The electorate's decision not to give any party a clear mandate means that, in the eyes of the electorate at least, one party is much the same as another. What is also curious is just how quickly, after all the dire warnings of doom and gloom, the ConDems have got together and hammered out a way of working together - just a few days and the world didn't end in the process. Was it Dave 'Man of the People' Cameron who said that they were going to get on with the job in an adult way. It begs the question 'what was going on before' and it makes me wonder what benefit the party system offers.
The Party system is undoubtedly sectarian. It encourages division rather than cohesion. It promotes the concept of a divided nation which, at an election, is at war with itself. The Reds vs the Blues vs the Yellows vs the Greens vs the Others. Yet all the time we are one nation, albeit made up of 60+million souls, who can and do work cooperatively together for much of the time. We have inherent skills enough to get on with our lives (even if government does as much as possible to make those lives as complicated as possible).
So what does the ConDem government have to teach us? Well, it has already taught me that when individuals recognise and embrace a common purpose, they can put aside their prejudices and seek to work together towards common goals. In the case of Britain today, the common goal will be to stabilise the economy in order that Britain rides out the choppy waters ahead and avoids becoming a meal for the currency speculators.
Oh, and I almost forgot, one of the big advantages of the invented furore over the 'hung parliament' and the new ConDem government's need to tackle the 'debt crisis' is that everyone (i.e. our politicians) will quietly forget the much trumpeted need to 'clean up politics'. David Heath was returned as the MP for Somerton & Frome and I wonder what David will do with regard to his own campaign to 'clean up politics'. I seem to remember that I invited him to help me in cleaning up the mess within Somerton Town Council (pre 27th October 2009) and I'm still awaiting his call.............
Till next time, I'm Niall Connolly