We are living in a country where our people have lost faith in the government, and, what’s worse, is that I have every reason to. Everybody assumes that the entire government makes rules they don’t entirely understand, gives themselves more money than they would ever consider giving the keyworkers who keep our country going, and invite their friends from their hometown to come and play a critical role in the leading of our country instead of taking more time to think about who would actually be a lot better for the job. It is with the deepest sadness that I must confirm these accusations, and give you the unforgivable truth of who your government really are.
When you think of a secretary of state for a certain sector, what do you expect? Do you expect the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to have much experience as a doctor, or the Secretary of State for Education to have been a teacher? Perhaps you would assume the Secretary of State for Transport to have once worked for the London Underground or even to have just been a bus driver. Or, do you expect the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to have been an employee oat his family’s computer software company, the Secretary of State for Education manager of a pottery firm, and the Secretary of State for Transport president of a Jewish youth organisation? As I’m sure you will have conjectured by now, it is the latter that is the truth. Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has qualifications in only computing, philosophy, politics and economics, worked briefly for his family’s computer software company, worked as an economist specialising in the housing market at the Bank of England, was an economic adviser to George Osborne, then became his chief of staff. Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, has qualifications in government and politics, economics and social sciences, was the penultimate national chairman of conservative students before it was abolished in 1998, worked as the managing director of fireplace manufacturer until 2004, was managing director to a pottery firm, and worked for an architectural design firm. Finally, Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, has qualifications in business and finance, then was the national president of the Jewish youth organisation BBYO. That was it. None of these men have any real experience in their fields. Hancock was never a doctor, Williamson was never a teacher, Shapps never worked in the field of transport.
Let us not forget the one and only Prime Minister himself, Boris Johnson. One of the roles a politician takes on when they become Prime Minister is the Minister for the Civil Service. Now, let’s take a look at his experience, before he became the Mayor of London. Mr Johnson worked in a management consulting firm, but resigned after a week. He was a graduate trainee at The Times. He worked at the Daily Telegraph. Essentially, he was a journalist. Now, I don’t know about you, but I have never heard anyone put journalist as a profession in the field of civil service.
After discovering all of these deplorable facts, I thought, ‘I’ll not be too cynical. I’ll take a look at some other countries to see if it’s just the general way a government is supposed to work’. I decided to take a look at Canada, because Canada always seems to be the happiest place on Earth, besides the Disney parks, of course.
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu, worked in the field of harm prevention, homelessness and substance misuse prevention. She was the head of the drug awareness committee at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit for nine years. She was also a she – something the UK is also lacking quite a bit. Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Minister of Education, was a substitute teacher at local schools in Vancouver. He worked permanently as a French and Math teacher at a private school called West Point Grey Academy. Marc Garneau, the Minister of Transport, was the captain of the Royal Canadian Navy for three years, and he was one of the first eight Canadian Astronauts. He became the first Canadian ever to go into outer space in 1984. Harjit Sajjan, the Minister of National Defence, was a detective with the Vancouver Police Department, of which he was a member for 11 years. He was Lieutenant Colonel with the British Columbia Regiment, where he participated in four operational deployments – one to Bosnia and three to Afghanistan. He completed his career as a detective with the gang crime unit. In other words, no, the government does not have to function the way ours does.
But maybe – just maybe – they have made some really amazing changes, despite their lack of total understanding and knowledge. Well, since Matt Hancock became the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 9th July 2018, he has been accused of endorsing a mobile phone health app marketed by the subscription health service company Babylon, as well as products of a company that receives NHS funds for the patients it treats, which contravenes ministerial guidelines; he has allowed 21 NHS contracts worth £127m to be tendered, despite having said the NHS would face “no privatisation on [his] watch”; he has supported the prorogation of parliament, which was later ruled as unlawful by the Supreme Court; he has described a situation in which an 18 year old autistic teenager named Bethany was secluded for almost three years in the tiny rooms of psychiatric facilities across Britain as “incredibly difficult and complex”; and, in the midst of a pandemic, was as vague as to say that the government was considering “some quite significant action that would have social and economic disruption”.
Well, how about Williamson? Let’s take a look. Since becoming the Secretary of State for Education on 24th July 2019, he has enforced free speech codes in universities and close schools for the coronavirus pandemic. That is all he has done in almost nine months. And Shapps? Sadly, he is even worse. Since he became the Secretary of State for Transport on 23rd September 2019, he has left over 150000 British tourists in need of repatriation as he refused to bail out Thomas Cook when they fell into administration. That is it. This is not sounding very hopeful, is it?
Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of our country, has done a little bit more than these men, thankfully. That’s right, he has made outrageous racist comments, where he has called Muslim women “letterboxes” and bank robbers; he is a hypocritical self-carer, as proven by his article about the benefits of the EU followed hours later by his coming out as one of the members of the Leave campaign for Brexit; he has lied that the NHS would receive £350 million a week if Brexit happened; he is “increasingly admiring of Donald Trump” which means that he might be keen to sign up to a bargain-basement trade deal with the USA – an agreement which would slash workers’ rights and privatise the NHS – and he refused to condemn Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents and putting them in caged; he referred to Africa as a country in his speech at a Conservative conference; and he has rinsed £46000000 (£460 million) of public money on his botched Garden Bridge without ever beginning construction.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has lowered taxes on the middle class by 20.5%; he’s put a stop to all Canadian airstrikes on ISIS targets; he’s created a new tax bracket for those who earn over $200000 at a rate of 33%; he’s given more leave time to those who need access to Canada’s Compassion Care Benefit to care for sick family members; he’s contributed $100 million to the UN High Commission of Refugees in order to aid the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada; he’s reintroduced the Interim Federal Health Program, thus endowing refugees with some health care benefits; he’s revoked the previous government’s decision to not allow a refugee’s right to appeal their status when coming from Designated Countries of Origin; he’s doubled the amount of immigrant application for parents and grandparents to 10000 in order to foster family reunification; he’s created a national public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada; he’s continued to support Ukrainian military forces and military assistance in Central and Eastern Europe; he’s removed any regulations that would not allow a government scientist to speak openly of their work to the media; he’s installed the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments that will advise the Prime Minister on Senate nominations; and he’s brought gender equality into the Cabinet of Canada.
It is evident that his methods work, too, and that Canada really is one of the happiest countries in the world. News from the past few months has included “free little libraries transform into mini food banks to combat COVID-19” (a little library looks similar to a mailbox, except it is open like a shelf and holds books, found on sidewalks for people to take out and read), “Nova Scotia town delighted by mysterious $100 bill and note” (the note read, ‘always know that there is good in the world and joy to be found. I hope you know, or will learn, that you are priceless and worth more than any paper or plastic. I hope you will always choose to be happy,’ ending with a little drawing of a love heart), “Manitoban rides horse through storm to bring stranded trucker coffee”, and “crew stranded off B.C. coast for months showered with Christmas gifts” (the gifts came from strangers).
It is also proven that Canada has been the way it is for longer than a few months. Although they have been involved helping in wars since, the last time that Canada was one of the first to declare war was on 7th November 1944 when they were the first country to declare war on Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, they did not officially declare war until the 8th November, alongside the US and Great Britain – it is only because they decided to do it on the 7th that they are technically the first. Make sure that you notice that they were, once again, helping, as well, as Pearl Harbor was in America. Canada really is a kind, peaceful place.
Two other slightly more minor concerns, yet still notable ones, about the Cabinet is their salaries and where they are all from. Many people have the assumption that everybody who works in the government comes from Eton. However, this is one thing that I can debunk. Nobody in the Cabinet came from Eton itself. Despite this, six of the fourteen members of the Cabinet lived within about an hour of it as children.
As for their salaries, the public is absolutely correct. Johnson earns approximately £158000 per year, whereas someone who works in the civil service could pay anywhere between £1262 and £22960 in taxes and National Insurance. Hancock earns approximately £141500, Williamson earns approximately £67505 and Shapps earns approximately £62766 (reportedly). Doctors can pay between £4211-£28733 in taxes and National Insurance, teachers £942-£42177 and employees in the field of transport £284-£12461. Now, MPs do pay taxes too, just like the rest of us. The only thing is, 2.1% of our taxes goes towards paying the government (as of 2016-17), and that is £15200000000 (£15.2 billion), meaning that their taxes go right back into their fancy, expensive pockets.
In conclusion, we have learnt today that our government has no idea what they are doing, make stupid choices, and make us pay them to do it all, whereas the Canadian Cabinet has the most experienced of experienced workers in their fields, makes Canada an even better place than it already is (and it’s already pretty incredible), and has gender equality. Don’t you think we need a change?
