There is a chasm between what politicians say and what voters believe, argues Daniel Finkelstein

This piece for the BBC was based on Daniel Finkelstein's column from last week.

Comments

[Martin Day]

Indeed Danny.

I think the problem has been created by Labours Media/Spin operation which has slowly degraded politics. John Major talked about Labour dumbing down politics 10 years ago - he was right.

The constant reanouncements the diversionary stories, the lies, the fiddling of figures by Labour and transmitted by the media. The media I suspect is as distruted as politicians as many read what they they have seen appear in the papers with suspicion, distrust and annoynce.

I know folks (Non-political ones) who cannot understand the barrage of abuse the Tories get when Labour who have wrecked the economy, and presided over mass immigration and a huge increase in crime seem to get no serious critism in chattering class columns. Labour made the expenses system what it was post 2001 (They allowed a doubling in some expense allowances to buy off their huge number of backbenchers(This was on top of the salary going up by about £20K)who threatend descent).

Yet the facts as opposed to government figures/propoganda that people know are quite often in their personal life: Do they know people out of work/just lost their job/lost their home or struggling? Have they been a victim of crime, has their family been a victim of crime or someone they know been a victim of crime? Do they walk into their local town and wonder why English seems to be at times a minority language and feel that the number of overseas people is simply shocking and you feel as if you are being pushed out of your own country?

The simple fact is the Labour adminstration has sought to close down politics from critism of their economic policies (Your talking down the economy) to crying for the camaras, an idea I think they got from Peter Robinson after the problems in NI! I just ignore it all as do many others.

What I can tell you is I am really starting to dispise the way Labour politicians go on about the tories and yet Labour are the ones in power, they have the priveledge of power but behave like children. The Damien Mcbride scandel showed how rotten the present administration has become IMO - I think the booting out of office of Labour will do a lot to clean up politics. Much of what the public would descibe as the filth and degradation of politics is as a result of Labour politics.

The last thing I would like to say is the Media is in the last chance saloon as well, it is blatently obvious how much the media is inflienced by the governments media operation. The number and extent of stories that seem to have the oil of deceit, deflection and hypercricy embeded within them is truely staggering and tax payers will not take kindly to this misuse of public money, which will be revealed in due course and the web wovern dissembled.

[Wearmouth]

I think there's a few good reasons for this, mainly the narrow thinking that happens in Westminster isn't reflected in the rest of the country. It's not really acceptable to continually lie in the course of your duties to get out of tight situations or gain favour, if not blatant falsehoods then even playing on words in an attempt to pull the wool over others eyes. People don't talk about being 'briefed' against as if it's a relevant, in the real world it's called being a two-faced baby if it is against colleagues, if it's against others then it's just a lack or respect. Important business decisions are generally taken in the best interests of a company and not for short term political or personal gain. The idea of an MP's own self importance is also an issue, jumped up councillors or career politicians somehow think they're equivalent to a top executive and want to be compensated in the same way, this is ridiculous unless the MP holds a cabinet position. The way we are now patronised on weekly basis about how we should carry out our life as if we are all dumb robots by a person with little life experience of their own. I don't need to mention the abuse of our money or the dumbing down that is happening all around us.

[David MacDonald]

Daniel Finkelstein, of all people, is beginning to sound like a UKIP Party Political Broadcast!

[Dave Bush]

In response to Martin Day, to pretend that Labour invented spinning is a bit naive. Thatcher and Ingham were past masters. The fact is that we the Tories are spinning just as much as Labour, but we don't seem to be as good.

[figurewizard]

In support of Martin Day.......I note that you refer to how we can be patronised by politicians. I have noticed that this tendency seems to most prevalent among Labour ministers who, in the course of an interview or airing their views on the likes of BBC's Question Time will often refer to the rest of us as 'ordinary people.' The inevitable deduction is that they are not ordinary themselves, which means they are somehow extraordinary.

I guess this must be so, given the extraordinary mess they have made of this country.

[Anon]

Bit like the chasm between what newspapers write and what people believe.

[Andrew]

The public care about:
Jon Venables
potholes / overcrowded trains / the price of fuel / congested motorways;
the perceived Muslim demographic threat
crime, rapists, knives, guns, drugs;
the NHS

The Westminster village cares about:
Michael Ashcroft (who?)
Sally Bercow (who?) / "Sam Cam" / Sarah Brown
van Rompuy (who?)
blocking expenses reform
getting as much admiration and kudos from Obama as possible
Whelan/Brown/McBride/Draper (who?) scandals
Chilcot (who?)
...none of which affects the voters daily lives.

Blair used to reframe stories towards policy. Brown reframes them away from policy and onto trivia. Mandelson says jump, the BBC says how high (my Lord).

[FaustiesBlog]

So true.

[Engineer]

To Andrew's list of what the public care about, may I add:-

An energy policy to keep the lights from going out in 2015, that is: more conventional coal and gas now with new-build nuclear as soon as possible.