A LibDem Perspective - Blue Monday - Jan 2023

A LibDem Perspective

I usually try to ignore 'Blue Monday' as a PR stunt invented by the travel industry attempting to encourage holiday bookings. And as a life-long Liberal Democrat I have to be optimistic that whatever the evidence to the contrary, politics and life in general will eventually get better, fairer, and happier.

But honestly, this year's 'Blue Monday' earlier this week would put anyone's optimism to the test.

Faced with chaos and staff shortages in the NHS and Care sectors, and fully justified complaints about low pay and appalling conditions, the government's response is to threaten to force staff to work or face the sack and threaten their unions with fines. And it's not just the NHS and Care sectors. Virtually all public sector workers have seen significant cuts in real incomes over the past 15 years, and now thanks to the government's incompetent financial mismanagement any of those workers with a mortgage will be facing increased interest payments for years to come. How is punishing strikers going to encourage recruitment when so many can earn just as much (or little) in a multitude of low stress private sector jobs?

Simultaneously we are threatened with having our right to protest severely limited by new police powers. Who is to say whether a protest is going to turn ugly before it does? I proudly participated in two massive anti-Brexit marches that brought central London to a standstill, so certainly created inconvenience. But the only sign of any trouble came from a minute handful of thugs who in the absence of cogent arguments to support their case certainly gave the impression they wanted physical interaction. Should a tiny group have the right to incite the police to intervene?

While I don't condone the methods of the 'Just Stop Oil' group that no doubt helped trigger the anti-protest legislation, the government would do well to listen to their underlying message: it is the height of hypocrisy to pretend to buy into the climate emergency message while still sinking new coal mines and dishing out more oil and gas exploration licences. The frequency with which records are being broken for extremes of heat, cold, drought and rain around the world must surely tell us all that man-made climate change is all too real and governments must act consistently and urgently.

And then to further deepen the blues we hear that Boris Johnson is planning a political come-back, along with his American role model Trump; the Ukraine war shows no sign of being resolved any time soon; and UK Covid-19 deaths have now passed 200,000.

I always rather admired the vacuous optimism of D-Ream's 'Things can only get better', released an unbelievable 30 years ago. So, as an ever-optimistic pro-European, I was encouraged to read the other day that 74% of 18-24 year olds wanted us back in the EU- if they'll have us. Now that IS worth marching for!

Cllr Kathryn Field