I apologise for sounding salty on political subjects recently but I'm extremely frustrated by - not what's only been posted here, but what's happened in the public discourse.
In 2010, Gordon Brown was bullied out of office in the most grotesque manner by the media after loosing the general election and failing to secure a coalition or supply and demand agreement. He had many faults, but compared to what we've seen since I am really struggling to understand why he was painted as the boogeyman whilst governments we've seen since then have been given "the benefit of the doubt".
I used to be a Labour party member. I voted against Ed Milliband because I knew he would be a bad leader. I resigned over Corbyn and all the internal bullying that happened (including what happened to me). I think Starmer is boring and Blair is a warmonger who wasted his massive majorities.
Even on these pages I read loads of "to be fair on them/him/her", or "to give them/him/her credit" stuff and a plethora of other excuses. I read and hear relatively irrelevant stuff about the pros and cons about tax policy etc as if we were living in normal times. Be it Ukraine, Brexit, Covid or whatever, the excuses keep on coming.
I'm not old, but neither am I young. I'm a similar age as many of the politicians making these decisions. But you don't have to listen to me, Kier Starmer, the IMF, economists, the media or even like minded posters on this forum about the situation. Listen to ex TORY chancellors such as Ken Clark and George Osbourne, both of which have politely spoken out against what is happening right now.
How many excuses can be made for poor governance? The current PM and her rivals openly debated for months over how bad things are - how bad their 12 years in government has been. The winner of that contest, Truss, is now being openly criticised by MP's that supported her just weeks into the job. Internally, red wall Tory MP's know they're toast. Even Ken Clark himself today warned about the effect all this has on "the poor"!
Even if you overlook all of this, you have the cold hard non political facts. This government promised to reduce the budget deficit, which is currently now growing larger. National debt is now higher than it was in 2010. This government held a referendum on a major constitutional change but completely failed to plan/prepare for one of the possible outcomes. Wage rises are far below inflation. The NHS is churning out some of the worst performance statistics it ever has in its entire history. Inflation is running at the highest rate it has in most of our lifetimes. The Bank of England is purchasing government debt because the markets are worried about the UK's abilities to service its debt to avoid a collapse in pensions. The pound declined to the point where it is nearly worth the same as the dollar. Many mortgage companies are not lending due to uncertainty. Mortgage holders on middle incomes are facing loosing their homes due to a rapid increase in interest rates. We've had a prime minister from this government that has broken the law multiple times, including laws he himself signed off.
So I'm as intrigued to hear your thoughts as
@AstroDan is. Please, please, PLEASE tell me why we should give them the "benefit of the doubt". Please tell me why we should "be fair on them". Please tell me why so many people are still blaming external entities for poor governance. Please tell me why anyone could defend this current administration? Please tell why Labour, a Lib Dem/Labour coalition or even anything else being seriously offered is any worse than what we've got?
I'm seriously interested. Because I don't understand it. Don't just post nonsense about Ukraine, Covid etc, that's the same for all other western countries. Tell me what it will take for our government to be challenged? How much worse do things have to get?
