An article worth reading and one that sums up the long road back for the United Kingdom on the world stage, the problem is the implied answer to the problems we face are I suspect not the Tory infected Labour Party. I totally agree that the UK could be in a deep recession, in the next few months (my words) after a catastrophic rise in interest rates have decimated people’s incomes or experience a period of dogged stagflation (impacted by increased mortgages – my words) (Byline Times). The Tories have also never been the party of economic competence, they have always been the party of theft and of self-interest, just go back to the 80’s and have a think about it, who made the money.
The standing of politicians is at an all-time low – the Conservatives may have demonstrated an unprecedented level of incompetence and political arrogance, but the repeated allegation from the electorate is that ‘politicians are all the same.’ (Byline Times)
I totally agree, they are, and Labour are not the answer are they. Assuming they win, Labour will grasp the tiller of a nation with a standing in the world as low as it has ever been. Estranged from Europe, not a priority for the US, and pretty much ignored by everyone else (Byline Times). The UK has been a basket case for years, no one takes it seriously, it is Americas mongrel poodle at best, a laughingstock on average, pretty much a joke overall. The politicians we have are failures pretty much across the board, bereft of ideas, piling on debt that we will never pay back, they have no clue. I can’t remember a most useless bunch in my lifetime that is for sure.
The solutions in restoring the UK on the world stage and nationally are apparently,
Priority one should be to restore confidence and raise the morale of the public sector. Civil servants, legal aid lawyers, doctors, nurses or council workmen will likely all offer the same refrain that their job has been undermined and diminished financially – that must end. Labour must properly reward public sector workers and restore the confidence of the Civil Service by restoring them to their proper role as objective and professional providers of public policy.
Abroad, a Labour government would need to start the process of restoring Britain’s international reputation – not by grandstanding but by showing some humility. This would include treating the EU as a friend rather than a manufactured bogeyman to be feared and opposed. The UK certainly has a lot to offer the world, but at the moment, its reputation has sunk so low, that it struggling to be taken seriously.
Another priority should be to end the creeping ‘presidentialisation’ of British politics. Both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, in particular, have made the office of head of government all about them, eschewing any opposition and removing anyone remotely seen as a threat. The result has been incompetence at ministerial level and a shift in the way Parliament operates. (BylineTimes)
I think the priorities are right in the main. Public services need investment, public sector workers need to be valued with fair salaries not clapping. The UK needs to move away from the foreign policy of the USA and find a way to make things work with the EU, that goes without saying. Where I disagree is when Gareth Roberts says
(Keir Starmer) His speech at the Labour Conference showed that Keir Starmer’s party has the energy, the policies, the desire and the personnel to govern.
Roberts has more faith in Tory Starmer and Labour than I do, probably more than many people do. If Labour wins the next general election, it will not be because of competence and talent, it will because voters in England have no other choices and Scotland will yet again get a government imposed on it that it probably never voted for. We know what the answer is for Scotland, but we are further away from that than we have ever been.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
If you look at the five stages of grief then there’s a long way to go before the UK can be remade. The Conservative Party, largely by accident, are at “bargaining” where they try and appeal to the electorate that they have the answer to restore the country’s fortunes. Unfortunately the Conservative voter is just entering (or is still in) the “anger” phase where they blame all the woes on somebody else. Worse still the Labour (socialist) voter is still in “denial” and thinks that everything that’s wrong will be fixed by President Starmer. That leaves us with two stages to go. Well “depression” just might be upon us, though it will take a while for the laggards to be dragged kicking and screaming to the new reality. Only after reaching “acceptance” and once all the readers of The Telegraph have died off, can real change be put in place.
I’m not sure what change will be. The economy has changed – money laundering is probably not going to be as profitable as it was. What the UK can offer the world has changed. Is the country still relevant with the giant EU next door and the rise of BRICs to which the rest of the world outside of the west, is gravitating to. There’s a very long list of countries who would like some payback for what the imperialists did to their country. It’s going to take a highly penitent outlook to re-establish the UK’s place in the world.
The transformation of the Labour Party into the Democratic Party of the UK is likely to prolong the agony for the foreseeable future.
Stuart
Good way of looking at it. I would say the scumbag Tories are at emptiness stage on the model I would use. English voters at a mix of the anger/anxiety/fear part. Scottish voters at depression/acceptance level and many at yearning, at least 47%. The UK is a basket case now, what don’t people get, the Thatcher model is over, maybe all over the world now. We don’t make anything, we service things. My Dad used to say if you don’t make things people don’t have jobs, if they don’t have jobs, they don’t have money, no money they don’t buy things, then your back to not making things, and so it goes. He wasn’t wrong. The UK is pretty much irrelevant on the world stage other than being the poodle to America to try to make itself relevant. We do need a government that will invest in and push the green agenda, we need to stop contracting abroad and start making things ourselves. We are no longer in the EU, tendering no longer applies at that level so we can invest in building up our own infrastructure now make some of the things we need. We need a good land management policy to start growing the food we need, either in green houses or in fields, it will take time, at least 4 years to improve the soil and start to really grow but that is not an excuse not to. Sadly, I just don’t think we have politicians who will plan longer term. There are many things broken in this country, roads, paths, parks, houses. We can have an investment program that creates jobs, that pays a living wage that brings people into tax, but it would be an investment in people who actually spend the money they earn. Would cost and take time but would improve health and mental well-being in the medium to longer term and would start to pay for itself in the longer term, or at least partly. We need to invest in people, training, and use that money to fix the many things that are broken. I am no expert but surely everything has failed why not try something different.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce