Current location:Culture Current news portal > politics
MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: We deserve better than over
Culture Current news portal2024-06-03 16:42:42【politics】1People have gathered around
IntroductionThere were only 20 days in 1959 between the dissolution of Parliament on September 18 and the Genera
There were only 20 days in 1959 between the dissolution of Parliament on September 18 and the General Election on October 8. This used to be typical. Nobody complained that it was too short.
How then did we end up with a campaign that already seems to have lasted about a year and still has more than a month to go? Surely, in an era of modern communications, elections should be getting shorter?
Candidates no longer have to battle their way down muddy lanes on horseback to reach the remote corners of rural constituencies. These days, a policy can be dreamed up (apparently) over breakfast and be on the national TV news – and all over the internet – by nightfall. And Sir Keir Starmer's transformation from steely Commander-in-Chief to browbeaten Captain Flip Flop in full retreat was almost as quick.
It is very hard to see why we cannot just get on with it a bit. Perhaps, if we did, those involved would take it all rather more seriously.
(Left to right) Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner, at the launch event for Labour's campaign bus at Uxbridge College, while on the General Election campaign trail on Saturday
It's extraordinary how little we have heard about the huge and difficult issues that will face whoever wins – fundamental NHS reform instead of gimmicks, the unsolved problem of social care, a believable policy on mass immigration, the need to strengthen our defences set against the need to get spending under control.
This is partly because of the quiet disappearance in recent years of the daily party leaders' press conferences. These once exposed would-be premiers to sustained rigorous public inquisition by experienced and knowledgeable reporters.
It is easy to see why the spin doctors got rid of them, as they long ago eliminated treacherous, raucous public meetings at which ordinary citizens could heckle, or laugh at the wrong moment.
Rishi Sunak launches the Conservative campaign bus at Redcar Racecourse in the in the North East of England while on the General Election campaign trail on Saturday
We may get the occasional tough television interview if we are lucky, but the over-hyped leaders' TV debates are not as perilous as they ought to be.
The leaders themselves have all gone through exacting briefings and rehearsals in which their image masseurs will have told them how not to 'commit news' – that is, to say anything new or interesting.
Even so, it is vital to keep up the pressure, and hope for more upsets of the Diane Abbott kind, if only because they compel our political elite to abandon their cliche-ridden scripts and show us what they are really made of.
Honour our heroes
It is two decades since the then Labour government made a rather fine gesture, offering free passports to those of the wartime generation who still survived.
It was an imaginative way of commemorating the sacrifice of D-Day. It allowed many veterans to revisit, perhaps for the last time, the battlefields on which they risked everything, and where many comrades gave everything.
The idea is still excellent, and we think it should now be extended to that very select group of over-75s who have fought for this country in wars and conflicts since 1945.
We owe them far more than this, which we cannot repay. But this is something we can do, and so we should do it.
Address of this article:http://marshallislands.campingcolorado.net/news-45f899156.html
Address of this article:http://marshallislands.campingcolorado.net/news-45f899156.html
Very good!(9523)
Related articles
- Alaska judge finds correspondence school reimbursements unconstitutional
- Feature: Blind engineer opens up new vistas with computer game design
- New Year's Day holiday travel plans heating up
- Former ICBC discipline chief arrested for suspected bribery
- NATO defence ministers discuss strengthening bloc's deterrence, support to Ukraine
- Chinese engineers install cutting
- Heavy rains set off flash floods, killing 33 people in Afghanistan,
- Procuratorate orders arrest of former vice president of China Development Bank
- IAEA chief stresses further monitoring of Fukushima nuke wastewater discharge
- Liverpool loses 1
Popular articles
Recommended
Thick blanket of fog in Pakistan's capital affects routine life
Liverpool loses 1
China continues to enhance public medical services
Hybrid solar plant and fish farm in C China's Hubei offers environmental, economic gains
I blocked off my driveway with £34 tool from Screwfix
Traditional Chinese health regimens gain popularity among young people
Qinghai affected by Gansu earthquake, mobilizes multiple personnel
China regulates unified medicine procurement platforms
Links
- As Melinda French Gates leaves the Gates Foundation, many hope she’ll double down on gender equity
- Canada blows 5
- Latest US inflation report may provide clues to future path of prices and interest rates
- Canada blows 5
- Sheriff faces questions from Arkansas lawmakers over Netflix series filmed at county jail
- Jason Kelce to be part of 'Monday Night Football' pregame show, ESPN announces
- Final Preakness at Pimlico before rebuilding stirs nostalgia mixed with relief for needed fixes
- Tiger Woods is still deciding whether he has time to be Ryder Cup captain
- Piers Morgan slams Netflix for 'failing in their duty of care' to Baby Reindeer's 'real
- Google unleashes artificial intelligence in search, favoring responses by AI over links