In the run up to the UK General Election we are deluged by the latest round of promises unlikely to be kept – certainly not in the form they are being presented to us. The same old, same old is what has led our Country to be unable to even pretend to care about providing the ‘services’ promised. Any attempt at this is left to altruistic dogsbodies who contribute so much, recognising the need and value of genuine care within our communities, while those in ‘control’ look after themselves and their cronies first, with a bit left over to placate the rest of us. It’s the national version of what the many within the social care system experience as a regular part of life. Inefficiency, pretense, dishonesty, self preservation. Is this the time when those with the least while contributing the most will decide enough is enough and things are about to change?

The self-proclaimed ‘deserving’ of astronomical remuneration have destroyed communities and all the immeasurable benefits therein, that supported happier lives. They have left us with an evermore greedy and self centered population, not creating aspiration but giving force to the worst aspects of human nature. The bully is King. It is the norm that will be protected at great cost to the vulnerable in our society, left unsupported when yet another safety net is ripped away.

It’s the equivalent of our moving onto the next news item when we watch the reports of hundreds of migrants being ripped off and left to drown when they just want safety and better lives. Except its happening around us all the time. Those in our society who need to rely on our communal support – much of which just happened when we still had strong communities – are being fed patronising lies and expected to just accept them as normal – a la the election process we are observing now.

Better the Devil you know clearly doesn’t hold water as an attitude. We have decades of evidence to support that as a fact. The smaller parties may look unsophisticated and have some policies that create mini storms – but that is otherwise known as passion, belief, meaning – all that is missing from the dinosaur politics we have come to know. ‘Necessity is the Mother of invention’ is another well used phrase and is possibly more relevant today than at any time since the aftermath of WW2, when our leaders had no option but to meet the needs of the population, protecting those who needed protection and while many mistakes were made, it gave us a starting point to rebuild our society after we’d let that generation of idiots lead to to near destruction.

A coalition of smaller parties couldn’t create more harm and chaos than the parties we have chosen just because tradition dictated we do so. Does anyone deny that change is needed in our societal values? Anyone within the ‘care’ system will have a ready view on that. Here, perhaps more than anywhere else in our society, we have witnessed the Tesco style of bullishness at huge cost – until it cost almost everything that had been created. Left with relatively little other option than to use what was there, tempted and bribed with platitudes until our disaffection set in. Similarly,the care system became a ‘business’ with its service users as the commodities being traded. That was the loss of ‘care’. Evidence, facilities and new logos are meaningless if the vulnerable are not protected by those charged with protecting them – but doing so costs and is time consuming – because they are each a human being with feelings and needs. How inconsiderate of them to exist.

These are the very people you need to get to know to remember humility, unless you’re one of those who uses them as a means to a better life for yourself and you already know them as you meal ticket. Your days are numbered and however many tiers of protection you have created for yourself though coercion and sharing the rewards of using human lives to feather your own nest, you will be found out. We have, unfortunately, seen that it takes, on average, about thirty years for the facts to become known. Look at the Hillsborough case, behaviour of the banks, clergy, and celebrities who played a big part in many of our happier memories over the decades – it is their families who pay through shame and disgust, long after so many lives have been damaged by them.

So, is it a time for change? Can we right the wrongdoing and remember what humanity is about? Can we really face facts or will we carry on turning our heads and not rocking the boat, pretending we’re not already paying a huge price for doing so. A good night’s sleep is improved by a clear conscience and that does not come through word play and reinterpreted justifications. Get real. Batter the Devil you know does notwork. Instead of so many being left to shed tears of despair, are we going to be honest about what is needed to remove the lies and hypocrisy and corruption within our world? If you could do just one thing to make a change now what would it be? Or will you just turn away or even become defensive instead – that’s a poorer reaction, if I may say so, it reveals something unpleasant when you have it within your power to do something worthwhile, so go on, you know you want to.

Services need to run as services. Care needs to involve care. Welfare needs to consider the welfare of it recipients and abuse is abuse, whether it is perpetrated by the providers or misused by prospective recipients – and in what ever form it takes. Do something to remove the tiers of lies in this world, in your daily life. if an organisation needs to hide behind whistle blowing policies – there’s a whistle waiting to be blown, and when policies damage people, they need to change and so do the people in charge of allowing that to happen and we all do have our part to play, so make it count if you are to count for anything in this life.