For all those ‘bluer than blue’ characters stuck in their sealed water closets , who love to take personal snipes rather than addressing the real issues raised, here’s my manifesto for political change.

First, the whole rotten edifice of the political system itself . Nothing can ultimately change until we bin First Past the Post and replace it with a proportional way of voting, preferably the Single Transferable Vote, for all elections.

The House of Lords needs replacing with a Senate that is fully elected , without a trace of hereditary or party political appointment.

Then proper regional government with elected Assemblies. Here in the South West it would consist of Dorset, Devon and Cornwall head quartered in Exeter. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should be encouraged to find their own way, be it independence or a strong federal relationship.

Monarchy is a dated institution with little or no relevance in a 21st century democracy. After the Queen passes we should develop a citizen-led republic and let commonwealth countries evolve into fully self governing countries with elected heads of state. People can still enjoy the recent Games with or without a republic !

The political parties. The Conservative Party. Born early in the 19th century to represent the land owners and the land owning aristocracy. Essentially values of class, privilege, greed and a minimally regulated free market economy. The Tories have been in power now for 12 years – too long ! Many of us don’t want to see another Tory Government period! Liz Truss spells inflationary disaster. She scares me!

Labour. Nothing like as radical as it should be under Keir Starmer. Wrong on electoral reform despite its own membership’s position and not in touch with reality in rejecting post election deals with the Liberal Democrats and the SNP , given the likelihood of a hung Parliament. Totally wrong in requiring its shadow cabinet colleagues not to go on RMT picket lines.

Liberal Democrasts and Greens. Both parties have good ideas, but are held back by the right wing media and press and an electoral system in the Ark. However, the Liberal Democrats should be more bold about renationalising Rail and water companies and the Greens check out the realism of the German Greens. Both parties ought to insist on fair coverage from the media. For example Question Time has become a two party joke.

Water. A national conduit system needs to be built to transfer water to dangerously low reservoir regions during future droughts, like the national grid and of course the water companies should be nationalised.

Energy. The Liberal Democrats are right. Scrap the price cap and pay for it with a £20 Billion windfall tax on the obscene profits of the energy companies. Global warming demands a genuine cross party national action group to achieve the 2050 carbon emissions target.

I hope my ‘red under the bed’ manifesto can generate some meaningful debate. If the ‘true blues‘ can’t respond positively they should crawl back into their water closets and get their friends to press the waste buttons.

Richard Denton-White
Mill Lane, Charminster