New year. New me. New you. New us. New bloody everything. Resolutions and January go together like love and marriage by which I mean they’re actually a total farce.
Far from it, in fact January is often the toughest time of year with 6% of the population affected by SAD and unable to function normally. So, perhaps not the best time to be hauling yourself over society’s coals until you become a better person? And If something posed a problem for you in 2018, the odds are that it will in 2019. If you didn’t like broccoli last year, you’re probably not going to like it this year. If the thought of being shouted at in an intense cardio class made you want to shrivel up and die in December, you might feel exactly the same in January and, guess what? That’s OK.
New Year’s resolutions can be useful but only when applied sensibly. They should be about what you actually need to change and not what you feel you should change because everyone else is. More often than not, I can’t help but feel that the new year’s resolution industry is a great trick of neoliberalism to keep us all feeling bad about ourselves, so we spend money by implying that true, meaningful change happens at an individual level when you dabble with veganism for four weeks.
However - what if we made resolutions for the people our country employs to change things instead of beating ourselves up in an overpriced gym before going home the long way to avoid bumping into anyone who might notice that you picked up a £5 smoothie after your class and DID NOT remember your Keep Cup. After all, it is literally the job of politicians to sort stuff out.
So, with that in mind here are three (because that feels like a nice, achievable number to work with) very important resolutions for Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn et al to stick to.
New year, new nation?
1. Save The Planet ASAP, Plz
In October last year I was sitting on a beach in Sardinia, scrolling mindlessly through my phone. I came across an article which made me sit up sweatily in my sun lounger. The headline read:
Final call to save the world from ‘climate catastrophe’
A group of scientists who form what’s known as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) had just published a critical report for policymakers about the state of the Earth after three years of extensive research.
TL; DR it basically said that we’re in serious trouble and if we want to keep global warming under 1.5c (after which we’d be, to put it bluntly, a bit screwed) then we need to make ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’.
The report might as well say ‘ACT NOW OR ELSE’ and paints a picture of a planet sick with a disease given to it by humans. The scientists were clear that there is stuff we, as individuals can do, like eating less meat, taking fewer flights and buying less stuff in general but their over aching message was that politicians need to get involved with reducing CO2 emissions and getting serious about renewable energy.
It feels like all we do is hear about Brexit at the moment. Why aren’t we seeing emergency meetings about climate change in Parliament? At the moment it feels like a political footnote because, let’s face it, a problem this big is easier to turn the other cheek to in the same way that it’s much easier to go on a January crash diet you know is bad for you than it is to commit to changing your relationship with food and body image long term.
2. And, while we’re on the subject of Brexit…enough punch and Judy politics
I don’t know about you, but I’ve hit my absolute limit. On both the left and the right people seem to be stubbornly digging their heels in and refusing to engage with what, to me at least to be the longest slanging match in recent history. It’s like someone said, ‘I know what will entertain people and keep them busy…let’s give them Jeremy Kyle but make it Eurosceptic’.
This is one of the most serious moments in our country’s history which will shape things certainly for the rest of my lifetime and, frankly, all anyone in politics seems to do is argue and/or try to get a promotion.
We know politicians like to have a go at each other, that’s literally why the House of Commons was built to seat two opposing sides with whoever is standing at the dispatch boxes being two swords width apart from one another.
I hate to sound like Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May’s mum but what I’d really like to see is some less hyperbolic discussion which actually breaks down the dangers of No Deal without scare mongering. I’d also really like Corbyn to stop being that guy on Tinder who never actually lets you know where you stand, it’s time for him to stop being so ambiguous about his Brexit position and refusing to commit to anything other than talking down anything Theresa May does. It’s all so toxic.
Here’s a radical thought…why don’t politicians listen to the people they represent? The latest polling (of average people not of political party members) suggests that while support for Theresa May’s deal has grown slowly, far more people still oppose it. Yet, if you watch the news, you’d think all that matters is what MPs think about it.
It’s our politicians who need to go on a detox.
p.s. if you’re feeling totally confused this is a really good explainer about where we all stand from Vernon Bognador, professor of government at Kings College London.
3. Equality, now…
As we’ve just established our politicians are all a bit preoccupied right now, so it will come as no surprise that a lot of important stuff is being neglected.
On Friday it was my favourite day of the year so far…Fat Cat Friday. By the time you read this, chief executives of the UK’s leading companies will already have earned more than the average annual salary in the UK (that’s just over £29,000 by the way). This means that they are now paid 133 times more than an average worker.
Don’t think for a moment that this doesn’t have something to do with gender equality. As the Resolution Foundation have pointed out 61 per cent of low paid workers in this country are women. More than this, the Fawcett Society looked into this further and found that Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black African women are amongst the most short changed when it comes to this pay gap.
We need more women in politics and we need more women in senior roles and on boards, that’s the only way we’ll ever close the pay gap once and for all.
In 2018 movements like #MeToo generated a global conversation about sexism at work but, as I wrote back in September, studies suggest it isn’t actually helping most women. Like buying a Keep Cup, the emphasis of #MeToo is ultimately on individual women to bare their scars and speak up. That has its place, but we need political support to reinforce what their saying.
Could 2019 be the year our politicians sort out the cost of childcare because right now we’ve got some of the most expensive services in Europe?
Could it be the year that the government listens to the Women and Equalities Committee and implements longer, and better paid paternity leave as standard to give women more options?
It’s all very well and good to force companies to report their gender pay gaps but it means nothing if we don’t have structures in place to force them to close it. It’s a bit like doing dry January but knowing you’ll binge drink again in February, meaningless tokenism which makes you look proactive.
Say it after me guys: gender equality is not just forInternational Women’s Day.