DEMOCRACY THREAD:

1. I do sit & wonder where we are heading politically. After decades of the European Union legislating much of our laws (around 60 - 70%), we have a generation of politicians who have no direct experience of shaping big policy.
2. It's a new skill to them & we all know some of them don't have what it takes to digest complex issues. Many of our politicians have been content to debate trite matters, leaving the heavy legislation to the muscles in Brussels - anything for an easy life of virtue signalling.
3. I thought much of the political reluctance to accept the referendum result was due to fear of being exposed as a political lightweights. We saw it in Parliament - very few taking the time to really get to grips with the complexities of what was entailed.
4. This lack of ability or effort is what has led to the civil service getting boss-side of Westminster. Policy created by the unelected & palmed off onto naive politicians to peddle to their voters.
5. Really unpopular policies could be shoved over to Brussels. Agreed in secret & pushed through their Parliament with little scrutiny or interest.

That isn't a functioning democracy & is perhaps the greatest reason for leaving the EU.
6. It's going to take us a decade I reckon. To learn/re-learn how to legislate properly. Mistakes will be made, but they can be amended or repealed. And the big mistakes will be punishable at the ballot box. There's no place to hide anymore.
7. A lot of people think there are too many lawyers in Parliament. Well maybe, but we're not all tw*ts with no life experience. And if you want a real democracy, one NOT run by the civil service, politicians have got to understand the Bills shoved under their noses.
8. Not only have they got to understand them, they've got to challenge them, improve them & help shape them.

We tend to think of Parliament as a political venue only, but it is a court, our most important law court as it happens.
9. The only way to prevent the civil service being boss is to be equally, if not more capable. There's no point regaining powers from the EU & being too naive to exploit them fully, just letting the civil service pick up where Brussels left off.
10. I can see where Dominic Cummings is coming from on this point. It's all very cosy. Change the politicians if you like, but the civil service remains, using the politicians as their puppets.
11. I'd failed to notice just how dangerous the situation had become. It took Brexit for me to see the charade - each Party stuffed with Blairites so they formed the overall majority. Vote for whom you like, won't make a difference.
12. They bottled it at the last minute, but we came very close to them overthrowing the Government.

We saw history being made & Parliament literally weeping with the shame (remember the burst pipes raining down)?
13. I am concerned that we have a new Government thrown in at the deep end. No freshers year to make themselves comfortable, they're battling a pandemic & the EU simultaneously.
14. They have to learn quickly. They will. We need the changes. We don't want to slip back to the old guard out of fear for the future. We need real change & that creates friction.

But you know what gives me the greatest comfort?
15. I look across the pond & realise we're not so bad after all :-)

They're still battling away with their non existent demons, sliding seemingly towards a civil war, but we stepped back from that.
16. Things got a little heated in the summer, but support quickly diminished. I think most were unhappy at destruction without consensus.

We have a great sense of fairness in this country. We just need to learn to be contented again. I think we will, in time.
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