Black and White

One thing became very clear this morning form the reactions to last night’s local and devolved elections, is that there is a serious lack of sophisticated understanding by many who view politics very simplistically in a black and white context without any grey in between. But trust me; this is not the case at all! Politics is far more complex than basic right and left, up and down or even right and wrong – it is full of overlapping shades of grey in between. We have many examples from recent history like Thatcher, Reagan and Blair who were successful mainly because they were flexible, accepting of change and ready for challenges. In other words worked with and used a lot of grey.

The coalition itself is a major grey area – the two partners honouring parts of their manifestos to deliver on some of what they promised last year is very much a shade of grey – some things were kept, others altered and many dropped altogether, that’s another grey.

But what I find fascinating is journalist, pundits and even some members of parliament who seem to have no idea that grey exists – journos I can excuse, they need to have some kind of story – but what about the others, do they really not understand a basic fundamental concept of politics or is it all just an act. If it is an act then we are in trouble because there is definitely an agenda behind it – but if its inability to understand then we are in serious trouble, because we are dealing with ……

Either way the solution is in the hands the grassroots, the public and the voters – if they grasp the facts and understand that things are never black and white – the stupid and the sneaky can say and do all they want with little or no effect.