The Apathy Party is still ahead in the Polls.
The EU candidate for Little Haddenham-under-Sea? If democracy was truly the will of the majority of the populace, we would have no European parliament – nor British parliament.
That we do is because democracy has been hijacked by those with an interest in seeking power. The majority of the populace simply don’t engage with the process at all.
In Europe, some 200 million people are members of the Apathy Party. 150 million will decide their future for them and jostle to see their chosen representatives in power. In Britain, 65% of the population couldn’t be bothered to vote in the last European election, a slight drop in the fortunes of the Apathy Party for in 1999 they were able to, or would have been if they could be bothered to, claim the allegiance of 75% of the population. It’s around the same proportion as those who couldn’t be bothered to vote for the ‘X’ factor finalist in 2010…
In 2001, the low turnout so alarmed the Electoral Commission that they were seriously discussing making voting compulsory, as it is, surprisingly, in Australia. Other proposals included being able to phone your vote in, or vote by internet.
The shouting, sneering and sophistry from all parties in the television debates and late night set piece interviews just leave us cold. We are angry, alienated, austerity ridden – and apathetic.
Not so apathetic, alienated and austerity ridden as to prevent a third of Europe anxiously tuning in to see whether a bearded drag act would walk off with the prized first place in the Eurovision contest – but sufficiently apathetic that we care less whether Jean-Claude Juncker or Martin Schulz end up with first prize in the European Parliament contest.
Never heard of either of them? They will have more impact on your life than Conchita Wurst. They are hot favourites to replace José Manuel Barroso as European Commission chief.
More eye-liner? A glitzy dress? Fishnet tights? What do they need to do to activate the apathetic?
- Robert the Biker
May 22, 2014 at 7:27 am -
I’m not sure apathy is the right word here. Most people are so fed up with the braying half-wits who rise to office that we simply cannot be bothered to be seen to endorse any of them!
While I agree that this allows cliques and special interest groups to gain power (Bliar, the nastiest little bastard to ever oil his way into a post, Mandelsnake the same!), it is hard to blame the average person from becoming so disillusioned with the whole process that they just give up.
If we had the Australian system, we should also have a box marked “None of these tossers, not on your life!” I think the politicos would be horrified at the vote count then!- Mudplugger
May 22, 2014 at 7:53 am -
Being pedantic, if Blair was indeed “the nastiest……”, then Mandelsnake could not be the same, otherwise it would have been a dead-heat for ‘joint nastiest’.
The sentiment may enjoy more accuracy than its presentation.- Robert the Biker
May 22, 2014 at 8:15 am -
Perhaps “the award for joint arseholes in chief goes to ….” : )
- Mrs Proudie of Barchester
May 22, 2014 at 10:56 am -
Dear Robert, might I suggest the phrase ‘two cheeks of the same arse’ for Messrs Bliar and Mandelsnake?
- Wigner’s Friend
May 22, 2014 at 11:55 am -
With Balls in between?
- Engineer
May 22, 2014 at 3:52 pm -
….and Brown not far away….
- Roobeedoo
May 22, 2014 at 4:13 pm -
Hahahaha
- Roobeedoo
- Engineer
- Wigner’s Friend
- Mrs Proudie of Barchester
- Robert the Biker
- Mudplugger
- Fat Steve
May 22, 2014 at 8:18 am -
What do they need to do to activate the apathetic? Well some respect for their constituents might be a start and a little humility possibly the next step. Or should that be the other way round ?
- Moor Larkin
May 22, 2014 at 9:00 am -
The media is the problem. The old principles of the BBC might have been patrician but they were far closer to the truth than the “free-thinkers” would like to imagine nowadays. A large number of the population are dumb and unthinking herd animals who only ever want to follow. If no attempt is made to educate them or challenger their beliefs, they will be only too happy to wallow in their brute ignorance and eat, drink and be happy. This is a boon for Elite rule of course since clever folks can twist dolts round their manicured little fingers. Adam Curtis tells you all you need to know about this disease from the West.
http://vimeo.com/67977038
The business and political world uses psychological techniques to read, create and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people’s rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population.- Ancient+Tattered Airman
May 22, 2014 at 12:19 pm -
Bread and Circuses were the Roman methods of keeping the public happy and the system has been so successful that it is employed to this very day. Freebies from government and mind-rotting TV entertainment.
