Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A symptom of our consensus of cowardice

The Heffer offers a rant today, railing against the venal denizens of Parliament, with particular venom for Jacqui Smith.

In some ways, it is more of the same, that we recounted yesterday, with Moore and Melanie Phillips having a go. But Heffer takes a slightly different line. It is, he says, all our fault:

So we let those whose decisions affected our lives proceed largely without account. In Parliament, a large Labour majority neutered backbenchers, an opposition with nothing to say and an ineffectual Speaker allowed free rein to a ruthlessly manipulative Government. The executive became overbearingly powerful. Parliament was rarely included in its counsels. Even when it was, the docility and lack of quality of so many people in it hardly made any impact on the Government's arrogance and control-freakery.
In a way, he his right. Both my co-editor and I are wont to say that we get the government we deserve. And I have been known to say that democracy is not a spectator sport. Basically, use it or loose it.

The trouble is that we have lost it. It will take a fleet of tumbrels to get it back. Anybody here got an NVQ in tumbrel driving?

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