2024 in Review: A Tepid Bath of Managed Decline
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#posts #year-in-reviewTowards the end of last year, Kier Starmer attacked civil servants, saying they were 'comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline.' It was a classic case of projection, where you accuse others of your problems. Civil servants are hard working but are not supported by the system. Instead of lashing out, he would do better to look closer to home.
Britain finally kicked the Tories out last year and replaced them with a government that is slightly less cruel, slightly more progressive, but still fails to provide a vision of the future. Instead of leading, Starmer is managing the decline of the country slightly differently. He and the Labour party not offering any concrete solutions or visions of the future, but instead saying 'change' over and over. Times will be tough he says. The problem is, the Tories have managed the decline of public services for years now. Everyone knows times are tough. What people need is hope.
For years, political parties have failed to offer any real vision of the future. The last people I can remember who did run on a optimistic vision was Obama in the USA and maybe Tony Blair in the UK. Neither really capitalised on their promises and then the voting public became disillusioned. Add this to stagnant wages since 2008 and rising cost of living and people despair.
We don't need to look far to see where this lack of vision ends up. Trump won the election in the USA, winning both the electoral college and the popular vote. This is despite saying the quiet part about fascism out loud. Make no mistake, Trump is a fascist strongman. 2025 looks to be pretty calamitous as a result. But in the absence of a narrative, fascism offers a compelling story, even if that story is based on people's worst desires. It's a solution. A terrible, terrible solution.
So in the UK we have a leader not offering any narrative to actually help anyone who isn't worth a billion pounds. We have rising costs year on year, month on month. We have rising membership to Reform, backed by billionaires who serve their own interests. They are scapegoating refugees and economic migrants. There's always a scapegoat and it's always the poorest and least deserving.
This is all to say everyone in the UK, not just the USA, should be very concerned about the rise of fascism. Instead of managing decline the government should be offering a vision for the future and strive to improve people's lives.
2024 feels like a pause before the flood. The water is rising in more ways than one. We all need to brace.
Previous Years in Review: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
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