How do we bring joy this Christmas? Build homes, mend potholes, restore trust | Torsten Bell
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Politicians have to prove they are capable of changing voters’ lives for the better. Most people love Christmas, but attitudes towards politics in recent years? Frustrated, more than festive. Understanding why is crucial to recognising the underlying political contest of the 2020s, and how high the stakes are. We’re told gloom is the result of short-term political developments, what one politician or another has said. It’s nonsense. The causes are what people see in their lives – the reality of the past 15 years, not the rhetoric of a few months.
![[Torsten Bell]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2023/12/04/Torsten_Bell,_L.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The public has witnessed elite failure on a colossal scale. When people have seen the economy stagnate and public services collapse, it’s no surprise political trust is low and apathy high. Generally the British are a trusting bunch (three-quarters believe you can trust other people compared with the OECD average of two-thirds), but faith in government is in short supply: only one in four trusted it towards the Conservative administration at the end against two-fifths across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
This is what happens when the basics people expect, from rising wages to pothole-free roads, become distant memories. Everyone witnessed Conservative ministers repeatedly announce HS2 while proving incapable of finishing it, and promise to cut migration, before letting it hit record highs.
Loss of trust matters, affecting whether people turn out to vote and who they vote for. Populism feeds on pessimism, and the failure of the past 15 years has spread gloom far and wide. The previous government damaged our psychology, as well as our economy, convincing people not only that things haven’t got better, but that they can’t.
