?)

Watt Tyler

This post, and the column it analyses, all written from the perspective of the disconnected (or is that the knows-better-than-them).

Who has formed an actual lynch mob to hang MP's Which MP's have actually taken unwarrented from the public purse? What an undeserved contempt you political commentators have for us.

And you might add to the reasons for a deserved contempt for the whole political/islington elite is their complicit and proactive giving away of our country to foreign powers and others without our having a say. Because you know best for us, don't you Blackburn/Forsyth/Nelson et al?

As Cromwell was a farmer, the real power that will sweep our corrupt elite away will come unexpectedly from the outside, and the elite will be shocked at having become irrelevent.

I'll blog next week. Promise!

Publius and Alexandrovich sum it up. The contempt now extends to the Spectator. Who knew MF's editorship would turn the Spectator into the DC Chronicle.

David Blackburn

Publius,

We haven't received any further posts from you, please re-send it if you kept a copy.

On a seperate note, I'm pleased that commenters have shown their mettle and deep disgust for Westminster (and the media) as it entirely vindicates my point. Rebuilding inclusiveness and reinvigorating mainstream politics will take an enormous amount of time, assuming such goals are achievable, which, despite the evident disagreements we have over the exact direction of specific policy, I think it is.

London Calling

If someone steals from you, trust cannot be restored. Unfortunately the Politicians who are innocent will be known by the company they keep and Will be mistrusted also.

It would appear that like Afghanistan there is no strategy Or way forward until common sense prevails and new incentives are implemented. To redeem themselves the Government have to start governing, but we need good governors who are open, honest and can be trusted that Britain is safe in their hands, depressingly Britain is currently orphaned and political enlightenment demands renewal, not a return to delusion, more spin
and a smile with fingers crossed that all will be fine.

If this was the sixteenth century the lynch mob would have been the opposition long before a public revolt, therefore if any party truly wants to make a stand at the next election they need to feel the anger and express it in a war of words and with a sincere desire to put Britain’s Humpty back together again…

2trueblue

'Public contempt for the political elite.'

Get real, the so called referred to above have spent 7+years preventing us from having a look at what they were doing on their so called end of year expense details. They turned up in droves at the house of commons to prevent us from having that 'privilage'(our right). I truely have never watched the house fill up so quickly, all the whips were busy.. They are beyond contempt. They then spent over £100,000 in court to prevent us from having the infomation.
If they had put so much effort into running the country we might be a lot better off.
They forgot that that is what we elected them to do, we gave them the privilage of going to the palace of Westminster to represent us and do their umost for us.
Over the years there has been no one to challenge them about what they chose to do. They got rid of Elisabeth Filkin because she was doing her joob. Good men were silent as the rest pillaged the purse for their own end.
These people are not particularly gifted at much apart from fleecing us, so why should anyone be surprised that we, the public, hold them in contempt.
If they had stood up and apologised, paid back the money, there might have been some dignity to the situation, but they chose not to do so, and the moment was lost. Such a moment will not come again and they must live with the damage they have one.

TomTom

For 40 yeasrs the voters were kept in check by the Cold War and the Soviet threat, neatly corralled into voting blocs. Then it took credit deregulation to keep the voters sweet for 20 years while politicians feathered their nests.

Voting groups based on easy credit and high consumerism. The collapse of that bubble financed by central bank liquidity boosts each time the system faltered, has brought the harsh reality of economic stagnation to the mass electorate.

First it was Japan that benefited from credit boom of VietNam War and Great Society backwashing through Europe and Asia; then it was Taiwan and Korea; now it is China all floated on debased Dollars and sinking pounds as first markets are given away to the new kids on the block; then the factories; then the banks.

The whole of Western Society has lived on a Credit Delusion since the 1980s and cannot see that the reality is the 1970s if not the 1950s. Politics was a simple game of Prestigiation and the game is up.

The POlitical System is finished and approaching one of those Discontinuities in history like 1848 or 1989

Peter

Some of us will not be satisfied until those MPs who have allegedly broken the law(s) of the land are prosecuted in a court of law and if found guilty suffer exactly the same punishment as anyone else. One could argue for a harsher punishment because they have abused the system and broken the law from a position of high responsibility and should thus be held to greater account.

