Clifford Hill reacts to the result of the General Election...
All the political pundits have been astonished by the result of the General Election. The polls predicted a very different picture with Labour and the Conservatives running neck-and-neck in England but significant gains for the minor parties.
None of this happened. The one place the pollsters got it right was in Scotland where even well-known Lib Dem and Labour political leaders were swept aside in a tsunami of nationalism.
The common factor
The one common factor between the result in England and that in Scotland is that the people have voted for their own self-interest. The Scottish National Party appealed not only to the tribal instinct of Scots but also to their own self-interest, pledging to be a force in Westminster that will ensure that a larger slice of the economic cake will go to Scotland and they will all be better off by having SNP members there to put Scotland first.
The one common factor between the result in England and that in Scotland is that the people have voted for their own self-interest."
South of the border, the Conservatives played the same economic card appealing to people's self-interest; that they will be better off by voting Conservative who are steering the nation towards more prosperous times. It was a message designed to appeal to those who are doing reasonably well and hope to do better.
The real losers
The losers in this election are the poor, the unemployed, the powerless - those who didn't even feel it was worthwhile voting. They knew that they would not get a larger slice of the cake - whoever triumphed at the polls. The millions who live in our inner-city areas and who exist on welfare, or scrape a living on a day-to-day basis with no job security: they are the forgotten multitude who live in ghettos of hopelessness and despair.
The real losers of this election are the poor, powerless and marginalised. What will happen to them now?"
What will happen to the poor and powerless as the nation enjoys increasing prosperity? The legacy of colonial slavery is still rampant among those from an African-Caribbean background, who still carry the names of their British plantation owners and are unable to trace their African roots. Will anyone in the new government stop and ask why there are more young black men in prison in Britain than in university?
Will anyone care for those who still suffer from the legacy of industrial exploitation leftover from the Industrial Revolution and the dark times of 19th century Britain? Will anything be done to change the culture of despair that engulfs whole communities in our big cities?
Deep-rooted problems
One thing is certain: if nothing is done; if no-one cares, deep-rooted sense of injustice and frustration will boil over once again, as they did in the riots that began in Tottenham in August 2011 and spilled over into other parts of London and Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and other cities.
This is the word of the Lord to prosperous Britain- it is the word that Jeremiah gave to the city of Jerusalem at a time of prosperity when the word of God was ignored (Jer 7:4-8):
If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not opporess the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, in the land I gave to your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless."
