Why We Get the Wrong Politicians

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By doing this, a process meant to examine and debate legislation becomes a party loyalty competition. Britain’s political structure support members of the committee phase to become biased puppets and not objective lawmakers. Hardman suggests practical solutions like bursaries for Westminster candidates. This is not the full-throated populist overhaul some will want, but it is actually the better for that. Rather than writing an ill-thought through demolition job, Hardman has carefully explained how to breathe new life into the existing system. For instance, if Tory a politician wants to become the Party’s MP candidate for Hemel Hempstead, she has to sway the selection panel which consists of the area’s local Conservative Party councilors. However, these panels are sadly small which are barely over 250 people.

Opinion: Why we always get the wrong political leaders - UCL

A woman named Ma Anand Sheela stands out as a prime example. She began her adult life as an idealistic art student, searching for spiritual enlightenment in India. A few years later she began to drink at the trough of power, serving as the spokeswoman of the Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who was then living in America. Soon she began hatching plots to assassinate politicians who crossed her, and in 1984 she masterminded the poisoning of 750 people while trying to rig a local election, becoming the worst bioterrorist in American history. But when I met her more recently in Switzerland, she had lost power and was running a care home. There has been no further hint of abuse. The book is not about explaining the social science behind “why we get the wrong politicians” or pointing fingers at certain politicians/moments in British political history that may help answer the eponymous question, but rather about unravelling the ridiculous layers of complication that makes up our political system and providing an honest account of the life and responsibilities of those we vote for to make a difference.Amusing parallels with the struggles of Indian Parliamentary Democracy, the book eases through issues plaguing British people while electing their representative. Amusing, because India is still a young democracy at no more than 7 decades now, but it is interesting that an almost ancient one(Monarchical, if not Republican Democracy, but Parliamentary nonetheless) is still struggling to find that perfect method or methodological refinement in existing modes to give itself some fine gentle(wo)men to sit in the highest temple of their polity. She is the daughter of Michael Hardman, the first chairman and one of the four founders of the Campaign for Real Ale. She attended St Catherine's School, Bramley, and Godalming College, before graduating from the University of Exeter with a first class degree in English Literature in 2007. While at university, Hardman worked as a freelance journalist for The Observer. She completed a National Council for the Training of Journalists course at Highbury College in 2009. However, it’s not only the Parliament’s structure that needs reforming, but the parliament’s culture also needs reforming as well.

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians - Isabel Hardman - Google Books Why We Get the Wrong Politicians - Isabel Hardman - Google Books

The RRP is the suggested or Recommended Retail Price of a product, set by the publisher or manufacturer. She appears on television programmes such as Question Time, This Week, The Andrew Marr Show and Have I Got News for You, and is a presenter of the BBC Radio 4 programme Week in Westminster. Worse than this are the areas she highlights that get no thought and no legislation, such as the woeful state of policy about temporary accommodation for people awaiting housing. Hardman manages to enter the debate thoughtfully and without a partisan air. She provides detailed yet readable scrutiny of these policies and their outcomes, and exemplifies how a cool head with an understanding for a topic might offer useful critique – something that, glaringly, did not happen before these policies were left to detrimentally affect millions of lives. Not for the first time, either. In fact, an alien observing modern Britain might wonder whether our system of government rewarded those who lied and cheated and engaged in sleaze, so long as they used clever turns of phrase and delivered them with a roguish smirk.

Footnotes

Hardman then goes on to hand-wring for politicians driven to drink, without giving any consideration to the fact that many of these selfsame MPs have drafted, or helped vote into law, legislation that has driven many vulnerable people to suicide. In one of the latter chapters, Hardman even has the temerity to state that suicides triggered by government policies shouldn’t be indicative of the failure of said policies because “it is irresponsible to suggest that suicide has one clear cause”. A statement as ill-informed as it is heartless.. Isabel Hardman, David Runciman and Jason Cowley will discuss “The Condition of England” at Cambridge Literary Festival on 24 November

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians - Google Books Why We Get the Wrong Politicians - Google Books

This problem is symptomatic of a commonly held feeling that, increasingly, MPs don’t see serving the state as a job for life. A lot of politicians, from the ex-Prime Minister David Cameron to the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, have found life outside of politics to be more sufficient and worthwhile after stepping down from high-status posts. When they repeated the study in Denmark, where the civil service is squeaky clean, the results were inverted. The students who reported their die rolls honestly wanted to join the civil service. Hardman rightly devotes space to the unsung work that MPs and their staff do in their constituency surgeries, taking examples from across the political spectrum, because this is a very fair-minded book. For people in desperate straits, who have exhausted any other avenue of remedy, an MP is often the last hope of dealing with a housing emergency, a benefits dispute or some other acute personal crisis. Many MPs take this part of the job very seriously and that is a change from the past. Time was when an MP could get away with being highly neglectful of his constituents, paying them attention only every four to five years when he needed their votes. The horrible irony is a lot of constituency work involves sorting out personal crises caused by rubbish legislationIn this searching examination of our political class, award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman tries to square this circle. She lifts the lid on the strange world of Westminster and asks why we end up with representatives with whom we are so unhappy. Filled with forensic analysis and revealing reportage, this landmark and accessible book is a must read for anyone who wants to see a future with better government. About the Author However, there is no training or introductory process for newly elected politicians. On any day in Parliament, there a lot of activities an MP could do, they can either listen to debates and defer parliamentary questions, or meet with campaign groups, ministers or journalists. How do MPs manage to share their time? There is no actual guidance or appraisal system to help them develop. Politicians are left alone to decide their own method; it is a totally unprofessional place.

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians, by Isabel Book Review: Why We Get the Wrong Politicians, by Isabel

Her insider's valuable analysis of the way legislation is processed using The Health and Social Care Act 2012, The Iraq War, Libya, Grenfell, Brexit and the bedroom tax, as examples show very clearly how parliament is just not fit for purpose but not why we get the wrong politicians. It is a system and structural failure that leads to such poor legislation. She does make the case well that politicians shy away from major legislation, because they know that they will get it wrong and that will affect their re-election chances. This explains a lot about our 'toothless' government.The Labour Party, meanwhile, is calling for a general election. They won’t get it as you have to have a two thirds majority in the Commons to have a snap election & the Conservatives will not be voting for it as turkeys would also not be voting for the upcoming Christmas should they have been enfranchised. If they did get it then the problem would be theirs, and they don’t know what to do either. The insights offered here are fascinating, if deeply concerning. As well as examining what happens to MPs when they enter Westminster, Hardman also looks at some recent controversies and what might have contributed: Grenfell, the Iraq War, welfare reforms, and the Health and Social Care Act. The latter is a particular interest of mine, and this book offers an insight into the party political wranglings and various failings that allowed these harmful NHS reforms to pass into the statute book.