Douglas Carswell's Blog

Cheer up! Things are getting better

Britain is a vastly better place today than it was in 1971, the year I was born. We are richer, with more leisure time. We are more tolerant and free.

From clothing to plane tickets, costs have come down. Shops are packed with a once unimaginable range of choices.  Science allows us to cure many more diseases - and live longer.

Technology provides us with an array of entertainment and information that previously not even the richest could afford.

But I can't help noticing that the things about Britain that have got better are those things that aren't run by politicians.

Most of us might now live within reach of a 24 hour supermarket. But if you want to see a GP, you still have to call back between 9 – 5 on Monday.

As parents, we can select an endless variety of children's entertainment for the kids. But when it comes to picking the right school, we have to cross our fingers and hope we're in the right catchment area.

Air travel, once the preserve of jet setting plutocrats, is available to all. But somehow the airlines are much better at flying us between airports than state officials are at processing us and our passports when we get there.

"But the economy is in a mess!" I hear you say. Indeed it is - and that's because politicians have tried to run it like they've tried running all that other stuff that hasn't got any better.

If politicians had spent the past few decades running the supermarkets, do you imagine that they would sell you what you wanted, at a price you could afford? Instead, we'd have empty shelves and rationing.

Politicians have tried to manage the economy with the right level of credit.  Unsurprisingly, today we now have a shortage of the stuff - and credit rationing.

We Conservatives are often supposed to be the grumpy party. We are meant to believe that the country is going to the dogs. I'm not. And Britain isn't.

Our economy will bounce back – provided we make sure politicians don't try and run it.

Back to all posts