Politics and 'the game'

OK, I said I would talk about this in my last post, and so I’m trying to honour my word. Regardless of my single-digit readership, this is something I have to talk about for my own sake. It’s never impressive to be a writer and then not be able to express yourself properly, as seems to happen to me all the time. Starting regular posting again on this blog was intended to help me with that a bit. I have to remember to take Gege’s advice about joining the debating society at my uni also...

The concept of ‘politics/the game’ is not new at all (though I don’t know how old it is), but I think it helps to have watched The Wire to be able to understand it more completely (or The Thick Of It and similar shows, for that matter). In short, the way I see it, ‘politics’ is kind of an amalgamation of what Confucius and Aristotle think (or rather, what Wikipedia told me they think...): public service. The problem is that nowadays ‘politics’ is depicted as glamorous and its public service aspect just isn’t as important as it should be (I’m NOT saying ‘oh, the good old days’!). A lot of what I feel has come from the ‘Westminster village’ development in British politics. This is where London and news about London is given greater importance in the media, therefore creating the impression that the capital is ‘where it all happens’ politically.

So: London is ‘where it all happens’, not just socially (being the capital lends it glamour, and it has a buzz and allure regardless of that) but then politically too. Obviously, that isn’t true because hello, we’re still attached to the rest of the country (despite the hopes of some of us, hehe). It’s also quite dangerous. Showing people that all political power (read: ‘power to change things’) lies solely in London creates resentment, it generates apathy (‘why bother doing anything outside of the Westminster bubble?’) and then people disengage from politics. Meanwhile, the populist right-wing media tell them that everything is ‘going to the dogs’ and (this is implied, rather than said directly, I feel) because all the power lies in Westminster, they can’t do anything to improve things. So they continue to simmer and boil until eventually, in places like Barking, they vote in the BNP. Great.

To understand this, one must also look at the type of people inhabiting the Westminster bubble. They are generally white, middle / upper-class males, who went to public school and then to Oxbridge (though there are some women who have too – step forward, Ruth Kelly). It’s sad that the likes of the Mail and the BNP don’t see the true irony in this – Britain has a lot of ethnic minorities and yet very few of them are prominent in the Westminster bubble. However, that would require thinking which the Mail and the BNP just aren’t capable of! To this disastrous mix, add in the fact that even though apparently London is where all the power is at, even we can’t do anything, because nobody’s allowed to protest about anything un-government-sanctioned anymore. Just wonderful!

Add to all that the fact that we live in an increasingly celebrity-obsessed culture, and the way that information regarding those in charge of our country is accordingly presented. British politics has always had elements of the playground with rival sides shrieking at each other – but now, when increasingly, nobody cares? The state of play (intentional pun) is reaching Shakespearian levels of theatricality, with both wings (left and right) competing to seek attention like their livelihoods depend on it (which I suppose they do). On the one hand, British politicians ARE trying to get our attention more, because membership of their parties has declined considerably over time and they’re up the creek. On the other, we’re not trusted to handle pure politics in action, because *drumroll* it’s not that interesting! Well, running a country is always going to involve some work, isn’t it?! So we had politics-as-edutainment which seems to be losing its scruples and heading for politics-as-entertainment now, with all the squabbling on the left about what exactly to do with ‘new’ Labour, plus the fights with the right.

To finish with what constitutes ‘the game’ i.e. ‘modern British politics’ aka ‘much of what I hate and am now complaining about’: back to the news narrative. Where the populist media hawk a very simple and emotional news agenda, the more highbrow publications offer in-depth analyses and expert commentary designed to make you feel like a hopelessly ignorant moron. When doing my YAP on the British and French daily press earlier this year, I remarked on how the British daily press is very indicative of our gaping class divisions – and how! For me, this isn’t generally much of a problem: I eye up the terrifying-looking Guardian before me and think ‘This’ll get better with time, bitch’ before reading the whole thing over about a week and understanding maybe 5% of it. I consider myself an eternal student, a ‘Sikh’ if you will (ironically enough), but without actually being religious, so I stick with it, even if I feel confused and apprehensive.

The class cleavage (as I like to call it) is something that really can’t be ignored, though. Papers are not just unreliable because they rush to break stories and beat the Interweb at its own game, but also because they always have an agenda. This never used to bother me, but now it does. The BBC is the closest thing we have to an impartial source of info on the news, and that is why most of the population loves it. However, the right-wing media hate it and take every opportunity to slag it off. What with people increasingly unsure about having to pay the licence fee, its future is not as certain as it should bloody well be, and this is terrible news for all of us who do, and want to, give a shit about what goes on in the world.

All of this bullshit makes up ‘the game’ as far as I’m concerned. I know I probably sound like a complete fucking hippy in this age of free-market-instilling reforms everywhere you turn, but I do think that politics should be about public service. I’m not saying it should be a fucking depressing dredge where your only enjoyment is the occasional word of thanks, and occasionally meeting people from other countries, BUT –

*here comes the big but*

The glamour and ‘revolving door’ advantages have got to stop. ‘Career politicos’ need to be snuffed out. People getting into politics just because of their ambitions can fuck right off. OF COURSE, that is easier said than done – how are you supposed to tell what people are planning? Season 4 of The Wire knows exactly what I mean :-). At the very least though, stop treating politics as a game, because there is no real victory. Right now, the victory is only for those who win the spin war and/or those who slink off to make money away from the sidelines. Less well-known politicians often tend to reach the spotlight as ‘pubic figures’ – people who ‘blow up’ thanks to their sex lives. Enough of that.

We need something other than the BBC to give us the background to the ongoing ‘serious’ news narratives. Less spin and more communication (we all know politicians are out of touch, but it’s really gone too far now – when the BNP are spotting opportunities you’ve missed, it’s fucking SHOWTIME). The irony of all this (sorry to sound like SUCH an English student by always using that word!) is that self-introspection is greater than it was before, probably thanks to the increased information flow, but we need to look AT EACH OTHER TOO. Everyone is complicit in creating this apathetic, self-absorbed, class-riddled, half-true state of affairs, and as somebody who is desperately battling the urge to turn apolitical, I say – ENOUGH!

Required reading for this post: Charlie Brooker's article, which put into words what I felt before I could do it myself.

More reason for me (and you!) to love Armando Iannucci:

'"I've always been a political nerd, reading copies of Hansard when I was 12," says Iannucci. "I'm fascinated by how politics works, but have become increasingly appalled by how the truth is quite unashamedly contorted in political debate."


He is the win.