In the UK we are a week away from a general election and I am mindful of my 2010 painting ‘Democracy’ which hangs in my studio here in Cornwall.
‘Democracy’ (2010) ~ Chris Billington
We are told that this is the most uncertain British election for many years and it is easy to see why, the electorate has little appetite for a political system that has spawned an elite that is completely detached from reality.
Long gone are the days when people got into politics for the good of the nation, conviction politicians have been replaced by self interested politicians across all of the parties who really do seem to be in it for themselves, and to a man or woman they all seem incapable of answering questions in a straight way or of telling the truth.
The political elite is now populated by condescending politicians from the left such as Labour’s Emily Thornberry who sneer at the working class and the hypocrisy of Diane Abbott who wanted to ban private schools but sent her own son to one, and the ‘authentic’ David Cameron who summed up the Conservatives by scoring a massive own goal in mixing up the midlands club Aston Villa, of whom he is supposed to be a lifelong fan, with London’s West Ham. And somebody really should point out to Mr Cameron that rolling up shirt sleeves does not equate with passion. What Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats did on tuition fees was unforgivable and of course almost the entire House of Commons was guilty of defrauding the British public whilst maintaining that they were keeping ‘within the spirit of the law’ during the members of parliament expenses scandal.
All three of the major parties have discredited politics with lies and false promises to the electorate over the past few years and their collective inability to answer the simplest of questions in a straight and honest way is astounding. How on earth can the electorate trust any of them on any issue, or make a valid judgement on their policies when mostly they are not worth the paper they are written on. To make matters worse a lot of the politicians of today have never done anything in life outside of politics, they are career politicians. It is little wonder that people are turning to UKIP, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP, the Greens and a myriad of smaller parties and independent politicians across the country looking for answers.
What is clear is that Democracy in the UK is seriously broken and there is very little chance that any voter will wake up on May 8th with a government that they actually voted for.
It is clear that our political system has to change, because whichever way you look at it ‘Democracy is a double cross’
‘Democracy’ (2010) – 76cm x 50cm – acrylic on canvas – Chris Billington
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