As we drift into another year, I am torn. My glass is can’t decide whether it’s half full or half empty. Will the UK continue to descend into madness, or will the tide turn? Is populism in its final throes of madness as the masses wake from their apathy?

I haven’t got a clue, to be honest. The other week I saw a conversation on social media that caught my attention. It suggested that the best way to deal with all the madness and chaos, is to shut down. Stop following bad news and your life will be better and healthier for it. It was an attitude that depressed the shit out of me, to be honest.

The One Eyed King

Is it really best to live in the land of the blind and allow the one eyed man to be king? I didn’t hear all our PM’s New Year speech today but I did read part of it. Amongst all the shit about crowns on pint glasses, there was a laughable claim that 2022 will be a great opportunity now we are free of EU red tape. He was talking bullshit, as usual, completely ignoring the clusterfuck in Northern Ireland.

Being free of regulation is sold as being for the good of the nation and people fall for it. Regulation is for snowflakes. Is big business being free of food standards, environmental laws and civil & workers rights, good for the nation? Is being free of banking regulations and offshore tax avoidance laws, a benefit to the average tax payer? I would argue not.

Ignoring Bad News

Ignoring bad news is an easy short-term option. However, it won’t help the long-term of health and status of a nation. Lower environmental standards, poor quality food and no laws to curtail aggressive tax avoidance won’t make Britain healthier. It will make it the sick man of Europe with a level of corruption that would make a Russian gangster blush.

Whatever our political persuasion, surely it is our duty to stand up for the future of our children and grandchildren. Politics might be boring to some but if a government of any colour is serving itself ahead of the population, we need to collectively hold it to account. This can be done but not just at the voting booth. Sharing information on social media or via blogs or emails can make a difference.

So, if 2022 became the year that people cared more about the government filling its own pockets, the future will be better. If 2022 continues down a route where people who put their head above the parapet and challenge corruption, are called miserable and boring, woke snowflakes, we haven’t got a chance. It is possible to be a happy soul and still have an active interest in challenging political immorality.

In a functional democracy, a government is voted into power to represent the citizens of the country. So, if a government is serving itself first, it needs to be chased out of town with metaphorical pitchforks. If instead, we choose switch over to the footie and pretend it’s not happening, corruption wins without a fight.

And Johnson’s backers laugh all the way to the Cayman Islands.