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Whilst “knocking” the Conservatives, Labour and LibDems and damning all politicians as total fools is understandable in some ways, is not the answer although it does highlight the real problem which is a lack of commercial enterprise in Britain.

Since when did becoming Prime Minister or being “In the Government” represent the apex of British Society ? Oh certainly in the minds of all politicians throughout the ages and especially as long before today, they pocketed back handers of one sort or another, they were the most important in the land but historically very few were. All political parties represent and always did, a specific sectional interest in society whether of property, trade or labour (working people).

Today

One might argue that today, all parties with slightly different degrees of emphasis, merely see themselves as the “Custodians of the Welfare State” and the “Tax Take”. Tories are hardly true Conservatives, the Labour Party is just “Tory Light” and the LibDems are as ever, unsure whether they are Arthur or Martha.

The purpose of Government should be to represent the people and take on those activities and services best done at a National or Regional level, they should be servants of the people, MPs the “Tribunes of the People” not the lobby fodder they have become. However, whilst there certainly needs to be some carefully considered reforms of our Governance, the real solution lies outside of the Palace of Westminster, it lies in the British Economy and in our hands as citizens because politicians are not “Wealth Creators”. At best they are a service industry, they manufacture nothing, create nothing and merely react to “events”.

The World Has Changed

We need to realise that the days of the large scale employment of people by Global Corporations is, if not already, coming to an end in the mature Western Economies. These type of operations will follow the cheap labour wherever it exists, assembling circuit boards and motor cars in volume within the EU is just not going to happen for too much longer. The mooted ‘solution’ of us becoming a “High Tech, Knowledge Based” economy is crap, it will happen in “pockets” but is not an economy wide solution for us or any other economy.

In this sense the EU with its Working Time Directives and far too expensive “Social Costs” attached to jobs and employment, is flying in the face of reason as well as economic success in the future. What is required is a loosening of employment laws and the encouragement of self employed on a “contract” basis so that employers can hire and lay off workers as required without all the mumbo jumbo so beloved of Socialist Politicians the world over.

Revive Farming in the UK

If we start with say farming and accept that it is time as consumers that we spent more on high quality local produce and forgot all the “fancy food” flown in by planes from the other side of the World for the benefit of Supermarkets, we could start to revive the rural economy. Large scale Banks have proved to be a disaster, they need to be broken up and returned in many cases to their local roots.

Supermarkets could eventually get the boot or move into wholesale operations, it wouldn’t happen overnight and be replaced with more local Butchers, Bakers and Green Grocers but likely operating in a different way that in some cases would be part “owner” and part “Franchise”. One could go on and on but the point is that economically in both Town, Countryside and City, we need more “localization” of the High Streets, we need to go back to the future because one Shopping Mall looks exactly like another and it is all based upon high volume sales etc, we need to move to a “Less is More” economy and along with that will come a major change in the attitude of MPs and Government.

The answer doesn’t lie in politics, it lies in our economy and our current difficulties may well prove to be both a watershed and an opportunity to break what is no longer the right economic model for the UK, perhaps Napoleon was right, we are a Nation of Shopkeepers but, with very sharp bayonets !