OPINION: Cope or collapse choice throws Westminster shenanigans into sharp focus
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I have become interested in politics lately. It started with listening to podcasts while walking. I suspect it is an age thing, but while I am happy to have music and chat from Radio 2 during the day while working, for some reason it’s words while doing the rounds of Dingwall morning and night.
And if you were to see me with my eyes wide and jaw dropped in astonishment, or laughing like a drain, you might be forgiven for thinking that I am listening to a drama or a comedy. Perhaps you wouldn’t be far wrong. But it’s generally the antics of those who are supposed to be running things and saving us from a pandemic that cause amazement and downright disbelief as I plodge through the soggy leaves of autumn towards the chill of winter.
"But if you have a caring role that is 24/7 and you’ve lost the few hours a week you used to get to take a breather and do something for yourself, you have to cope or collapse. There is no middle ground."
In the real world where trying to hold down a job, keep food on the table and stay safe are the driving forces behind your decisions, it’s hard to see the relevance of political shenanigans. A President who looks like it will take more than Pickfords to make him move house or a Prime Minister whose fiancée and employees resort to name calling in a battle of wills for the attention of a man who it’s obvious has little room for anything else in his head than his own ego and desire to be remembered as a success? What a bunch!
I find it fascinating in the way of a guilty pleasure, but I can’t look away. I desperately want the orange fool across the water to get lost so we can get back to doing politics with the grown-ups and for our home grown idiots to sort themselves out and start thinking about the people they profess to serve.
The spectacle of MPs initially voting against giving meals in the holidays to children in England was atrocious. You can imagine them patting themselves on the back for saving the taxpayer money while eating their subsidised lunch in the Commons.
Thank God for Marcus Rashford!
"A President who looks like it will take more than Pickfords to make him move house or a Prime Minister whose fiancée and employees resort to name calling in a battle of wills for the attention of a man who it’s obvious has little room for anything else in his head than his own ego and desire to be remembered as a success? What a bunch!"
Then there’s my group – unpaid carers. Although we are in the fortunate position of not having lost any services during the pandemic, it’s because we haven’t ever had any in the first place. Every day I see on my Twitter feed, on the news, and in the paper that carers are being driven to the brink of burnout because the support packages they probably had to fight for have been cut back or disappeared under the auspices of keeping staff safe from the virus.
Of course, I understand that an employer has a duty of care to their staff and they are running scared of someone catching the virus and taking it to other vulnerable people.
But if you have a caring role that is 24/7 and you’ve lost the few hours a week you used to get to take a breather and do something for yourself, you have to cope or collapse. There is no middle ground.
So, when the people who are supposed to be in charge are behaving like moody teens, you’d be forgiven for shouting at the telly in frustration – or looking like a fool walking around listening to podcasts.
Karen is Mum to an autistic teenager and campaigns for the rights of unpaid carers to be supported in their caring role and involved in the decisions that affect their lives and the lives of the people they care for. You can find her on twitter @Karen4Carers.
