Power is too centralised

We are all waiting for Westminster.

Nothing can be done until he or she is elected as Tory party leader, and then what?

We are told on one hand that we need to cut our cloth to suit our means, while each candidate tries to outbid each other with tax cuts.

How does that work? Surely these are incompatible objectives?

Why do we have to wait for Westminster to bring forth their pearls of wisdom?

Are they going to swiftly solve the energy crisis, the cost of living crisis, the housing crisis, the climate change crisis, and all the other crises?

Probably not, and if they are, why was it not done before?

There is constant reference to the Westminster bubble, yet we cannot even rename a sports field, unless some obscure office in Whitehall makes the decision.

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland,the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man can make decisions to some extent for themselves, but not in Kent.

Here, the big decisions are made in Whitehall, or by some useless agency, such as National Highways, from a distance, and much good it has done us.

Why is adult social care in a fix, Whitehall? Why can you not get a face-to-face appointment with your GP, because of decisions on the funding and structure of the NHS made in Whitehall?

Why are planning decisions fixated about housing numbers? Yes, you guessed it, Whitehall.

Sir Humphrey knows best, is still the mantra followed by many govt departments, even though the TV series Yes Minister is on its umpteenth rerun.

For all the promises of populism, this has not changed, whatever government is in power.

There is, however, a crisis forming and expanding like a gigantic thunderstorm, and that is the debt crisis. Like a Hydra, it has many heads. Government debt, thanks to incompetent banks, Covid and government incompetence about how it funds projects, is causing concern.

Adding unfunded tax cuts and triple lock pension promises, won’t help.

Local govt has tried to borrow its way out of its constant cash flow problems by borrowing and investing in property, especially in retail sites, and funding shaky business ventures and has now reached an eye-watering £130bn.

Personal debt, which was a concern before Covid, will become a major issue as hard-up households find themselves unable to sustain debt servicing on credit cards, HP, PCP car leases, mortgages and the new disrupter lenders like Klarna.

Many will have to endure the trauma of personal bankruptcies, unless we do something about it.

All I have seen in this paper is grandstanding and people shouting “woke” when anyone tries to point out that things are not going entirely to plan, mainly because there isn’t a plan.

Part of the problem is the constant expedient of using sticking plaster solutions to get over an immediate problem.

Muddling through only goes so far. Long-term structural problems need long-term structural solutions, which may not receive universal approval.

These are the famed hard choices that few politicians are prepared to make because they cling to the illusion of power rather than realise, like a mayfly, their period in the sun is limited.

Constantly courting popularity at the expense of doing the right thing, has been the hallmark of the current incumbent at No 10, and now that policy has crashed and burnt spectacularly.

Blaming the poor, and cutting benefits is no answer; neither is loading the debt and tax burden onto the young.

It is not fair nor viable. My generation may have paid off war debts, but that does not give us the right to dump our debt financing problems on to our children and grandchildren. I don’t believe in the doleful, declinist view of Britain, where everyone looks up at a Spitfire and says everything since then has gone to pot.

Our best days are ahead, but only if we face our problems square on, and respond collectively, sharing the costs, and receiving the rewards of running Britain fairly.

Richard Styles of the elites, who have never accepted the will of the people, made vaccinations available immediately it was possible, and led the democratic world in support for Ukraine.

On the debit side he ate cake, and over-indulged a sleazy drunk.

That he should have been forced out over inconsequential nonsense is a disgrace.

Do those who ousted him really believe that the working class voters of the Red Wall had suddenly become supportive of Conservative policies?

As one who has spent much time in areas such as Teesside, I can assure the former that it was Boris, and his defiance of the metropolitan acolytes of Brussels that inspired that vote, and it will crumble away now that the Conservative party has demonstrated once again its ability to stab in the back those, however successful at elections, who do not subscribe to the sort of compromising weakness beloved by career politicians.

The heart of the Conservative party has always belonged to leaders such as Baldwin, Chamberlain and Ted Heath, and the mavericks like Churchill, Thatcher and Boris have been tolerated for a while, but, with the exception of Winston, whose greatness even the most weakwilled could not deny, they were eventually cast aside, despite the support of the electorate.

Of course, this has been made worse by the arrogant and totally biased behaviour of much of the media, in particular the BBC,

whose relentless pursuit of Boris represents an indelible shame upon those supposedly tasked with eschewing prejudice in their reporting.

If a candidate such as Suella Braverman, or Ben Wallace, were to succeed Boris then there might yet be hope.

But the balance of probability is that it will be some either overt, or closet Remainer, who will make this country once more a vassal of the EU.

It is likely that those ingrates who stabbed Boris in the back will find themselves out of parliament, or at least consigned to years on the opposition benches, but unfortunately the triumph of the liberal left will damage this country, possibly beyond repair.

Colin Bullen