Thursday 31 October 2013

Halloween: The world's scariest places

Since it's Halloween, I would like to suggest a contender for the world's scariest place. In the absence of any better suggestions, I would like to put forward a country where the MPs vote to give themselves a pay rise of 15% while the majority of people receive just 1%. The same politicians deny us a free press and dictate what stories are acceptable to themselves. The same politicians were recently exposed by the press to be fleecing every last drop of tax payers money through their uniquely generous expenses sytem. The same politicians pay lip service to just six energy companies who dictate how much profit they would like to make. The same politicians argue for a high speed rail link which will ultimately benefit London and cost everyone else a debt which will take decades to repay.

This country rewards incompetence like few others. This week, an out of court settlement of six figures was agreed with somebody who was once head of children's services when a little defenceless boy died needlessly despite her department being aware of the abuse he was suffering. This country has some of the top universities in the world but a staggeringly high number of children can't read or write properly.

This country has jounalists who will record your telephone conversations to try and get a story. They worked for an Australian man who also sells satellite television to us by the millions. That man was allowed to shut down a newspaper and re-open it with a new name.

This country has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment outside of sub-Saharan Africa. It also has a health service free at the point of access to every man, woman and child which can't cope with the numbers coming through it's doors and can't care for them properly when they do. It also has outbreaks of measles despite having the vaccines to prevent it. It boasts a long history of care homes for the elderly which have neglected and abused the people in their care.

This country charges £9,000 per year for tuition fees for a student to study for a degree while the University staff go on strike. It also boasts one of the highest public sectors in Europe at a time when food banks are proliferating as never before.

This country also pays homage to the absolute power of four supermarkets who dominate our retail sector. These four buddies are allowed to promote whatever they like at any price while the Health Service continues to buckle under the strain of preventable illnesses such as diabetes and its less savoury complications. This countries sees it's pubs closing down by the thousand as these retail behemoths sell us booze at prices designed to foster our addiction to it.

This country is more carbon dependent than it needs to be despite having natural resources such as wind, waves and sun which it's European neighbours can but dream of. While this country's politicians toy with spending over £50 billion on a train service which will only benefit London, millions of old aged pensioners face the daily reality of a choice between eating or keeping warm.

This is currently the United Kingdom and for reasons which I don't understand, economic migrants want to come here to seek a better life. If they read any of this, they would be forgiven for thinking twice. The Scottish can sniff the fresh heather of independence and who would blame them for going it alone when faced with the alternative of staying in a Union as dysfunctional as this?

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