Does voting still matter?

AS POLITICAL anoraks like me view Parliament via the Commons TV Channel (yes, there is one) I can’t help noticing the air of unreality that pervades it. No doubt the chief contributory factor has been the “social distancing” that Covid 19 demanded. The Chamber is basically empty.

The Commons consequently appears almost irrelevant as events outside have more impact on life than the Honourable Members do (see above). The government seem to have lost control. Who would believe that this Tory government was elected recently with an 80-plus majority? The country feared a socialist, high spending government and rejected Jeremy Corbyn overwhelmingly. What did they get? A Tory government that has spent money it doesn’t have on a scale Corbyn could only dream about. Covid 19 inspired, no doubt, but not exactly what the country voted for. Nor did they vote for riots, demonstrations, anarchy, statue destruction, knife crime and gang warfare, which no democratic government, a Tory one especially, should ever tolerate. Boris still has time to sort all this out before he faces the electorate again. He had better get on with it.

So, when voting produces the exact opposite of what folk vote for, who can blame them for wondering what was the point of it all? Be under no illusions. If this government and parliament do not seize back control from the mob, then all that is happening on Britain’s streets WILL become the norm. People didn’t vote for that either. However disillusioned you might feel, if you have a vote, use it. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.