Right Wing - Left Wing, You Choose

I really hoped that election turn out would be high. It seems to have been about 60%, the second lowest turnout since 1885. I hoped that despite the general disillusion, with good reason, with politics & politicians, people would want to be heard. Would want a say in where we go from here.

We, the electorate, now all get what we deserve, whether we voted or not. Labour with a huge majority. A rise in right wing Populism with Reform getting 14% of the vote but only 1% of the seats thank goodness. Plus the very right wing of the Conservatives now about to fight with the more moderates for control of the party. Fortunately the Lib Dems & the Greens have done well. This is all happening elswehere too, notably in America which we seem to blindly follow.

Not only are we alone in Europe in having an undemocratic "first past the post" system of voting, we are also unusual in having an immediate handover to the new Prime Minister. It seem odd to me that we expect a new leader to start making very important decisions straight away with no handover period or chance to recover from weeks of exhausting electioneering & a sleepless night. There will be briefings from civil servants, but if the PM & Cabinet have not had experience of being in government surely a period of grace to get to grips with hugely complex issues might be a good idea. Personally I'd rather wait a bit for good decisions & allow people to really understand their job. 

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/Transitions%20-%20preparing%20for%20changes%20to%20government.pdf

There are so many ways we in the UK are stuck in the past, in history & tradition. If we are to prosper & survive as a country it seems to me that we do really need to change what we do & how we do it. Instead of looking back to our past, we do need to embrace the world as it is now & what it needs to become for the future. The old ways are no longer working or appropriate for a modern, interconnected & very complex world. We need to accept the chaos theory "Butterfly Effect" actually exists.  We need to use modern technology & communications to benefit everyone. We need to have better negotiation, better teamwork, more consensus building, more honesty. We need to accept difference. 

We can no longer rely on our island status to stop what is happening elsewhere from affecting us. We need to work effectively with other nations. The biosphere / ecosphere & everything in it is a complex, interdependent, entity. Humans have made many mistakes over milennia. 

If we are to stand any chance of surviving on our planet politics needs to be taken out of the equation & we all need to change how we think & what we do. Voting in a truly democratic system is a part of that. No one can & should evade their responsibility to do that.