Abusing politics

 

I dislike the term “playing politics.”  “Playing” normally refers to games.  A good move or result in chess, football, rounders or whatever  can produce a rush of pleasurable adrenaline and a bad one, or outcome, periods of disappointment. But nothing serious or life changing.   

That is not true of a bad outcome in politics.  Hence I would describe the present shenanigans surrounding the Tories’ call for  a yet another enquiry into the abuse of children  as “abusing politics.”

The facts are simple.   

There have been several enquires into child abuse.  The major one  was headed by a Professor Alexis Jay  and she reported to the then Conservative government in May, 2023, making 20 recommendations. That Conservative government remained in power for a further complete year, yet implemented not one of the  recommendations in the  report.

Then, for reasons best known to himself, Elon Musk,  the American social  media mogul, made accusation of complicity by British politicians in coving up child abuse.

 Immediately the present  Conservative leader, Kemi  Badenoch, , and one of her front bench spokespersons,  Robert Jenrick,  expressed desperate concern about child abuse and the need to protect our “young white girls” from molestation by “gangs who do not share our culture. ”

Presumably they  hoping that no one would notice that most of the proven abuses had taken place during the 14 years when their party was in power, or that  they had both been ministers during  that whole year when Jay’s 20 recommendations sat on the back burner with no attempt to implement them.

Or maybe they felt the media and their potential supporters would not let the facts get in the way of story they hoped would be “good” for them

This is an abuse of politics which is not just childish, it is infantile.

It is true that there is a problem of child abuse. Measure should be taken to reduce the possibility of it in the future and the present government is taking steps to implement the 20 recommendations.  Maybe it should have moved faster, but it has been a hectic six months since they took power and they are not short of other problems.

 There is also a problem of community relations.  In most areas various immigrant communities with different cultural backgrounds settle in amiably with the native population.  However, there can be outbreaks of inter-community discord, and even riots, and extreme right-wing groups have not been slow to exploit them, often on the basis of false information.

A mainstream party such as the Conservatives claim to be would be aware of the danger of inflammatory language and distortions of the truth.  Instead Mrs Badenoch and her party are seeking to exploit the situation and “stir the pot” for what they hope is their own short-term political advantage..

They should be ashamed.

That is an abuse of politics. It is an embarrassment that it is taking place in a highly educated and what should be a sophisticated and mature society.