Tag: General Election

The afternoon after the night before

.

Feeling deflated

been looking forward so long

got what I wanted

.

by Scooj

  • After yesterday’s General Election, which went pretty well from my point of view, I am left feeling flat. I have waited so long to see the back of the Tories, that I think I am slightly in denial.

Independence Day

.

Fourteen years ago

the occupation began

voting for freedom

.

by Scooj

3 Sleeps

.

Opportunity

I’ve been waiting a long time

fourteen painful years

.

by Scooj

  • We have a general election in the UK on Thursday, and with any luck we will have a Labour Government on Friday. Being realistic, I think it will be several years before we start to see improvements, because the Conservatives have asset stripped the country, made off with the money in their back pockets, and left the old place in a far worse state than they found it 14 years ago. It is incredible to think just how much poorer we are as a nation and how our international reputation has plummeted while they have been in power. The richest have got richer (don’t they always) and are completely protected from the cost of living crisis that the rest of us face. I genuinely hope that the incoming Labour administration live up to their aspiration to serve the country first, because the Conservatives have been serving themselves for way too long. It looks like, while we are leaning to the left, the rest of the world is lurching to the far right, which is all rather worrying.
  • I genuinely can’t think of a single part of my life that has been improved by the Tories, not one, but that is no surprise, I work in the service of my country, and always have. I am part of the squeezed middle – the cash cow that has been exploited when the millionaires and billionaires are laughing, and the multinational corporates avoid their tax contributions.
  • I’ll stop there, because I could write a very long essay about all of this. Suffice it to say the winds of change are on the way.

Calling time

.

Overwhelming joy

general election called

so long overdue

.

by Scooj

  • I won’t go on for too long, but I have been waiting for this day for a very long time, and while the future under any new administration will be uncertain, there are truths about the past that are too much to bear. I care most about two things – public services and the biodiversity and climate crisis (that so many wedded to (funded by) the oil and gas industries have done their best to discredit) so I think you can probably guess who I won’t be voting for.
  • As someone who has spent my entire career in public service I have witnessed first-hand the jaw-dropping disregard the Tories have had for their staff in the civil service, health service, local authorities and agencies who have largely taken huge real-terms cuts in salaries over the last 14 years (in my own case about 19% cut). Cuts in staff numbers and budgets have been demoralising and to cap it all an ideology and poisonous narrative that suggests public servants are somehow ‘swinging the lead’.
  • But it is not just public service employees that have suffered, but the whole nation, particularly those who depend on or need the support public services can offer, the only people who are immune from the ferocious public sector cuts are the wealthy, many of whom do their very best to avoid paying taxes and resent paying taxes, so that they can maintain their ever more comfortable lives. I feel all of this is a sickening cliché… you know where I’m coming from.
  • I truly hope for change. I can see a much brighter future, both politically and environmentally. We do not have to succumb to the Hollywood tropes of a dystopian future, instead a green and compassionate future is something all of us can aspire to, a gentle kind world. This is my goal and my passion. It is why I am here.

2950. The Bearpit (189)

This piece from Decay in May 2017 was encouraging people to use their vote in the June General Election of that year. An election that resulted in a hung parliament in which the Conservatives ‘bought’ the seats of the DUP to gain the slimmest of majorities, to continue the miserable administration we have become used to for more than a decade. I can’t wait to be shot of them if I am honest. The current Cabinet are an absolutely incompetent shower and the coronavirus outbreak has evidenced their poor decision making, not just during the crisis, but in running down our essential public services for more than a decade. I’ll stop there.

Decay, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2017
Decay, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2017

The artwork from Decay is really nice and it is great to have a piece from the artist that is a bit different from his customary writing or concentric pattern work. The three ovals on the left of the Y are a similar feature used by Slim Pickings on his Ts and Ss. A nice political piece.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019