Man with un-met expectations of politicians
Some people appear destined to write blogs about the most obscure things through a deep-held belief in a subject matter and an untrammelled self-confidence that one’s musings somehow demand an audience. JOURNEY is rather more circumspect about its approach to blogging – and we’re nervous. To give birth to something without knowing whether anyone will turn up, seeking either to praise it or to bury it, is scary stuff. And yet it seems that part of the power of blogging is the facility to give ideas a whirl and observe that, hey, if the world’s big enough for 8,000 people to share a common and unifying interest in incompetent cervixes, mankind must surely be evolving towards a better place.
But why the title? How are ‘things’ at the moment? And what ‘things’ are we seeking to reflect upon?
The Indifferent Peapod Development Framework
Well, our main focus is on exploring the fact that so much of what we observe in life and, to be frank, so much of what we choose to put up with, is a function of our own indifference: That is to say, from a political perspective in particular, what we choose to put up with as ‘the general public’ is a function of our collective inability to sort out what’s actually important to us as ‘the general public.’ Its aim, therefore, is partly to argue the case that, as taxpayers, it is our right – indeed some may see it as an obligation – to set out what it is we expect and require from the public services that we currently ‘commission’ from HM Government via the mechanism of the ballot box. It will also attempt, over time, to argue the case that British politicians (to include Scottish representatives at this point) should no longer regard the blind pursuit of party manifesto pledges as their main purpose, but should instead start to think long and hard about what it really means as a member of the political elite to be responsive to the public’s legitimate interest in being able to enjoy high quality and affordable public services.
The Three Amigos
It is obvious that the technology-enabled world we live in today is bringing about unprecedented and unrelenting change; as a result of this, the original consensus that may have underpinned various shared notions of democracy is now coming under considerable pressure and scrutiny. Old certainties of ‘The Right’ versus ‘The Left’ are starting to feel increasingly arcane and, although some of today’s more progressive politicians will claim to have moved towards a less partisan mode (fighting for ‘right’ versus ‘wrong’), one is still left with a deep feeling of unease as to what today’s political elite really believes in and, indeed, is working towards.
The road to political nirvana
This blog seeks to engage those who are interested in how we might re-think the ongoing management of public services so that they live up to our reasonable expectation. It will challenge those in power to provide evidence of services being ‘fit for purpose’ in terms of delivering satisfactory outcomes and being run by individuals who have the required competencies to deliver those services to a sufficiently high standard. Hopefully we will encourage a debate and provide a forum for all parties with an interest in how governments relate to the people they serve and the practical results they are expected to achieve. Not ‘the way things are’, but perhaps the way things should be.
thinking on the journey 