Stuck in the middle with … no-one
AN accusation once levelled at former premier Tony Blair was that he took moderation to extremes.
The jibe wasn’t considered particular funny at the time – or now, for that matter – but the observation still serves as a reminder of how folks should be careful what they wish for.
A decade or so ago, pollsters recorded a sense of frustration among voters as to how UK politics suffered from an overcrowded centre-stage.
Barely a cigarette paper appeared to separate the main parties on some issues. Understandably, perhaps, the call among punters was for more distinctive policies.
It only took a few at the fringe to latch on to this latent discontent and quickly garner support before the mainstream parties reacted accordingly. Soon, political survival meant coming up with a sharper focus of your own.
Nowadays, we live in starkly polarised times where it’s left versus right, European versus Brexiteer, independent versus unionist and Piers Morgan versus everyone else.
Indeed, the notion of setting up a political movement to straddle the middle ground is considered as crazy as building a house in no-man’s land.
Strangely, as our political choices have become more defined, so our democratic options have become less abundant. We’ve lost the right of movement at home and abroad and soon it will be illegal to take the streets in protest over that fact.
Then again, reading some of the stuff on social media, it’s possible to conclude that all this is fine and dandy for those who prefer their messages painted on the side of a bus.
They favour direct democracy where the “peepul” call the shots though referenda and the politicians just do as they’re told.
It’s noticeable how demands have grown for “clarity” and “certainty”, as if these have suddenly become potentially accessible qualities previously denied to generations of voters by a deceitful establishment.
But there’s only one political system that delivers absolute certainty, without doubts or deviations. It’s called fascism and it’s still available in an attractive range of designs and colours. Sometimes, in fact, and given the right circumstances, you don’t even recognise that it’s happened.
Like I said, people should be careful what they wish for.