exciting, informative, snarky, and very likely fabricated tales of life as an american expat in london

batten down the hatches

by Jen at 6:57 pm on 11.05.2010 | 1 Comment
filed under: rant and rage

when i first arrived on these shores back in march of 2003, i was fleeing. i was deliberately running away from a government under george w. bush – the most uncritical, unthinking, intolerant, knee-jerk, fundamentalist, warmongering president i’d ever had the misfortune to live under.

so what a relief it was to find myself in a country lead by labour. a flawed labour, with blood on its hands and a disturbingly overzealous nannying bent to be sure. but still, fundamentally a left-leaning, socially liberal, welfare supporting labour.

over the past seven years, i’ve had my problems with labour policy: i.d. initiatives, immigration crackdown, civil rights infringements, to name just a few.

but still – it was reassuring to know that on the most essential principles of protecting the poor and disenfranchised of society, issues of equality and diversity, and human rights… underneath it all, still labour.

and as of today, i find myself once again under right-wing rule. i don’t yet know enough about david cameron to draw any parallels between himself and george dubya… but i know that the conservative ideas about how the government, social services and the economy should be run, are in complete diametrical opposition to my own.

when george w. bush was first elected, as depressing as the prospect was, i remember thinking, “we’ve lived under republican presidents before – how bad could it really be?” i could not in my wildest dreams have imagined just how bad it would be.

the last conservative run of governance here in the u.k. was the thatcher/major era.

doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, does it?

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    Comment by blues

    30.05.2010 @ 09:43 am

    thanks for this. It’s interesting and informative to hear your perspective. For me, it was a huge relief to move to Spain and escape the craziness that was going on in the U.S. I was happy and proud to be living in Spain when they elected a socialist prime minister. I have a similar list though of things I’ve hated and things I’ve liked. Unfortunately, some of the things I’ve liked (help for young renters who can’t afford to buy, 2500 euros to new mothers – twice that if you are single) are now being retracted because Spain can’t afford it. No real change has taken place on any major level. Whenever they announce any kind of decision, two days later they retract it and modify it. There are no cojones here.

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