Party season is no fun
22 September 2009
Like it or not, politicians do matter to the future of high tech industries.
In the past I may have come across as someone who is slightly jaundiced about the world of politics. Which of course I am. But even I have to admit that however disappointing our politicians repeatedly turn out to be, they are in an important position. They have influence over education, industry, technology, public spending – all things that have a huge impact on the future of the electronics industry in the UK.
Whether through inspiration, vision, leadership or just by default, a government can be responsible for creating the right environment for a society to innovate, develop and prosper. Equally it can result in stagnation and depression (both spiritual and financial). It is no surprise then that the events in the financial world have resulted in governments around the globe being unpopular – in essence politicians are taking the blame for problems in the banking sector. Not that I have any sympathy – politicians, particularly in the UK and US, could have changed the parameters that allowed the financial traders to take the wider public to the cleaners.
Other countries seem to be regaining a bit of faith in their politicians though. The US in particular have Obama and are still hoping to be inspired by him – his progress, I suspect, being hampered by both recession and the fact that ‘it’s a lot more difficult than it seems’!
We in the UK have a bigger issue. We have not only lost faith in our politicians, we have even lost interest. The party conference season started this week (yes it really did) with the Lib Dems in Bournemouth. Now even the BBC - who love nothing more than reporting on, or even creating and prolonging a political wrangle – couldn’t find anything of significant interest to post on its news homepage. Even as a one line link. If that is how the BBC feels, and they pay people to be interested in politics, how about the rest of us?
I think the MPs’ expenses scandal came at the worst possible time. With the perceived corruption of the previous Tory administration, the control-freakery and incompetence of the present one and the perennial lack of credibility of the ‘third party’, the expenses scandal underlined the general perception that anyone who wants to be in public office is generally the last person you should allow to be in one. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, who would want to belong to a club that accepts people like them as members…
But it really is a problem. Technology is our future, but to milk the potential of that technology requires vision, investment and commitment. To my mind, currently there is no one in British politics who has any of those qualities and, sadly, I cannot see how any one who did could rise to prominence in our current system. And this political system is about to work itself up into a self-serving frenzy as we approach next year’s election, while in the meantime the important issues are left to stagnate.
Contact Details and Archive...
Most Viewed Articles...