The resulting fines/imprisonment would have a salutary effect.

Frank P

David Blackburn (12.18pm)

J,J & M, David! How you can interpret the excoriating response to this post as 'entirely vindicating your point' defeats me. That Westminster bubble must have a very strange reverse refractive effect when the world is viewed from the inside out? Whistling in the dark is one thing, but holding the rapist bugger's dick in your hand in the dark and declaring, "This is clearly one of the sage and onion variety of bangers I ordered from the butchers." is taking self-delusion to the outer limits.

I won't presume to speak for the rest of my fellow dissidents here, but all I'm trying to discover is: just which chapter of Agitprop are you batting for? Not just you, but the complete editorial staff of The Spectator.

Back to the regular punters here: can anybody tell me whether there is any political agenda of the ultimate proprietors of this magazine? I knew them as a couple of likely lads from Shepherd's Bush who got into the property game and made a few bob ducking and diving, some of it with the help of Zoe Newton the milk maiden. Is it just dosh that drives the owners of the Telegraph, Spectator, et al.? Or have they now made so much that they are entitled to automatic induction into the inner council of the NWO? Same question for Brillo: WTF is going on? I really must do more googling and less reading of this Old Queen’s Street drivel.

Holly ......

Publius.9.18.
You've noticed too.
Quickly becoming a site of four stories.
1.Banks
2.Europe
3.expenses
4.Afghanistan
They just keep alternating the political party or the headline.

Derek

Frank P

They live, so Wikipedia tells us, in a mock-gothic castle, with a private chapel blessed by a cardinal, located in a feudal enclave in the British Isles and,as tax exiles, give an address in Monaco on,and here one might detect a measure of irony,Avenue de Grande Bretagne.

You ask "...can anybody tell me whether there is any political agenda of the ultimate proprietors of this magazine?"

Would you think?

Roy Smith

Despite nearly everyones opinion Britain has hit the bottom, I reckon it is not until it gets really really really worse that the people will put themselves on the line for change. Not until state welfare runs out of funds, with the population starting to go seriously hungry, will people do anything serious about it. That will be the time for change.

Frank P

Derek

I suppose the real Grande Bretagne was just not big enough to stash their money, nor their egos. A bit like the top cats (or should that be pussies) of all our main political parties. Or should I have just used a different vowel and another consonant between the c & t of cat.

Anyway I think we have seen the result of the BB's influence oozing from the managing and editorial staff of this magazine.

There's an old saying: when rape is inevitable, lay back and enjoy it.
Never believed it, myself. Fight back and castrate the bastards, or die in the attempt is my ethos. Life without honour is living death anyway.

I saw Cameron interviewed outside his Notting Dale gaff this morning; on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty yesterday:

I'm going to make sure it never happens again!" he expostulated. I was hoping the large bang that accompanied these ludicrous words was him being shot. Then I realised that it was the sound of a stable door slammed shut, accompanied by the whinnying of the horse long gone.

A bit like the virgin who after her first good rogering says, "I'm going to make sure I never lose my virginity again."

Frank P

Btw Derek, I realise that the BBs contributed to Tory Party funds and that a grateful McAlpine was the Chairman of their 'charitable trust'; it was mooted that he intended to write their authorised biography about their rags-to-riches adventures. Did he ever complete it?

Whatever, I'm sure their European interests are probably not unconnected to the Euro policies of the heavy wing of the Tory party: ergo the editorial policies of this magazine. So we dissidents are certainly pissing against the wind hereabouts.

The question remains: to whom do those of genuine traditional and conservative opinions turn? It is deeply depressing that the only political outfit that is now prepared to even pretend to represent England's interests is a fascist band of thugs who are the direct descendants of Moseley, Colin Jordan, John Tyndal, et alia.
Of course none of them did; but then neither did the mainstream parties it seems.

Ah well. At least I cancelled my subscription to their Euagitprop organ.

Maybe Dan Hannan is the man to turn to: yet even he is an Obama supporter. Perhaps after today's US election results, he'll see the light and adjust to the change of wind.

Still waiting for Nelson's promised message from Never-Neather land. Perhaps he sent it in semaphor, can anyone see the flags over Old Queen Street?