This is not such a big article this time, but just been listening Radio 5, and the Breakfast Phone in show, where the public where asked if Gordon Brown was the right man to lead Britain forwards. Quite frankly, in my own humble opinion, no.
Every time I hear from someone in the Labour party, I want to smack them. There is a constant spin on news, they dont like confronting bad news, and Gordon brown has shown an amazing ability to miss what is right in front of him. "Taxes will be changed to make them fairer!" Then pulls the 10p tax, whilst insisting it wont hurt anyone.
Then back-pedals rapidly.
Another one that really got me was the mega-casino thing. Manchester's Eastlands community would have seen millions poured in which would have delivered economic benefits all over the shop. Other regions missed out on the mega casino, but many areas benefited from smallre regional casino plans.
Gordon Brown got in, and nixed the mega casino plan for its anti-social aspects (gambling addiction, etc). This, I have no major issue with. I am quite neutral on the gambling issue. I have no objections to one being built, and the only objection I have to blocking one is that people should be treated as adults and allowed to choose. Yes, gambling does have its inherent issues of addiction and debt, but a mega casino could fund help programmes to assist people who fall into that trap, and the vast majority of us are reasonably sensible enough to make our own decisions.
However, Brown nixed it, and after Manchester ploughed a tone of cash in to the bidding process and organising for the benefits, had all this pulled out from under it, and nothing put on the table as compensation.
I have no issue with nixing it per se. However, as a marker of his style, Brown does what he wants for his reasons, the later has to scramble when he realises there are wider issues at play.
However, that little rant over.
What I really wanted to talk about was political dynasties.
Britain's political structure allows people to carry on in politics for a very long time, so the offspring tend to move into business rather than follow in the family line and go into politics themselves. Also, they see the hassle their parents go through, and dont want that for themselves.
However, there are dynasties in Britain. Most famous being the Benns.
William Wedgewood Benn (Tony Benn) was in parliament in the 20's followed by Anthony Wedgewood Benn who served with Harold Wilson, and now we have Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary. Following in the family line, Hilary's niece, Emily Benn is bidding to be the youngest ever MP (20) at the next election.
Harold McMillian was followed into parliament by his son Maurice, Gwilym Lloyd George followed his father in, and the most successful family is possibly the Balfours, (Marquess' of Salisbury) with about 5 of them to go into parliament.
America, famously, has had some amazing dynasties. Let us not forget the recent history of presidents, with Bush, Clinton, back to Bush again, with Hillary Clinton forging her own political legacy. And of course, with the Bush's, The other brother is sitting as governor in Florida. And of course, the most famous example is the Kennedy's. A political dynasty that looks like it is coming to an unfortunate end with the sad passing of Ted Kennedy.
However, this pales into insignificance, when you look at the political scene in Japan. The recent ruling party, the LDP, saw at least 50% of its members inheriting their seats directly from their parents. Usually father to son. The most obvious example is possibly the most famous PM in Japanese recent history, Junichiro Koizumi (Him with the hair!) retiring from his seat, and his young son stepping in and taking over.
Shinjiro, in the past, could have expected a near shoo-in for the seat, except that now, political inheritance is slowly becoming a dirty word in Japanese politics, and the DPJ has tried hard to begin to move away from this history, with only about 10% of its new members being from a political family.
However, since Koizumi, every leader of the Jpaanese government, Koizumi, Abe, Fukuda, Aso, and now Hatoyama are all directly descended from grandfathers who have either been prime ministers themselves, or involved with high levels of government!
Another aspect of Japanese politics has been "amakudari" or the art of those working for the government (politician and bureaucrat) who retire, and take up a lucrative position with a private company. Usually a company that works in the government officials department. The most common area is construction. Which is one of the reasons why you see so much concrete in this country.
People look after the company, giving them contracts that most would term as wasteful, and then, surprise, that same company offers them a comfortable position upon retirement!
Corruption is common in Japan. It is a faceless crime that many people judge to be relatively harmless, and not a direct attack on someone, which would be improper!
I am not saying that British politics is anything like Japanese politics, but noting a word of caution. Unless controls are put in place, the political dynasties can grow and become detached from the world around them, and look where Japanese politics has ended up. The DPJ has made noises about changing it all, reducing bureaucrat powers, ending this policy of amakudari, and encouraging the ending of dynasties.
As for Emily Benn, whilst I disagree with your politics (I cant bring myself to vote Labour. I just cant!), I wish you luck in your ambition. However, I would suggest getting out and working first. Sample life as the rest of us see it. It would help before you start to legislate on it!
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