Third party Issues

                                    Third party issues

Now with a second by election victory for UKIP the inquest continues and all the papers and media are looking at and studying the results as well as the political class. In many ways the appeal of UKIP is due to several factors, Immigration being one of the most commonly cited ones. This tends to ignore the question of what is the real issue.

Many politicians of the mainstream parties are now trying to emulate UKIP in their foreign policy including the Prime Minister. This of course ensures that the issue of immigration remains in the news benefitting UKIP all the more.

In the case of UKIP its rise cannot simply be explained by the number of immigrants but something broader which is a mounting anger at the political class. This is a current which runs deep in our society. The mainstream parties namely the Conservatives and Labour both have the disadvantages of power, the Conservatives being in power now and Labour having fairly recently been in power. The traditional third party, the Liberal Democrats is tainted by association with   being in government now and can no longer act as a lightning rod for dissent.

In this way UKIP is taking votes from major parties with a steady stream of cynicism about their behaviour in office. One of the first key setters of disillusionment with the current political class was the expenses scandal in which MPs were found to have stolen from the system in quite large ways. The result was a few MPs from both major parties have been sent to prison. However all of them were at it from all major parties! The minor parties of course remain untainted by this scandal. UKIP however as far as expenses claims are concerned have not shown themselves to be behind on this as far as the European parliament is concerned where they have representation with one of their members also being convicted of abusing the system.

The general feeling at this time of recession has been a lot of anger at the ruling parties. They are seen to be under the control of a metropolitan elite that is far removed from the people they represent. The idea of MPs telling people to tighten their belts while voting themselves above inflation pay rises has not been lost on the British Voter. In general cynicism about the major parties rules! Add to this the fact that the major parties are seen as not being every different from each other there is even more cynicism about them.

On both counts the major parties are seen ever more as two sides of the same coin and there is a drift of voters to UKIP and now on the other side to the Green Party which is also enjoying a surge in the polls. The result of this of course will be at the next general election probably be an increase in the vote of these two parties at the expense of the mainstream parties

Rats in London

                                                Rats in London          

The topic of rats in London is one that yields many myths. At one time there was a common myth that nobody was ever more than six foot away from a rat. This has now come under some scrutiny and seems to be a bit hard to justify. However the fact remains that London still has a sizeable rat population and their presence is evident in quite a few places.

All over the city it is quite  common sight to see rat tarps and in many parks they are increasingly bold and can be seen scuttling about the undergrowth in broad daylight..

One of the features of London life is the amount of takeaway food places that now sit on London streets. There are the traditional fish and chip shops  and also chicken and chips shops as well as doer kebab places along with some of the American chains such as MacDonalds, Subway and Burger King. Most of these places boast a lot of discarded food as it is very common for people just to throw it on the pavements without regard to the wider implications. While this supports a larger population of scavenging animals with the foxes, crows and starlings particularly benefitting from this it is also clear that this habit is providing a food source for rats

Another problem is that there are large populations of rats in the sewers. In times of austerity when cuts are made often rat control programmes bear the brunt as they cannot be seen. Local politicians would rather make cuts there rather than places such as old age homes and schools which would obviously court some unpopularity. As a result rat populations often become very large with some overspill on to London streets.

The tabloid press is also full of lurid stories of giant rats that are invading our towns. Most of these stories should however be taken with more than a pinch of salt

One fact is undeniable. The population of London’s rats is very large and is expanding. Rats are animals that are adept at exploiting the opportunities provided by human activity and a city like London provides plenty of opportunities. The recession has helped as well as vacant buildings provide plenty of opportunities for them to roost. Rat control is probably the best than can be achieved as eradication would be unlikely. The rat is here to stay.

           

Repairs and livelihoods

                        Repairs and livelihoods

A good example of the way repairs and livelihoods work is what happens at Archway station on the London underground. Apparently the block above needs substantial renovations and the scaffolding is going up everywhere. However this time I was witness to an argument that ensued as scaffolding was put up and the entrance to a shop was closed up.

The owner was remonstrating with the contractors. He had a business to run and that was his livelihood. All the workers were waiting round like vultures on the every word spoken

“Look if you put scaffolding up here I will take it down myself”

“Yes sir I understand but you have to observe the safety of your customers"

At that stage I took my camera out.

“So you are going to take pictures of us” one of the workers called to me

“I will take picture wherever I like” I replied. No reply was forthcoming and I continued to my engagement

The next day I spoke to the owner. There was scaffolding above but his place was secure. In this there was the conflict. I spoke to him about it and he just told me that the scaffolding was not for the station but for a block of flats nearby.

This encapsulates one of the problems for small business in this country. Decisions are taken for big projects without any regard who is affected by this. The people who enforce these are faceless bureaucrats. And people are affected by their decisions. In the end justice prevailed and the small café owner was able to keep his places but at no time was he offered any compensation for the effect it would have on his business