Reflecting on the referendum announcement and we have seen the city and the markets react in a way, which has costs millions of pounds and see our world ranking drop to 6th place; the Prime Minister resign and a massive split in the government of the day. In the week, when a woman full of hope, care, compassion and strong labour values was gunned down in the street, leaving two small children without a mum. Still we do not see the benefit of community.
How did this happen is the question that should be asked? How did the politics of fear and retribution supersede hope and aspiration?
How have we become so self centred that we no longer care or respect the customs and differences of our fellow man?
It's clear to me that the referendum result is only a symptom and a result of a politically enforced austerity, where our society has become more entrenched and reactionary because the political elite forget that they are the servants and not the masters of the working class. Society found its scapegoat in Europe instead of looking closer to home.
We saw how this manifested itself at local level back in 2005-6 when local people couldn't understand why the industrial past had to finish and that the "New Labour" brand had no answers to the changes that were happening in the community.The only message that was being sown by the far right at the time was a message of hate and blame to parts of the community and this was believed because people felt vulnerable and under threat.
Despite our best efforts in getting the message to the wider political classes it fell on deaf ears Labour died and the good it had done had been lost in theworld of a banking crisis.
The Tories said they had the answer in their"austerity programme" but what did it do in reality itcreated a greater divide and made more people more vulnerable as it blamed the have not’s.......The coalition government was weak without real visionso there was no solution there as they shored up a spiteful government for there own political gain.
How did this happen is the question that should be asked? How did the politics of fear and retribution supersede hope and aspiration?
How have we become so self centred that we no longer care or respect the customs and differences of our fellow man?
It's clear to me that the referendum result is only a symptom and a result of a politically enforced austerity, where our society has become more entrenched and reactionary because the political elite forget that they are the servants and not the masters of the working class. Society found its scapegoat in Europe instead of looking closer to home.
We saw how this manifested itself at local level back in 2005-6 when local people couldn't understand why the industrial past had to finish and that the "New Labour" brand had no answers to the changes that were happening in the community.The only message that was being sown by the far right at the time was a message of hate and blame to parts of the community and this was believed because people felt vulnerable and under threat.
Despite our best efforts in getting the message to the wider political classes it fell on deaf ears Labour died and the good it had done had been lost in theworld of a banking crisis.
The Tories said they had the answer in their"austerity programme" but what did it do in reality itcreated a greater divide and made more people more vulnerable as it blamed the have not’s.......The coalition government was weak without real visionso there was no solution there as they shored up a spiteful government for there own political gain.
Next we got another government with much of the same; so there certainly isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel for the working class.
Now we are faced with the NHS on its knees, housing in disarray, education privatised and the welfare state being demonised, whilst the rich areseen as riding the gravy train with the politicians from Westminster.
Instead of seeing the strength in being part of a larger community we have voted to become small and are quite likely to diminish further as the Union is split with an independence vote.
So it's time for self reflection on both side of the political divide because it's very clear the politics of Westminster is not the politics of the people in the communities of the U.K.
It's about time austerity was ended and we invest once again into the future of the people of the U.K. we need to build homes for people to rent and support their families without stigma attached to it;we need to invest in our education not privatise it and most of all we need to give all residents and their family hope for the future.
Only then would we be able to say that we live in a civilised and progressive country which would allow us to put the great back into Great Britain.
So it's time for self reflection on both side of the political divide because it's very clear the politics of Westminster is not the politics of the people in the communities of the U.K.
It's about time austerity was ended and we invest once again into the future of the people of the U.K. we need to build homes for people to rent and support their families without stigma attached to it;we need to invest in our education not privatise it and most of all we need to give all residents and their family hope for the future.
Only then would we be able to say that we live in a civilised and progressive country which would allow us to put the great back into Great Britain.