- Fat Steve
May 22, 2014 at 4:51 pm -
@Moor Larkin your link http://vimeo.com/67977038 is nothing short of brilliant —spent all day struggling through all four episodes but worth every moment
- expoƒunction
May 25, 2014 at 10:15 am -
@Moor Larkin & @Fat Steve,
This just to endorse Fat Steve’s earlier comments on the brilliance of Moor Larkin’s link http://vimeo.com/67977038 along with the other three episodes of the BBC series: ‘The Century of Self’ accessible from there. Utterly compelling & indeed worth every moment. Thank you.
- Ancient+Tattered Airman
- Ho Hum
May 22, 2014 at 9:07 am -
And if all of the people voted and then chose ‘Bread and Circuses’, because the Butcher, the Baker and the Zyklon-B manufacturer appealed more to their baser instincts, would that ultimately be a better solution?
Getting what you wish for sometimes can sometimes have downsides, non?
- Moor Larkin
May 22, 2014 at 11:00 am -
Fear that the voters would vote for the Zyklon-B Party is one of the reasons Curtis theorises the American elites decided it was best to disenfranchise their voting masses via luxury.
Oddly enough it strikes me that our UK ancestors got it right when they declared WWI as the war to end all wars. Ever since, the British have had to be dragged into war, resisting all the way. The only time they seem up for it is when they perceive they are defending themselves, whether it be defending faraway homelands such as the Falklands, or attacking the faraway nests of danger, such as Afghanistan. Whilst Thatcher did seem to reap a war bonus for the short sharp shock of 1982, the decade and longer of Labour’s attrition seems not to have led anyone to want to vote for more of the same.
- Ho Hum
May 22, 2014 at 4:22 pm -
Indeed. Warsaw. That far flung corner of the British Empire….
- Moor Larkin
May 23, 2014 at 8:33 am -
Quite so, but the British only got serious about it after Dunkirk, when they had no other choice. It’s surely a truism that the government of the day wriggled like fury to avoid war. Chamberlain brought his paper home from Munich to national celebration. It’s not for nothing that the period between Sep 1939 and May 1940 was called the phoney war.
- Ho Hum
May 23, 2014 at 10:24 am -
My understanding of the events of the time is that there was no real expectation of avoiding war. While avoidance might have hoped and wished for, and indeed worked for, Munich primarily bought time for rearmament. The British government was going at that hell for leather from the mid 1930s, particularly with regard to airpower, both in terms of its defence, and tactical and strategic attack, capabilities, as it sought to keep up
- Ho Hum
- Moor Larkin
- Ho Hum
- Moor Larkin
- woodsy42
May 22, 2014 at 9:25 am -
Maybe just an implicit understanding that it’s all nothing more than theatre, it makes no real difference to the EU project however we vote. I will vote, but more in hope than expectation.
- Moor Larkin
May 22, 2014 at 9:57 am -
Did my bit first thing. There seemed a bit moor activity around the Polling Station than last time I was there, voting my local Police chappie.
- Moor Larkin
- Christie Malry
May 22, 2014 at 10:05 am -
A lot of people are apathetic because of the profund fucking stupidity of the party list system for electing MEPs. For example, it’s my personal view that Hairy Moneyball [TM] is one of the stupidest and most useless MEPs on the planet. But there’s nothing I can do to stop her from getting elected because, as Number 1 on the Labour list, she’s a shoo-in. How did she get to be Number 1? No idea. Nobody asked me. Even if I think the rest of the Labour slate are brilliant, I can’t stop her from getting the slot.
It’s ridiculous. No wonder people vote in droves for the Meh Party.
- Ho Hum
May 22, 2014 at 10:34 am -
Only ‘one of’? That might just be the best piece of understatement for some time…
- Ho Hum
- Ed P
May 22, 2014 at 10:09 am -
I wasted breath on my 22 year old daughter this morning trying to get her to vote today. “What’s the point?”, she said, and all I could say honestly was that voting UKIP might hasten change to our rotten system, but any other vote would be wasted. All her age group have similar attitudes – unsurprising in those “educated” under Labour’s politicised curriculum.
- Cascadian
May 22, 2014 at 8:55 pm -
Its a good thing, do you want poorly educated fools cancelling your vote?
I think British politicians might finally hear from the silent majority today, despite the landlady’s misgivings.
- Cascadian
- Don Cox
May 22, 2014 at 10:48 am -
I haven’t voted in the EU elections since they started making you vote for a party rather than a person. Parties are the bane of democracy.
Maybe I will vote today if the rain stops.
- JimS
May 22, 2014 at 11:10 am -
So at what point do I get to vote for Jean-Claude Juncker or Martin Schulz?
- Carol42
May 22, 2014 at 2:28 pm -
I am in Canada on holiday but posted my vote for UKIP won’t do any good but might just annoy the others.
