After the fire a still small voice?

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (The King James Bible: 1 Kings 19:12)


This is thought to refer to he still small voice of conscience, the wind of change after the earthquake.

What will be left after the next General Election? I am afraid the answer is, that after the fires, there will be no clean sweep. It does not work that way. Those responsible for the worst excesses of the last 12 years will still hold their positions as Members of Parliament. They have, for the most part, safe seats, and those favoured ones will be moved, rewarded for their loyalty with safe seats if it looks as though they are in trouble. There are some arcane reasons why Labour safe seats are safer than Tory ones, but one of those reasons is the number of voters. According to an article in The Times:

The average size of the electorate in Labour seats is 65,000, compared with 73,000 for Conservative constituencies — an unequal division of voters thought to be worth at least 30 Members in the House of Commons.


I used to think of there being a shake up at the next GE. I think now that there will not be. For a start, our system does not favour fringe parties. Secondly, The Tories' stated manifesto does not suggest to me a radical departure from Labour. And thirdly, for the reason I gave above, the same dead wood, the same rotting carcasses that are party toadies, will, by their safe majorities, have hung on to fight another day.

If there remains a still small voice of conscience, it had better raise the volume.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

To reform the House we must reform how people get there. That has to be PR. Meanwhile voters should no longer vote out of habit or tactically. Only vote according to policy, no matter how 'minor' the party.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

I agree!

Anonymous said...

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/prwestminster/

Please circulate this link to everyone you know.