We have two by elections on Thursday on in Whitney David Cameron old constituency and in Batley and Spen, represented until her murder by Jp Cox/ Each constituency echoes the divisions in the UK since the Brexit vote. Oxfordshire had a 70% turn out and voted by 70% to 30% to remain.. In Yorkshire the leave campaign won by 60% to 40% . We have two by elections in very different area and each area symbolises the difference between the two post Brexit halves of civil society.
We cannot get away from the fact that we may have two very different results. In Batley and Spen there are four racist parties standing of which a couple use the epithet 2 Britain First” to describe themselves. How ironic and how sad that these words used as a descriptor on a ballot paper were the words used by the killer of Jo Cox.. What a shocking legacy this by election casts on politics its attitudes and on the l psyche of this country. What a toxic legacy is left for us all.In Whitney rumours have it that the Liberal Democrats desperate to avoid the political tomb have flooded between 600 and 1,000 activists into the campaign. For the Greens Bernie Sanders brother is the candidate and Oxfordshire is a strong base of Green activism and a clear Green po;critical base. It is indeed interesting that where an area has a well educated . Tolerant and many cultures background the toxic appeal of UKIP is blunted. And whilst Theresa may talks, Grammar schools, anti immigration and hard Brexit the Tory party will be in serious trouble in this tolerant and liberal constituency. This seat represented David Cameron's mantra of Liberal Conservatism so a post Brexit May Conservatism will feels its message fall on stony ground and if there was any significant UKIP vote then the words of Steven Woolfe describing UKIP as a rotten party in its death throes will leave its campaign dead in the water.Two by elections in very different territories, two very different political milieu two very string illustrations of the poisonous toxicity of Brexit. These words come to mind to show the nature of the political landscape through which we wander..up Brexit Creek without a paddle. These are the words Gwynoro Jones is the source but not the author “We are in the grip of the most fervent radicals, people willing to sacrifice everything – grants, investment, trade, security, standing, solidarity, legal apparatus built up by decades of painstaking cooperation – at the altar of a concept (sovereignty) that nobody really understands, and a principle (taking back control) that is abstract to the point of meaninglessness'.
My colleague from the Green Party Graham Mallaghan weote this about the reality within the NHS “So, foreigners come over here and take all our jobs, do they? Really
Let me relate to you what happened in our NHS organisation this morning. I took my turn at interview support, and spent the whole morning working away from my desk on our only-when-its-needed reception. A panel of three senior managers set aside their usual duties and waited.
There were supposed to be 3 candidates coming in. All of them born and raised in the UK. Not one of them turned up. Not one of them let us know they weren't coming! There is one more due in for interview on Friday. The job is a £20k/year admin role that carries all the benefits of working for the public sector. Well over the living wage and enough to support an adult very well in this area. Has an annual increment for each of the first 5 years, so that it pays £23k/yr at top of band. A chance to board the gravy train, and to do interesting work that makes a difference. And nobody came for interview!
This is even more odd when you consider that the NHS competency based application form is notoriously difficult and long winded and takes up to 2 working days to complete to a high standard (depending on whether or not you have anything already on the NHS Jobs system, and how much). These three exclusively indigenous candidates had invested that time and energy, had received and accepted interview dates - but still did not show Clearly there is something wrong here, but I don't think it has anything to do with immigration!”But sadly the truth falls on deaf ears as hypnotised by the manipulation and fear of immigration the political right spreads its contagion.These are sad times we live in
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