I have to agree with Jenni Russell's article in the Guardian this morning:
Politics needs mavericks, not just the same old chumocracy and groupthink
That Margaret Hodge and Nigel Farage are arousing passions shows how sick we are of the professional political class
And her conclusion is as good:
Party leaders don't want irreverent, troublesome, freethinking mavericks. Otherwise, why have the very able MPs Gisela Stuart and Andrea Leadsom not been given jobs? They prefer, as do bosses the world over, the chumocracy; people who will defer to and think like them. But the world's too complex and uncomfortable a place for that. Groupthink isn't working, and the electorate can see it. Too many of us look at parliament and feel that people like us are excluded. It's time the bright, the difficult, the grey-haired and the underprivileged were given a voice, not just on the airwaves or on the net, but at the centre of power.
I wish I could see it happening.
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I think we have seen the ‘maverick’ disappear from the scene since the PR people took over when they deepened Thatcher’s voice and designed the helmet hair-do. Humans have been ‘commoditised.’ I left teaching because I began to see it was all about systems and data collection and anyone with a scintilla of individuality was seen as a boat-rocker. Creativity was no longer wanted – only the smooth running of a system was the desired result.
There are glints of the maverick in Labour M.P. John manns’ comment at the Barclay’s hearing when he suggested that the original Quaker principles of the bank should be ‘inscribed on his (Bob Diamond’s) knuckles.’ Suddenly there was a flicker of passion. I look forward to the day when an M.P can look like he/she has
just got out of bed and the men don’t need to look like clones in expensive suits. The corporate image has infected everything.
You have at least three of the characteristics -Bright, grey haired (ish) and certainly difficult (to some people).
keep on being difficult.
That’s my intention!
Give me a break! Nigel Farage is not a maverick. He is very much part of that political elite he likes to denigrate, and the idea that he is an anti-establishment politician is risible. Farage is a public schoolboy son of a stockbroker, he got rich as a commodities trader — is that a ‘real job’? he is an upper class prat who thinks it is clever to boast about using his EU allowances — c£2million – to finance UKIP. His party’s policies are just the same as the Tory neo-liberalism madness that got us into the mess we’re in today. He is very much a part of that chumocracy and groupthink. He is a bad ‘un, make no mistake.
I agree with you John about the somewhat doubtful background of Farage and let us hope that this and the policies of UKIP will come under more intense scrutiny than at present. However, he comes across as a ‘cheeky chappie’ and generally many people are so disenchanted with the clone-like elites that they are being seduced into thinking that supporting UKIP will make a significant change to the political trajectory of the UK. But as many of us realise, Farage is a neoliberal and is unlikely to change anything for the better, and may actually make many things much worse. The economic dislocation from our EU exit would in my opinion be disastrous and the consequences would be felt for many years. The problem is that so many people in the UK want to hark back to the days of Empire when we exploited foreign lands and people for our benefit, and cannot come to terms with the fact that the world has moved on (thank goodness).
Farage seriously scares the hell out of me in the same way that Sarah Palin would if I were and American.
People still want to wave the flag even if its over a country divided and inequitable. Abstractions are always comforting.
I agree with you John, though I have enjoyed Farage giving it to some of the creeps in Europe and he looks like he could be good company over a pint.
And Margaret Hodge? I would have put her down as ‘political class’ from central casting.
For me the best examples of mavericks across the political divide: Frank Field and John Redwood.
I’m not sure we can entirely blame the politicians for playing it safe. All the incentives massively point to those behaviours.
Say no to “Big Business” and oppose the “homogenisation of humanity”;-)
There was some very interesting stuff I read in a book by David Korten that said that the rise of civilisations throughout history is marked by diversity, creativity, and difference; where as the decline of civilisations is always marked by homogonisation and uniformity. Certainly true in this case!