Forget terrorism – apathy is what will kill us

Horrified though I was to see Nick Clegg sell his party down the river for his 15 minutes of power/fame, I have to say that I have come to consider that as a country we deserve this government.

Our apathy has become a disease. So comfortable is our current discomfit that we are incapable of standing up for anything that matters to us. We whinge and moan at the loss of our jobs, increased inflation, skyrocketing travel costs, unbelievable costs of the Olympics with little to no benefit to most Londoners, spiralling energy and fuel costs. Our world renowned health system is under threat but we will simply observe from the comfort of our overstuffed couches and moan about it.

In recent months in our lovely leafy suburb we face a development of such insanity that it is barely believable that a grown adult, with full use of their faculties could propose it. 160 people are proposed to be ‘housed’ (‘cupboarded’ may be more accurate) in space barely the size of two of the blocks on which our houses sit in the area. Our houses are two storey – this monstrosity will be four storey – out of keeping with the entire area. There is insufficient parking, no play area for children, no gardens or even courtyards and insufficient access. Bats, badgers, bees and protected flora find their homes in the area proposed for this overdevelopment.

The neighbours are livid. Well at least I think that they are. Its a little hard to tell. Aside from the predictably active three or four neighbours determined to ensure that this monstrosity doesn’t go ahead you can barely muster a fully fledged whinge from the others. They don’t want the development and one or two have even written a letter to the Council. But try to get them to hand out a leaflet, knock on their neghbour’s door or attend a meeting to decide a strategy and they can’t be found.

The fact is that this development will probably go ahead, with barely a squeak from the neighbours. Then two years of noise and dust, no privacy, reduced security and the sound of discontent will increase but the fact is that it will be too late.

This apathy and the idea that someone else will ‘fix it’ is the reason that we are facing a massive increase in inflation, a stagnant economy, a huge increase in unemployment, unaffordable education, unaffordable social housing, reduction in housing benefit, unaffordable electricity and gas – all the while supporting a Chancellor who is still partial to his £1000 bottles of wine and a Prime Minister whose holidays for the year number 7 already and it is only October. A Prime Minister and a Mayor who didn’t think that rioting all over our beautiful city was sufficient cause to cut short one of their many holidays.

We deserve this Government it is reflective of the state of our nation. A greedy, unprincipled few running riot over the lazy and apathetic many. If we could prise ourselves out of our couches we could begin to make them account for themselves and deliver us a government we might begin to deserve. And if we don’t our threat lies not in terrorists but that we will suffocate in our own apathy!