There is something rotten at the heart of Britain. It nestles deeply within British society, squatting swollen, suppurating, putrescent and noxious, and yet we barely notice it at all. It is difficult to see something so ingrained, embedded, entangled with the very basis of what it means to be British: from the useless monarchy we have but have no need of; through the decaying aristocracy we should have got rid of years ago; to the modern elite of city boys and girls practicing their trades in our elite institutions with nary a care for the rest of us. It is evident in the dysfunction of our economy, society, culture and very way of living. If only we would ask, “why”?
Why did no one face censure or conviction for bringing the banks to their knees? Why did the very same people who corrupted finance receive a free pass to then go do it all again? Why are they allowed to drain the rest of our economy for their personal gain, their personal remuneration?
Why did so few politicians, lackeys and lords lose their power and influence when their corrupt, self-serving ways (i.e. fiddling their expenses) were revealed to the world? Why are they ruling us still, making our laws to suit themselves and their narrow, personal ambition? Why do we let them do it again and again, voting for people who should be in prison in any just society, but remain at large in ours?
Why did we become a culture of bread and circuses, of celebrity, of fleeting fame? Why do we spend so much more on celebrity magazines than information about the real world, on what haunts and inspires us? Why do we still fawn at the feet of others? Why has celebrity become the aspiration for so many?
And the big why? Why do we accept being ruled and those who rule us?
It is because Britain, British society, we, remain wedded to a forelock-tugging subservience to those above us and sneering indifference to those below in this repellent hierarchy of class that threads through our lives, blighting our potential, our opportunities, our aspirations, our futures.
This is why Scotland should leave the corruption when it has a chance like this independence referendum.