Has the coalition reached a new low th

This article was originally published in December of 2015

As we reach the end days of 2015, it is time to overindulge, be merry and share some artery clogging treats with our loved ones. It is also a time to take stock and reflect on what has been a tumultuous and at times dispiritingly confusing year. Welcome to our Christmas circular review of the good, bad and ugly in 2015.

If you had placed an accumulator bet in April of a Tory majority, Donald Trump to be leading the GOP polls, Jeremy Corbyn becoming Labour leader, Jose Mourinho sacked, Japan to beat South Africa in the Rugby World Cup, Leicester City to be top of the league at Christmas and Britain to win the Davis Cup, I wish you well in your new life as one of the 1% and subsequent new entry into the Sunday Times Rich List.

It has been a year full of surprises – some of which have been refreshingly heartening – hats off to the Japanese rugby team, Leicester City and Andy Murray. But these pleasant surprises have come within the somewhat trivial domain of sport. The ugly surprises have come within the meatier domain of politics.

Sadly, the biggest jaw dropper came at 10pm on the May 7th and the BBC General Election exit poll. Almost all commentators (apart from the prophet of doom himself, Darth George East) predicted a hung parliament. Instead, up flashed that horrendous exit poll of a Tory majority. In fact, the exit poll was proved to be marginally incorrect. The Tories went on to get a slightly better majority (12) than the poll had predicted. Britain went to bed on the May 7th facing a sleepless night fretting about 5 more years of Tory rule.

BBC Poll Exit

The fall out of the election is still being felt. Labour have gone into a bizarre existential crisis that has torn the parliamentary party in half and with no short-term fix remedy in sight. Jeremy Corbyn is the Labour leader. Wow. Predict that outcome a year ago, and your friends would have been expressing their concern over your judgement and state of mind.

The Lib Dems took the biggest hit on election night. The Tories moved like a Death Star right across the West Country and hovered up all the traditional Lib Dem heartlands. The Lib Dems were left with a parliamentary rump of just 8 MPs. The coalition years may have given them a taste of power, but they spent five years swallowing political arsenic with the inevitable consequences to their health.

We now live in a political geography that is clearly divided. The SNP have wiped out the long-term dominance of Labour in Scotland and are likely to repeat their success at the forthcoming Scottish elections. The Tories own the South of England (apart from London). Labour is left with a few shaky empires in the North of England, under the increasing threat from raids by UKIP.

Sadly, we are now having to face up to the prospect of a generational Tory government. With forthcoming boundary changes that will favour the Tories; Labour continuing to eat themselves; the decline of the Lib Dems and the locked in support for the SNP in Scotland, it is highly likely that the Tories will win again in 2020 – quite possibly with George Osborne as the next Prime Minister.

Domestically, the situation looks bleak (endless Tory rule, austerity, lack of effective opposition). Internationally, the situation looks scary. The main theme of 2015 has been the heightened threat from ISIS and the heart-breaking refugee crisis which was encapsulated in one tragically iconic photo of a little refugee boy washed up on a beach.

Paris has been the tragic focal point of terrorism. This glorious city of lights has been savagely attacked by terrorists twice in one year and in the process, set the wheels in motion for yet another round of Western military intervention in the Middle East, with inevitable collateral damage to innocent civilians.

Paris terrorist attacks
It is not just the rise of Trump – ignorance is everywhere. The idiots are winning. We now live in a country where the latest grubby little tweet from Katie Hopkins receives more coverage than the retirement of the ever-dignified James Naughtie from the Today Programme. In America, right wing commentators and the NRA ignore the multitude of gun-based attacks sweeping the country and the flaws of the second amendment in 2015 to skew the debate against Muslims because of one-gun related attack in California. These two comparisons encapsulate everything that is wrong with the quality control over our current affairs discourse in 2015.

So while our politics may be scary, annoying and dispiriting with an overwhelming sense of helplessness, the world is not all bad. As usual, it takes the escapism of sport, music and film to provide a silver lining to the clouds gathering on the horizon.

Enjoy your festive break. The whole team at All That’s Left wish you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.