The Art of the Possible

We have always been told that politics is the 'art of the possible'. I have stopped believing that saying ever since I realised it is an excuse for not pursuing a particular policy which is thought to be too much like hard work to push through often after focus groups have told politicians that a particular policy has become unpopular. That a government should be flexible enough to do a u-turn where, after debate, it is shown that the original policy can be improved by changing or even abandoning it is not in dispute. Simply to try and buy votes by pursuing policies that you do not believe in but which are thought to keep the electorate on side is cynical and wrong. Who would now ever trust Blair or his lying communications director Alistair Cambell again? The Coalition must not use the same tactics although the u-turn on the sale of forests was a pretty cynical act particularly as the original idea was a sensible one. What is more important though is that there are no real u-turns on the the NHS reforms, nor on education, nor on welfare reform, nor on keeping the EU at bay and holding a referendum before any changes to the existing treaties can take effect. The Government should though get real on the damage being done by the renewable energy nonsense and the eurozone bail outs.