- Jim Bates
May 22, 2014 at 4:53 pm -
During a brief trip into the political morass about a hundred years ago, I was told that the best way to annoy the candidates/parties was to vote for everyone. Make one cross slightly bigger than the rest (so there’s a debating point). Then on your spoilt paper write a brief summary of your views on politicians (be as abrupt as you wish). All candidates/agents get to see the spoilt papers to agree their disqualification so you’ll know that your feelings hit some targets!
I wonder what might happen if the percentage of spoilt papers were to suddenly rise. - Cascadian
May 22, 2014 at 8:48 pm -
Of course it will do some good, even in the rabid liebour ghettos they will note with concern growth of other parties and loss of potential donors. I note that the lib-dums are trying to pretend that anything less than a total loss of all MEPs will be cause for celebration, their polling must be revealing some seriously bad potential results.
Enjoy your visit, stay away from Chuckles-the-clown retinue.
- Jim Bates
- Ms Mildred
May 22, 2014 at 2:55 pm -
Listening to a phone in on LBC recently. Youngsters rang in to say that politicians mean nothing to them. They don’t keep promises. Evade questions. Cheat on expenses.Eton educated and out of touch. Too posh. Don’t understand ordinary people’s problems. Just after the money and being an MP. As usual, all the politicians who are not in this list of bitter comments get tarred with the same brush. Who or what put them in this frame of mind? Why should they vote for an MEP if they don’t even want to be in Europe anyway? Did the MSM, the aggressive anchor men et al foster this suspicion and distrust? Yes the European politicians do interfere in our every day life. Imposing bans on garden products we gardeners have used for years. Banning sulphur dust to stop bulbs rotting in storage. Not allowing a tar based product to be sold as a vine weevil killer but can advertise as a path cleaner, that comment was on the web from the manufacturer. Lots of other things they do as well, reaching into deep corners of our lives . We never get a say in how they reach some silly decisions. I have read a lot of European history in the last year or so and we do need to be united but not in the bossy way that has evolved since UK entered the EU. Our votes went by proxy a while ago.
- Mudplugger
May 22, 2014 at 3:22 pm -
Not only vine weevil killer – apparently it’s OK to advertise/promote a 100 Watt incandescent light-bulb as a ‘heater’, but not as an illumination device. The EUnatics are indeed now running the asylum.
- Mudplugger
- ivan
May 22, 2014 at 5:48 pm -
I think a friend of mine has the correct attitude with his reply when I asked him about the elections, I’m hoping the next Parliament is hung one – I’ll even help build the gallows.
- binao
May 22, 2014 at 5:58 pm -
Tin hat on, I’ve got an MP who seems to take the job seriously, I’ve met him, and he seems more engaged in the local community than some district & county councillors. His name’s Nick Herbert. If you write to him you get a reply.
Perhaps he went to the wrong school.
I don’t think all our politicians are evil & grasping. I think first they operate in a culture that has a unique attitude to expenses, benefits and insider deals that no business would tolerate for a moment, and second they actually believe that their working conditions and duties are so uniquely demanding that they’re a special case. These people then engage in a system which requires that they are always on message, and I guess after time like performing seals they can be relied on to do exactly what they’re told. Which isn’t to represent us.
But that’s MPs. District councillors seem more like rats in the gutter individually, rats in a sack collectively.
And MEPs. Who knows? All I’ve ever seen is Mr Farage blasting Barroso & co, and an expose of fiddling MEPs signing in for the daily allowance, then nipping off without having done a stroke.
And yes I always vote. I’d prefer to vote for the man, but we can’t with MEPs so party it is.
And I think we should tighten up the whole procedure re postal votes & vote collecting.- Mudplugger
May 22, 2014 at 7:25 pm -
Your MP certainly made an impression on BBC2’s ‘Daily Politics’ today, when he suddenly dropped the F-word into the conversation – much to the non-delight of hostess Jo Coburn, making a noble attempt to maintain her usual equilibrium, leading to a predictable grovel at the end of the show – your man made it all worth watching for a change.
Whether he’s a good MP or not you may judge, but he’s good lunchtime entertainment on a wet Thursday in May.- binao
May 22, 2014 at 8:07 pm -
He has a habit of refusing a mic in meetings locally (that I’ve seen, anyway). Prefers to speak naturally.
And mention of wet Thursday in May, like her or loathe her, she seems better equipped in the trouser department than most of the blokes. Might even have swayed a few blue waverers today.
Disturbing thoughts come to mind, must stop listening to ‘Round the Horne’.
