Mission statement

Politics is in peril. Among voters, an intense apathy tempered by disillusionment has set in and threatens to undermine that which Britons have held dear for centuries. Whether it is the conduct of MPs or the mismanagement of welfare provision by bureaucrats in Whitehall, the people of the United Kingdom are hazardously close to disengaging with mainstream politics. The evidence is there for all to see; whilst our majoritarian system guards against an impulsive rise to power of extreme parties such as the BNP, this is not a reason to ignore the fact that 6% of the British electorate deemed it fit to vote for the party last time they were asked to go to the polls.

The denigration of society has rendered a situation in which people genuinely fear to go out alone in some parts of the country. The current focus upon ‘knife crime’ is simply not good enough, and allows for nothing more than politicians to be seen to be doing something without actually lowering attacks on the person whatsoever. I speak not in sensationalist, abstract terms here, but from personal experience. I am putting what I have experienced mildly. For three years in my early teens I attended a failing London comprehensive, witnessing the surreal depths to which a significant proportion of our education system has sunk. In the past three years, I have been attacked twice by gangs in the same town of about 100,000 citizens. These are real problems and they exist because they are not properly understood.

On a more institutional level, politics has been characterised by the shameful abandonment of sovereignty and of popular participation. The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is a prime example of this. A democratic revolution is needed in which power is repatriated and subsequently devolved downwards all the way to the individual. Referenda should be the norm in localities, not complete novelties used only for electoral advantage or to simply be ignored.

Once the ephemeral media furore has moved on post-election time next year, the Conservatives will be faced with the harsh reality of a nation with a two-tier problem. The first is the misappropriation and misconception of what sovereignty is and where it belongs. This can only be addressed through the empowerment of citizens to direct what goes on in their lives. The second tier is a comprehensive reformation of the education system, social welfare and law and order. Fundamentally, this must include a shift in focus from attempting to implement superficial policies to actually seeking causalities. Don’t tackle knife crime, shift the focus onto tackling gang culture, for instance (as Ian Duncan Smith has laudably tried to do to his credit).

Given that this is the maiden post here on Ad Infinitum, I would be naive to presume that I can command a readership instantaneously. I therefore hope that having read the above, you check back soon and help advance the case for democratisation, social reform and the imperative need for a cleaning up of our political institutions.