I have to admit that I admire Nick Clegg for taking yesterday off to be with his family. It is a lesson in showing how to cope with stress. One of the things that has been concerning me for years is the way that people in work are subjected to more and more pressure. Pressure to achieve and perform, whether it be to meet targets or just through sheer volume of work. A number of years ago in a study leave project, I looked at the whole problem of stress and burnout in clergy. Many of the same issues apply to lay people and one of the most important coping strategies is the concept of taking time out. It always amused me that the whole idea of a sabbath day as a time of rest was one which ministers were rarely able to achieve. In fact, local ministers and local MPs are similar in that each is a kind of known figure in the area, so time off becomes difficult to find.
The strange thing is that stress is necessary to some extent so that potential and effective methods can be reached. It is all about managing the balance between healthy working and potential burnout. I really hope for a world of political balance, where true values are axiomatic. And that is something which has been sadly missing in politics for a long time.
I don’t admire any politicians today,it’s all spin and no content.
The three main parties where’s the real difference between them they look similar.Their policies are similar there is no real choice.
As a wise man once said “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated”?
I could hardly call the top three parties’ policies similar, as a quick googling for “vote for policies” would show.
I’m interested in the idea of axiomatic values. I see the present Labour party as a weird mixture of progressive (anti-hatred/anti-discrimination legislation, good!) and totalitarian (any number of ignorant big-government anti-geek bills). That mixture sounds like change to me, in which case we’ve not had enough of the progressive part yet, let alone being ready to abandon it as an approach[0].
[0] that doesn’t mean I think labour are progressive, or that I’d vote for the status quo because its direction is good, of course.
I guess I feel into the trap of thinking my values are automatically what a reasonable person would aspire to…… It is an interesting election though. Maybe there is a chance to make things better.
What a reasonable person would aspire to probably changes depending on whose validation of `reasonable’ you use. I would be far more impressed if I got the impression MPs made decisions based on the nature of the country they want to live in.