No sooner had the postal voting letter arrived from the council than my mail took on a disheartening tone. On Friday, I received three letters. The first was from my Tory MP, the second was from the PM care of CCHQ, and the third was from a funeral plan service. This not only left a bitter taste politically, as I will not be voting Tory, but it also spoke volumes about the way the over-65s are perceived and targeted.
So, did I receive any other parties’ mailings? No. This is a clear example of how the Tories have an inbuilt advantage in our electoral system. Having doubled the amount of money parties can spend, the Tories have the cash to reach each of us postal voters, leaving other parties at a significant disadvantage. So, let’s see what CCHQ’s money was spent on telling me.
Personal experiences and political discontent
My Tory MP’s letter was interesting – headline ‘Backing our NHS’ – a replacement hospital planned for the region, but nothing on waiting lists or lack of ambulances. While I, like millions, await the NHS backlog for a diagnostic appointment, I am less able than I should be. 7.5 million are waiting, and not knowing when you might be relieved of pain is depressing and a personal logistics challenge. The fact that a health service that was once the envy of the world is now reduced to treating patients in corridors clearly indicates this government’s neglect.
The following two points were about the Cost-of-Living Support and Pensions. Promotion of the Triple Local PLUS – the new guarantee that the state pension will be below the tax-free threshold. Regarding cost-of-living support, I concede that the actions have helped millions, but reducing National Insurance and fuel duty does nothing for me. I am retired from paid work. I worked since I was 16 but never achieved the same salary as men in my peer group, and as a WASPI woman, I have now waited 6 extra years for my meagre full state pension to be awarded. On receipt, it will still be amongst the lowest in the OECD and well below the UK’s minimum and living wages. By comparison, “Let them eat cake” seems generous. Finally, even self-sufficiency isn’t enough. Liz Truss’ government knocked another £10,000 hole in my private pension.
Sunak’s misleading claims
Moving on to Rishi Sunak’s letter, the first own-goal – the typeface is 9 points. She reaches for the reading glasses. Oh, we have a plan and section on what we have achieved. Halving inflation. I ask you! Every country in the world has seen a reduction in inflation after the external price shocks of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which have worked through the system. We have known this for months, and it has little to do with the Bank of England hiking up interest rates and adding thousands to people’s mortgages. Not lying, but an overclaim.
Other highlights include the National Service for 18-year-olds and free childcare. Both policies that the country doesn’t have the resources and manpower to support. Private nurseries are failing because they can’t fund the ‘free childcare’ pledges already made. The army doesn’t want reluctant conscripts, and we don’t have the MoD housing to put them in.
We then go on to the Starmer bashing section. I know I am an old fart, but my memory works enough to know that Starmer hasn’t been in power for the last 14 years. He isn’t to blame for the fact that Britain is Broken. As Margaret Thatcher said, “if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”
Rising support for Reform
There is also a reference to voting Reform, a genuine concern that would mean more seats for other parties – splitting the right-wing vote. That’s an electoral issue here as the Reform Party is polling neck and neck with the Tories. A fact I find horrifying.
Add a cheeky-chappy, beer-in-hand persona to widespread over-promotion by the media, and you have an immediate following. Farage is, as we speak, adopting a king-maker role for a political party with hundreds of years of heritage. As an ex-PPC who had to walk to hustings and pay for our party’s meagre supply of leaflets, the amount of money flowing in that direction is genuinely frightening. Who funds him?
Rishi’s letter finishes on a plea not to be relegated to third place behind the Liberal-Democrats and a request not to issue Starmer with a blank cheque. Funny, I don’t remember howls of concern about Britain’s ‘elected dictatorship’ when we handed Boris Johnson the nuclear codes, a man so unfit for office that even his spin doctor called him a ‘wonky-shopping trolley’. Creating a team so unsuitable for office that Britain was left defenceless during a global pandemic that even I, sick in my Covid stupor, could have managed more effectively. Note this is genuinely personal: I have family who died doing the right thing, and not putting pressure on the NHS. I attended COVID socially-distanced funerals and bid goodbye via Zoom calls.
My funeral tips
This brings me to the last jolly piece of mail – funeral planning. One of the joys of being reasonably competent is being asked to be a serial-Executor, so I know a bit about funerals. What I can tell you is best to put your money in a savings account and write up one of those better American imports – the ‘What To Do When I Die’ book. Tell your loved ones what you want. Funeral plans rarely cover the total costs, and let’s be honest, who wants to have a set-piece funeral based on the plan constraints? It should be personal, reflect what you can afford, and be full of love and memories. But seriously, ‘girls just want to have fun’ right now.
So, what will our memories of the last fourteen years be? In my case, politically, they will be living in a state of near-constant anger tinged with despair. Will I be voting for my Tory MP? Nope. Will I scan every tactical voting recommendation? You bet. That is the sort of voting plan I can get behind. Do whatever works to get the Tories out and hold the subsequent lot’s feet to the fire. I will continue demanding a better democracy and to ensure that never, ever again will we suffer a repeat of these years.
