A Few Stray Thoughts on Politics (2025 Edition)

When I originally jotted down my thoughts on politics, I believe I wrote them in early 2023 and they very much reflected the situation at the time. I was writing at a time of (relative) quiet. What we've had since is two major political earthquakes, and overall everything just looks bleak.

The first was the situation in Gaza, whatever the rights and wrongs of Hamas' attack on Israel, it seems clear that Israel's response over the past year can only be descibed as a genocide, a genocide that was comitted with the help of western governments and largely supported by the media here in the west. The complicity of the west in the Gaza genocide has, to me destroyed the west's moral authority in international affairs.

The second earthquake is the election of Trump, it remains uncertain what the new administration will do at this point but so far its actions look incredibly concerning. Trump and his allies seem to be riding roughshod over many of the US democratic institutions and it feels like there's a good chance he will turn the US into a dictatorship.

I don't live in the US, but even outside the US I feel there is cause for concer. The UK is an ally, but is that relationship going to remain? The Trump administration doesn't seem to respect the diplomatic conventions that have underpinned the post WWII alliances between western nations. The US simply does not seem like a dependable ally at this point.

Here in the UK things seem little better, Labour's victory in the 2024 election seems to mask a lot of problems. Despite having a huge majority their grip on power seems incredibly fragile. My ultimate fear here is that in 2029 we could potentially see a victory for REFUK.

All in all, a bleak picture. Thinking back to my thoughts in 2023, I don't think I was especially wrong about anything. The general sense of dissatisfaction with politics as usual was there, with politicians avoiding tackling big issues around cost of living and housing. At the moment, I only hope that at some point I'll be able to write a politics page which strikes a more optimistic tone.