Abso-bloody-lutely old boy - but don't you think you are mixing your metaphors?

But why are people disinterested in politics? We must understand why the vote seems to have lost so much of its appeal and there are two reasons why this is :

First, that whereas the political problems facing this generation are challenging, difficult and interesting, the practice and coverage of politics is shallow, abusive and personalized and that alone is enough to switch us off, since exchanges of insults in parliament, the control freakery of the Millbank Tower apparatchiks and the organized punch ups masterminded on Newsnight simply do not satisfy our desire to know what is going on, why and what we can do about it.

The second reason is much deeper and it is the widely held suspicion that the government itself is apathetic about many of the concerns of those who voted Labour in the last two general elections, a view shared by pensioners facing a cut back in their retirement income and students who cannot understand why they are being asked to pay for their education at college.

People are told that we have to be careful about public expenditure to avoid endangering our economy but there is always plenty of money about to pay for wars in Iraq, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan and for the Board of Directors in British business who seem to find plenty of cash for their salary boosts, share options and golden handshakes when they fail, living happily in the knowledge that they are not going to be asked to pay a penny more on tax at the top rate.

The government is also believed to be apathetic about the ever-widening gap between rich and poor both here and worldwide where that gap can be clearly attributable to the injustices that flow from globalization which New Labour supports uncritically.

A Christmas message from the HouseMartins :
"Don't try gate crashing a party full of Bankers
Burn the house down!!!!!"
London 0 Hull 4 1986.