Me and the Missus got a personal letter from Dr Sant, Leader of the MLP yesterday. It's quite something when the head honcho writes to you, telling you what his party intends to do if elected.
The thing is, having taken the trouble to personalise the letter, I'd have thought they'd get it right. If this is the way they're going to do things, it's not exactly impressive. And I'm not talking about the cheesy font used in the address, either.Let me give you a few instances.
Apparently, a new sixth form is going to be created. Precisely why this should interest me personally is beyond me. I don't have kids of sixth form age and having someone tell me he's going to use my tax euros to monkey around with the educational system, which is already a pretty darn good one, is hardly likely to persuade me to give him number 1.
He went on to promise that there will be no VAT on education. Leaving aside the fact that there already is none, again, why should I care?That canard about the electricity surcharge was given an outing, too. I hope I'll be forgiven, but I just don't believe that all that's going to happen and that the price of oil is going to cease to be relevant. Someone, somewhere, is going to have to pay for this and I have no doubt it's going to be me.
Another promise aimed directly at me was that child care centres would be set up. Again, this interests me personally not at all, since I have none. Children that need care, that is. Likewise, the fact that "the University is to be strengthened" and the notion that MCAST is to supply instruction to kids who want to learn trades leave me un-moved. This failure to move me is compounded by the facts that a) the University is already strong and b) MCAST already does precisely that.
When I'm told, by the Leader of the Opposition no less, that "they're going to strengthen the teaching of informatics and computers", I feel patronised. You don't, unless you're talking to fools, say you're going to "teach computers". What are you going to teach them, how to make breakfast? And why are you trying to give me the impression you're proposing to do something new? This country is already at the leading edge of informatics, the efforts of your Luddite predecessors notwithstanding.
Apparently, the family's income is to be increased, because measures will be taken so we don't pay tax on overtime. Gee, thanks, but I don't do overtime: I work plenty of hours, true, but I pay tax on all of it. In fact, I suspect I'll be paying even more, since every one in employment is going to start doing overtime, meaning I'll have to make up the difference. This ignores the fact that I, flatly, don't believe that the measure will be given real effect, just as when VAT was "removed" in 1996.
The mask slipped a bit when I was told that they're going "to aim" to change the way the elderly are charged for care. What are the odds that they'll miss, for all their "aiming"?While chucking around figures with gay abandon, Dr Sant also mentioned that he'd be chopping a few thousand euros off the price of a first home. Good stuff, even if it's about 30 years too late for me, but the devil, as they say, is in the detail and, from what I hear, the small print is that this is going to take the form of a loan, which will have to be repaid.
So there you have it: Dr Sant, personally, wrote to me to give me, personally, the low-down on what he's going to do for me. Or should that be "to me"? I've been invited to participate in the new beginning, for all the world as if every beginning wasn't new, and told that Labour does what it promises to do. Frankly, he needn't have bothered, because all he's done is confirm that beyond buzz-words and slogans, Labour will be doing what it promises.
And that, on the evidence of the past and present, worries me.