Remote Government

In recent days I've noticed a trend, particularly from Labour Party supporters of accusing the Tory / Lib-Dem Coalition government of not returning from their holidays to deal with first the economic crisis, then the London riots. They are right, wrong, hypocritical and opportunist all at the same time.

Every government is about juggling ongoing issues that have been built up and ignored, or made worse to some breaking point. You could argue that everything they deal with all year round is at that crisis point, so whether it's the economy or riots it's just more of the same. There's a difference between something that's operational and something that's policy though. In the case of the economy, it needs political management, where the riots are operational in that the Police have to be able to do their jobs.

The idea that if the cabinet are spread over the world on holiday, that they are somehow out of the loop is ridiculous. In 1900 it would have been quite an endeavor for the PM to visit his Polish counterpart for a meeting. He'd have been away from the country for a while and be limited to the technology of the day to be kept informed via telegrams.

Now we have the technology to have virtual offices, with virtual audio visual conferences in real time. We have internet connections that allow updates to be shared and included in planning sessions. It's perfectly possible for the entire government to function perfectly from that far corners of the earth. The only purpose coming back to the UK does, is allow the news media to show coverage of them getting off a plane to prove the fact that they're doing something. In reality it doesn't even do that, it merely shows that they've arrived back in the UK.

Our news media have so little credibility now that if they claim "David Cameron has arrived back in the UK" that nobody believes it unless there's accompanying footage of him getting off the plane being hounded by news vultures. From the politicians side, it's all about PR, about being seen to be doing something, even if they're really not. From the opposition's viewpoint it's about being seen to be acting in the public interest, while scoring cheap points attacking the government for not doing the PR thing too.

Like all of the issues, there's a lot of blame to go around, including from each of the major parties, none of whom give a shit about the average citizen.

The whole point of a system of Police, courts, hospitals, fire fighters, social services, education etc is that it functions 24 / 7 365 days a year. Those services that need 24hr cover have it planned so staff work in shifts and each post is covered. They function independently with or without a government in session. The government are there to debate and decide the bigger picture, the broader policies, they are not there to run any of these services in a hands on way.

Imagine the riots in London, and officers being told, "sorry, we don't know how or where to deploy, David's not gotten back to us with an operational plan yet". This is the type of picture being painted by some as opportunistic swipes at the government.

I am not defending the Tory / Lib-Dem government as such, there's a lot about the Tory mindset that repulses me, some of their policies seem to have reverted back to type. The Lib-Dems appear to have made a long term mistake by joining the coalition and Labour are still trying to distance themselves from the disaster known as Tony Blair and prove themselves as trustworthy and electable. Opportunistic stunts only show you're still living in the past, that you haven't noticed that the world has changed.