I have lived in London, one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world, for many years and I have seen warmth and kindness in the streets of London to the peaks of Snowdon. The colour of my skin or where I come from never mattered. I’m beginning to wonder if that was the exception and not the norm that I believed it to be. I’m one of the most optimistic people in the world, but the dark side of political cynicism is dragging me down. So it pains me to say this about my country, but we need a time out to think things through.
Here’s why:
1. These are the political parties we have to choose from:
- The Conservatives, who seem to constantly suffer from a disconnect with what kind of struggles ordinary families go through everyday
- The Labour. Does any one know what they stand for anymore?
- The UKIP, who don’t want to be called a racist party even though their “ethnic minority future face of UKIP” called them racist and quit the party
- The LibDem. We might as well replace them with mannequins
Choosing between them is like trying to choose between a rock and a hard place, the devil and the deep sea and jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I’m a writer and they have made me run out of metaphors.
2. MPs and bankers steal thousands of pounds from public money and they don’t spend a day in prison, while a young boy is sentenced to spend a year in jail for stealing a pair of shoes. I never understood why they are paid so much. Is it an incentive to not steal or an exit strategy when they do get caught stealing?
3. It’s embarrassing to watch the leader of our country go around taking selfies. He should fire his PR team if they led him to believe that will make him popular. None of them had the guts to sit him down and tell him that he is no Obama, he has neither his charm nor his charisma. I would respect him more if he weren’t trying so hard. I’d rather he would be himself. Unless he is worried that he would look like a posh boy. Hmmmm, now there’s a pickle.
4. Why do people report what Katie Hopkins says? Her views on parenting to celebrities to immigration can never be taken seriously. Her only expertise is putting down everything and everyone. And she actually has a column in a newspaper? Whoever writes, blogs, reports, puts Katie Hopkins on a TV screen with her next comment should be banned from reporting FOREVER. Spare us her crazy talk. You want something interesting to report, go speak a college kid or his/her nanna.
While we are on the subject of Katie, why do we live in a world where Katie Price’s third divorce is news?
5. Getting a decent education has become extremely expensive and difficult in UK. We even discourage foreign students from coming to the country to study. They wonder why the young don’t respect the system. The system has left them adrift without an opportunity to make something of their lives. Why would they respect it?
6. Theresa May can strip naturalised British citizens of their citizenship even if it leaves them without a country. I suppose she thinks that someone born in the country is more valuable than someone who lives there legally, contributes to the welfare of the society and has made a conscious choice to be a British citizen? Sorry to sound like Chandler Bing, but, could she be more unwelcoming? The anti-immigrant rhetoric is getting out of hand with vans telling people to “go home”. Why not just close all the doors to UK and sit by ourselves? What’s next, sending back all the immigrants and see how we survive that economic suicide?
She also wanted to make visitors from “high risk” countries pay a £3000 bond to let them into the country. The money was supposed to be returned if they left before their visa expired. Thank god, that didn’t happen. If that’s how bad the immigration system is, find better ways to fix it. Deterring tourists, who boost our economy, makes as much sense as Katie Hopkins!
We are better than all of this. So please, let’s take a time out.
Srividya, Writer 