In the UK, following political parties is like following your favourite football team. Family traditions stemming back hundreds of years mean that generation after generation blindly follow the politics of their parents, and their parents before them. If you asked a cross-section of the UK population why they follow a particular political party, I guarantee that a large proportion of those people would answer: "Because that's what my parents did." Their devotion is so ingrained that it borders on being fundamentalist.
I think my lack of affiliation to any particular party stems from a couple of factors:
The first is that my parents are strong Tory supporters and have been actively involved in the party their whole lives. My father was a Tory councillor for a number of years when we lived in the West Midlands. I was involved by default and ultimately didn't like a lot of what I saw in political life and the inner-workings of the Tory party. It put me off devotedly following the Tories or, for that matter, any political party.
The second is that I find party politics increasingly irrelevant. Societal constructs are very different now in the UK. Living in an information age and in a society where people are increasingly able to concern themselves with niche events and activities that are closer to their hearts, political parties that still talk in out-dated modes and try to appeal to everyone about everything seem largely pointless to me.
In an odd way, I think of it in a similar way to how I think about the modern music business. Large corporations that bank roll 'commercial' talent in order that they become radio-friendly unit-shifters increasingly find themselves going the way of the dinosaur. Modern technology allows for access to, and exposure for, niche artists that would not have had a look-in in the hey-day of the old business models.
All of which leads me to conclude that none of the party leaders are truly in touch with the wider society in the country in which they live. And which also leads me to conclude that we need to overhaul the process that we use to elect our members of parliament, and the way in which we think about how they can serve us.
Jeez. Listen to me. All opinionated.
I think my lack of affiliation to any particular party stems from a couple of factors:
The first is that my parents are strong Tory supporters and have been actively involved in the party their whole lives. My father was a Tory councillor for a number of years when we lived in the West Midlands. I was involved by default and ultimately didn't like a lot of what I saw in political life and the inner-workings of the Tory party. It put me off devotedly following the Tories or, for that matter, any political party.
The second is that I find party politics increasingly irrelevant. Societal constructs are very different now in the UK. Living in an information age and in a society where people are increasingly able to concern themselves with niche events and activities that are closer to their hearts, political parties that still talk in out-dated modes and try to appeal to everyone about everything seem largely pointless to me.
In an odd way, I think of it in a similar way to how I think about the modern music business. Large corporations that bank roll 'commercial' talent in order that they become radio-friendly unit-shifters increasingly find themselves going the way of the dinosaur. Modern technology allows for access to, and exposure for, niche artists that would not have had a look-in in the hey-day of the old business models.
All of which leads me to conclude that none of the party leaders are truly in touch with the wider society in the country in which they live. And which also leads me to conclude that we need to overhaul the process that we use to elect our members of parliament, and the way in which we think about how they can serve us.
Jeez. Listen to me. All opinionated.