The past year has brought about considerable change for me. I’ve been reflecting on it at length in recent weeks, especially as September approaches, which marks the beginning of the new academic year and signifies a full twelve months since my son moved out of the family home into his university term-time residence.
His empty room at home still leaves a big gap in my life, even though I stay in regular contact with him and can follow his ‘exploits’ on Instagram.
That’s something I don’t think I’ll ever understand – the willingness of his generation to share all aspects of their lives with the world. I’ve told him several times that I’m glad social media didn’t exist when I was in his position.
But it’s not just my home and work life that has changed. It feels like a lifetime ago that we had a government that seemed to be actively trying to break the country. Now, with Sir Keir Starmer in Number 10, it feels like a sense of quiet hope and relative calm has replaced the chaos.
Don’t get me wrong, the current government is far from perfect and sometimes makes colossal mistakes that suggest underlying incompetence, but compared to the last lot…
I’m a centrist at heart. When I was younger, I probably leaned slightly to the right of centre, but, contrary to the old belief that people shift to the right as they grow older to “conserve” their wealth and status, I have actually drifted left over the past fifteen years or so and now see myself as just slightly left of centre.
So, I find myself broadly supportive of what his government is trying to achieve. I believe in patience and long-term vision. Indeed, one of the major flaws of the current system of government is that it encourages short-term thinking rather than long-term strategic planning, with the government (and the opposition) never thinking any further ahead than the next General Election.
So prevalent is this short-termism that Starmer’s proposal of a ten-year plan actually seems daring. He acknowledges, as I do, that after 14 years of decline, it will take more than a few months to put things right.
And while Sir Keir lacks the charisma typical of a World Leader, instead giving off clearly ‘middle manager’ vibes, I still believe he’s exactly what the country needs right now. It requires a capable manager who can quietly implement the essential fixes that are needed before the push for more and better begins.
He said it himself.
“The foundations of this country – fixed. Tory rot – cleared away. So brick by brick, we can build a new home.”
You really need to fix the foundations before building the house. And that’s exactly what they are doing. Quietly and without fuss, they are introducing bills, such as the Renter’s Rights bill and the Employment Rights bill, which will repair the country’s mess, restore stability, and lay a foundation for the future. This vision of the future keeps me hopeful and optimistic.
And yet, there’s a frustration that nibbling away at me. The communication from the new government has felt clumsy and overly cautious. Most of the country has no idea what they have achieved in the last twelve months, but everyone knows all about the “Family Farm Tax” and the “Granny Tax” (Winter Fuel Allowance) because instead of getting in front of the stories and spinning their own narrative, they’ve let their opponents in the right-wing press shape the story instead.
And they still lack the confidence to call the liars, liars, and to tell the incompetent members on the opposition benches, who were running things not that long ago, that they need to “Shut up and let us fix your mess.”
It took the Tories fourteen years to cause so much damage, yet they behave as if not fixing their mess in less than fourteen months is somehow worse than their original crimes against governance.
It’s that classic political adage: if you don’t tell your story, someone else will do it for you. That’s something Tony Blair’s government was particularly skilled at, and Starmer’s government could learn a thing or two from how New Labour communicated.
The current hesitancy and timidity in communication are concerning, especially at a time when the country is crying out for a clear moral compass.
And things are all the more urgent given the horrifying rise of Reform UK.
And I do mean, ‘horrifying.”
The gravity of the situation cannot be overstated.
It is truly frightening to see such a large swathe of the country embrace the Pound Shop Powell and his bunch of liars and grifters. The growing xenophobic and racist rhetoric that has become so common in our public discourse breaks my heart.
The success of Farage’s party in recent local elections and by-elections highlights the deep dissatisfaction across the country. They are gaining support by exploiting fear and prejudice, and it feels like a genuine threat to the open, tolerant society I want for our children.
It’s a fight we can’t afford to lose.
On the world stage, the situation remains equally complex. I am not anti-Israel, and I believe in its right to exist peacefully and securely. However, I am horrified by the scale of the campaign in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has triggered. The international arrest warrants and a renewed Israeli offensive this year indicate that the conflict is far from over, and I believe the current Israeli government has gone too far. The campaign must end.
Looking beyond the Middle East, my support for Ukraine remains unwavering.
I will forever remember the day I attended one of my son’s orchestral concerts when a young girl, a native of Ukraine, was handed the host’s microphone and thanked an auditorium full of people for their support of her country, receiving a thunderous round of applause as she did so.
And a few years later, the war persists as a stark reminder of Putin’s aggression. My concern is only heightened by the return of President Trump. His recent summit with Putin, where he failed to secure a firm agreement to end the conflict and suggested Ukraine would have to cede territory, reinforces a perceived admiration for autocrats that I find deeply disconcerting.
It’s on this global stage, however, that I find some of my greatest hope in the current British government.
Although they may be clumsy at home, I genuinely admire the work Keir Starmer has been doing. He does not seem out of place among other World Leaders and appears to have restored the respect Britain has always enjoyed. He has secured new trade deals with India and the US, while also rebuilding defence ties and strengthening relationships with our European partners. He shows a pragmatic and mature approach to foreign policy that was badly needed. It is a quiet competence that restores pride in our country’s role on the global stage.
It’s just a shame he’s stubbornly refusing to move towards an even closer relationship with the EU that could eventually pave the way for us to rejoin. I understand why he isn’t, but it’s still frustrating.
So, here we are. A year into a new government that offers a welcome sense of stability but is still learning how to tell its own story. A nation grappling with a populist right that exploits fear and a world that feels increasingly unstable.
It is a time for patience, clarity, and standing up for the values of a regulated capitalism that benefits all, a humane foreign policy, and a society that welcomes rather than fears. The work has only just begun.
