Priorities

I honestly do not understand what is going on with this country at the moment.

As a general rule, I avoid politics... However, every now and then, I get to the point where I see so much crud going on I have to say something.

So, here's that point...

Our government have been running rough-shod over the country for so long now, people seem to have just accepted it, and take everything they throw at us with a roll of the eyes. They have worked so hard on pointing the finger at a group or a class of people, they've made them out to be the badguys, thus diverting attention from THEM.

Here's what's hacked me off at the moment. The country is up in arms that cheap beefburgers have been found to contain horse meat. Some less than 1%, one brand almost 30%.

Now, had it turned out to be pig cock, or chicken lungs, or fuzzy kittens, fair enough. Torches & Pitchforks.

However, this is horsemeat which - let's be honest - is just meat.

On the other side of the scale, we've got our government. Our government that think they "deserve" and "need" a payrise of over 30% a year. The same government that accuse people LIKE ME of being on the sponge and not in need of an additional 1% increase on our money.

This is the same government that have just slashed the starting salary of the police by over £4,000. The same that have just shafted pensions.

The government has managed to do its best in convincing the general populace that those of us on benefits are dirty cheats, that live in the lap of luxury, chortling to ourselves as we watch people going to work in the mornings. Granted, yes, I am sure there ARE people like that - those that claim benefits they are not entitled to, those that claim but work cash in  hand, and those that fiddle the system in general... But for everyone to look down their noses at us because WE are ripping off the country?

I'm sorry, but it is not on.

How is it that the politicians can sit and decide their own wages? That they claim expenses willy-nilly for stupid sodding items, yet for the last two weeks, we've had to scrimp and scrap just so we can feed the kids?! The loops and hoops and pitfalls that people like me have to jump through to get anything, yet those in power have people to drive them all over the place, yet the money for them to do this... Our pockets.

So forget the burgers, forget the fact that it's all doom and gloom due to incoming snow (it's Winter, it's pretty much a given), and refocus on how these people "leading" the country are doing nothing but smash up our way of life and changing our country for the worse.

And consider: we've still got two years of these muppets in power.

Conspiracy Theories

I do love a good conspiracy theory. Not because I think there is some nefarious, underhanded thing going on in every event in the world, but because the different viewpoint on something - even if it's been explained - fascinates me. Bending facts from one thing into something completely different amuses me.

Whether it's the Moon Landings, Roswell, the 9/11 Attacks or the Assassination of JFK.. The alternative theories of them are interesting to read. Here's the evidence, bent to how we want it to sound.

However, every now and then, I see something in the news, or on a documentary or whatever, and think "I wonder if there is more to this than people are letting on" and recently, it has been the preparations for the Olympics...

See, the military and the police have been doing all sorts of very very interesting things in the name of "security" but constantly stating like a broken record "There is no threat"

However, when you see that the SAS are patrolling the Thames, that there are fighter jets in the air patrolling the south east of England (and, a certain person, I would like to point out we are having regular jet-fighter-fly-overs here thank you!), and this week, they plonked a f$cking great AIRCRAFT CARRIER in the middle of London.

Oh yes, and I mustn't forget the Surface-to-Air MISSILES being placed at "strategic locations" around the City. And by "strategic" I mean "On the roof of various blocks of flats and apartments, where people actually LIVE"

I get that in this day and age, people have been spooked into thinking "TERROR THREATS!" are a license to do anything the governments want, but seriously, Aircraft Carriers and sodding Missile Batteries?

"We want to reassure people there is no specific threat..." is the standard line, but honestly, we seem to have a militarised city just 25 miles from my front door, all because some fit people are going to be running and jumping and stuff

And all this in the same week that the various Super Secret Agencies announce that Al Queda (or however you spell it, I'm not checking) is no longer a threat due to the fact they've pretty much blown all the leaders away.

*Off Topic Slightly*

And let's also NOT forget, this is the Government that - despite it's promises and everything else - have spent waaaaay too much money on setting this bloody games up, and now a stupid sum on defence for "No specific threat" despite - despite - the fact that this is a time of "Austerity" and belt-tightening and "Sorry-the-country-is-out-of-money-so-you-poor-people-are-going-to-get-pissed-on" yet they can find X Billion quid to throw at sport, and X tens or hundreds of million to throw at defending against "No specific threat" and oh, if you're Europe or a country that can't look after itself, here's another few billion that I told the country we don't have - and could rebuild the NHS entirely - but here, YOU have it...

*snarl*

So how about it? Do we think - despite what they are officially saying - that some group or another has made some sort of threat, and they are taking it seriously? And let's be honest, it's looking like it's going to be a threat from the air... Fighter Jets, Aircraft Carriers, Surface to Air missiles...

Let the conspiracies run wild...

Who To Trust

OK OK, let's be clear. Ready: I do not do politics. I do not understand the intricate games. I do not understand exactly how parliament works. I do not have any preference for parties or leaders. I do not get being Left or Right.

But with that said: Today is Polling Day for the local elections, and once again, I am at a complete loss.

In the last few years - say, 5-10 years - politics have always been in the news. The Government passes a law, the People hate the law. The Government votes to do something, the People at that something. One government is full of sleazebags, the next government promises to stomp out the sleaze... And is eventually swamped with sleaze.

I've always taken a sideline to politics. I certainly don't discuss them on here because they cause arguments, and people can never see eye to eye in such matters. But the last few years has pushed me to the point of screaming.

And now, today, I have to vote.

Well, I say I have to vote, I don't have to vote, but I should.

But I have no idea who to vote for. Not any more. Because whoever you vote for, whatever their promises, their offers of change and reform and fixing "Broken Britain" it always ends up being us, at the lower-end of society - that ends up with a knife in our back and boot prints all over us.

Now, if you believe everything that the politicians say: The last government - Labour - was weak and America & Europes puppy. The two Labour Prime Ministers were too soft on everything, the laws were rubbish and weak, and we built up a massive stupid huge debt that could only be fixed by cutting everything. Doom, Gloom, Bleak. Bad.

Election Day comes along, and us lot - well, we can't decide who to vote for, and because of how we voted, we had a hung parliament. No one in proper power. So two apparently enemies - the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats - joined forces and voilà! Coalition Government.

And during the run up to election, it was "I promise this" and "We promise that" and "Vote for THEM and it will all be shit" and so on.

So they Coalition Government stepped into play, grabbed their proverbial bat and... Started smashing the shit out of everything. Health, Schools, Roads, Benefits, Military - everything was slapped stupid. Promises made were "adjusted" and deals struck were tested by the other side.

And now, we are back at to voting - local elections, mind you, not actual government... But here's the thing. When Party 1 fucked everything up, Party 2 just likes looking out for the rich, and Party 3 cannot be trusted at all...

Who the pissing hell are we supposed to vote for?

"Vote! Tell the govenment what you think of them!" come the cries... but they, whoever I vote for will just make another mess of everything. "Vote for B so A don't get as big a majority!" which is all well and good, but then, surely that will just put someone else shite into a position of power.

They have all - ALL of them - screwed everything up so much, it's not even funny. They all point their fingers at one another, they all blame each other for their own policies, they all dredge up sleaze and claims of back-room dealing, underhanded voting and everything else...

The fact of the matter is, I trust NO ONE in Westminster, Not to run the country, not to fix the country, not to help those that matter - THE PEOPLE of the Country.

So for the love of all things holy, what the blazes are we supposed to do?