As widely predicted, the results of the election in Germany showed sweeping gains for the far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). Whilst the (conservative) CDU/CSU won the election with not quite 30% of the vote, the Alternative for Germany secured nearly 20% whilst the (socialist) SPD sunk to about 16%, less than the AfD. There is a kind of firewall in place in Germany where the conventional political parties refuse to entertain the AfD as a coalition partner but one has to reflect that Hitler came to power democratically in the 1930's before consolidating power as the Nazi party. Some political commentators are wondering whether in the next election, the AfD might be able to mount a successful challenge for the Chancellorship of Germany. All of this, has driven me to reflect upon the rise of extreme right wing (i.e. quasi fascist) parties across much of European and American society and, of course, the interesting political question is why this should be the case. The most typical explanation is that voters, and particularly young voters are fed up with what used to be called the 'Tweedle Dum' and 'Tweedle Dee' nature of politics where despite general elections, nothing really seems to change. One can understand this in the case of European societies that have a form of proportional representation because the majority of governments are coalition governments, take months of negotiation to form and just seem to be a continuation of what went before. Hence the right-wing parties, fuelled by the immigration issue, seem to represent a decisive break with the past. We are witnessing a similar trend in the UK where a right-wing Conservative government has been replaced by a Socialist government with a huge majority, but nothing seems to really change. Once in power, all governments are faced with the realities of power where complex problems (climate change, economic growth, the state of the NHS and public services) are not susceptible to the simple slogans that political parties use to get elected. There is a wonderful phrase associated with American politics that 'you campaign in poetry but have to govern in prose'. The phrase suggests that political campaigns often rely on inspirational language, idealism, and emotional appeal—characteristics associated with poetry. In contrast, governing requires practicality, clarity, and straightforwardness, akin to prose. This saying highlights the difference between the aspirational, often grandiose rhetoric used to win support during elections and the more pragmatic, sometimes mundane realities of actual governance. It underscores the idea that while captivating speeches can rally people, effective leadership depends on clear communication and practical decision-making. To return to the case of the UK political scene, the actions of the incoming Labour government (such as cutting the winter fuel allowance for pensioners) seem to be the policies that a Conservative party would deploy whereas the Tories themselves, claiming to be the party of 'low taxation' have presided over one of the highest tax regimes that the country has ever known. A large part of the disillusionment of electorates with the political system and practically non-existent economic growth for decades can be understood if one looks at the simple facts of demography and the consequences of living in a society where the aged and retired are forming a larger part of society as a whole. When the post WWII welfare state was founded, a young male might leave school at 15, work until they are 65 i.e. contribute to taxes and national insurance for 50 years and then live for another 5-10 years. But today with the expansion of higher education on the one hand and the advances of medical science on the other, a person might not start to contribute to the tax take until the age of 25 (after university education and post graduate training) and then be declared redundant or retire at the age of 55. This is 25 years of contributions which now funds perhaps 30 years of retirement if they live to the age of 85. So, what economists called the 'dependency' ratio has altered dramatically and, irrespective of political ideology, explains why our tax burdens are so high and cannot easily be cut. Meanwhile centres of manufacturing have moved to China and the Far East where the problems of demography are not so acute (although, as the decades advance, the same problems will face them as well).
The previous evening, I was particularly pleased that I managed somehow to resurrect the credentials so that I could access the Teachers Pensions Agency website (quite a good one) to check out Meg's pension arrangements as well as my own. Now that I have managed to do this (and ensured that I have the log on credentials in a secure place) I have been able to send off a query that we have about Meg's pension to which a reply might be forthcoming in 10 working days time which is in two weeks time. The important thing about all of this is that we now have a record of Meg's Teacher Number which is important to know to unlock her contribution record. This morning we knew that we had a scheduled meeting with the physiotherapist(s) and with one of the managers of the care agency to see if we could restore some flexibility to Meg's knees. The physiotherapist who was the same person as saw Meg last time was pretty successful in getting Meg's legs relatively straight and then communicated the best ways in which this was to be done to the care manager who turned up a little later than planned. The physio was going to write up some detailed therapy notes so that these could be incorporated into Meg's care plan and then the agency manager was going to promulgate these notes to the rest of the staff so that they would know what actions to perform. So our session with the physios was pretty helpful this morning and I thanked them for what they had done. This now completes this particular session of physio care for Meg and if I needed any further tranches of treatment, then this would have to be a new reference from our family doctor.
I spent a certain amount of time trying to work out (again) how to convert the text (e.g. this blog) into the spoken word. I have used this facility which is part of both Windows 10 and Windows 11 but had forgotten how to do it. After a certain amount of messing about, I got this to work but I am sure that last time I got it working I did it via a separate set of commands. This facility I do not intend to use a great deal but as it is provided by the technology, I need to remember how to use it when I wish. This time around, I will make sure I write myself some notes which are easily accessible when I need them - probably just in an email addressed to myself which means I can find my notes again easily.
© Mike Hart [2025]