I have to agree with you on both points Steffan. Something seems to happen to even the best politicians when they actually get in power but they often mature when out of office. In the book even Tony Benn admits that he made many mistakes. I've always admired the man to some extent because love him or loath him he always talked a lot of sense even if it that did clash with the political and social thinking at the time.
1984 becoming a reality? yes it is to an ever increasing extent. When you read the book you can find shades of Big Brother everywhere, surveillance cameras, greater restriction on freedoms, constant Government intervention and 'advice' on our chosen lifestyles, Identity cards and of course Mr Cameron's 'Big Soc'. The problem is that a large section of the electorate is completely turned off by any mention of politics, not really suprising as most of the Parties are pretty much the same and the MP's largely faceless yes men 'whipped' into towing the party line regardless of their constituents best interests. There are few political characters any more to grab peoples interest. Many people feel they have no influence and that their vote is meaningless so they don't bother to exercise their right to vote. I read somewhere that the current Government 'won' with only 23% of the vote of those actually eligible to vote. Apathy it seems was the real winner. All you need to add to this is a massive social upheaval, say a recession, then you just need to plant the 'fear factor' and everything is in place.
For all of that, we still enjoy more freedoms than many parts of the world, there are a lot of places where I couldn't have written this without the fear of a knock on the door. And sadly many will die in the Middle East today for a chance of what freedom we have.
There you've got me back on the soapbox again!