- binao
- Ho Hum
May 22, 2014 at 9:24 pm -
I remember the first time I went to a formal Council Committee meeting. Almost no public. A few officers. And Council and Opposition Leaders who both should have been put in a sack and drowned. No normal person would have missed either of them.
- guthrie
May 22, 2014 at 10:09 pm -
The irritating problem seems to be that there are MP’s who do the local bit well, i.e. helping people with their troubles with unresponsive corporations and local bureacracies, then vote the party line all the way, which usually means stuffing the locals who’se small troubles they’ve helped solve. So they get elected again because at least everyone know he’s a good egg even if his party is pants. (This applies no matter which party)
- Carol42
May 23, 2014 at 2:01 am -
Must admit my MP Damien green was very helpful on the one occasion I had to contact him, in fact even invoking his name produced a very good result
- Mudplugger
- Engineer
May 22, 2014 at 8:42 pm -
I think the reasons for apathy with politics are many, and can’t be fully explained by a short blog post or comment.
One contributory factor, I think, was the relentless ‘news management’ techniques used by some political apparatchiks. People felt they couldn’t believe anything politicians said because it was always ‘spun’, even when they (occasionally) were telling the straight truth. The media knew they were being spun, and so now are even more cynical than politicians. The public, even the daft ones, pick up that something is amiss, and the idea is now firmly embedded that politicians routinely tell lies. That’s a pity, because with some exceptions, politicians don’t usually tell bare-faced lies, even if they are not fully open about the full facts.
Repairing the damage done to politics by ‘news management’ will take years.
- Frankie
May 22, 2014 at 9:16 pm -
I would support of any move to make voting a legal obligation, as it is in Australia.
Spoil your ballot paper if you must, but countless tens of thousands died to give us the freedom to vote, so we owe it to them to collectively get off our lazy backsides and get down to the polling station once in a blue moon.
No one, in my view, has any moral authority or right to express an opinion on any facet of any policy by an incumbent party or its various opponents, unless one fulfills the moral obligation to express an opinion through the ballot box when encouraged to do so.
How many people on the planet, even in 2014 still have no right to vote, or are presently fighting for the basic freedoms that we already enjoy and yet the majority of the UK population wears its freedoms so carelessly.
Disgraceful.
- Ho Hum
May 22, 2014 at 9:28 pm -
I would agree that they have the privilege of voting. As to their being free? That’s illusory.
- guthrie
May 22, 2014 at 10:10 pm -
As said above, if voting is to be compulsory, there should be a NOTA box, with the election re-run if it wins. That way people can better express their mandate.
- Fat Steve
May 23, 2014 at 8:50 am -
@Guthrie –a NOTA box —now that’s a clever idea and would inspire me most certainly to take the trouble to vote
- Fat Steve
- Ho Hum
- John Galt
May 22, 2014 at 10:02 pm -
Yes, Peter Mandelson does have rather a lot to answer for in terms of creating the current form of political media management.
The problem is that the first time they tried it, it was new and funky and it made Tony Bliar look as though he was actually in control of his party AND represented something approximating public opinion – of course it was just a façade and actually hid the horrors of New Labour from genuine scrutiny.
Nowadays all the main parties attempt the same sleight-of-hand and the public are left jaded and cynical by it. This is why Nigel Farage and his beer-n-ciggies routine works. It’s still a façade (just a different form), but it’s one neither of the other main party leaders can pull off.
As an aside, I was chatting to Peter Mandelson at a BP Charity bash around 2003 or so. Very personable with a kin of impish grin, which is appropriate for the spawn of Beelzebub.
- Gloria Smudd
May 23, 2014 at 7:43 am -
We went to vote yesterday together with our just-18-year-old daughter and 20-year-old son. We were virtually congratulated by the staff manning the polling station for being accompanied by ‘yoof’ who could be bothered to exercise their right to vote!
- Ho Hum
May 23, 2014 at 8:25 am -
And they weren’t bothered about the kids’ collars and leashes? Well, I suppose any vote is a good vote, as far as a polly is concerned
- Gloria Smudd
May 23, 2014 at 10:54 am -
I said we were ‘virtually’ congratulated, I didn’t say we dragged them there. The young one was particularly keen to vote as she had just turned 18 and has a very strong opinion on everything under the sun, including politics; mind you, she was just as keen to buy a drink in the pub! The boy-child just happened to be at home as we were leaving and turned up to vote while we were still at the polling station.
The people handing out the ballot papers just mentioned that our two were by far the youngest people they’d seen all day and that it was good to see people of their age group making use of their votes.
- Gloria Smudd
- Ho Hum
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