Opinion: New Year - and a fresh start is needed

As we begin 2023, we should remember that there are lingering challenges. Covid patients treated by Peterborough’s NHS trust doubled in one month. Add in staff shortages, the prevalence of flu and other respiratory diseases, and strikes: these should make us cautious.

We should take care to mask up where appropriate to protect vulnerable people including the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. I am concerned that now that the restraints are off in China, a new variant may emerge. The pandemic may be less lethal than it was, but it is not over. I don’t see much guidance emerging from this government which emphasises this point.

Most forecasts suggest that it’s going to be a tough year for the economy. Inflation and the cost of living are still big problems; the strikes are an indication that working people have had enough of being squeezed. Leading indicators suggest we are going to suffer a recession. How deep and long it will be is difficult to say. So long as the war in Ukraine continues, there will be uncertainty. Again, where is the government on this? It is difficult to say that they are leading from the front. They apparently have to be dragged kicking and

screaming into doing anything.

Taken in aggregate, we apparently have an absence of leadership. At the top there is a void, a vacuum: this is perhaps by design. After years of Boris Johnson being all too present in our lives, the Tories perhaps have calculated that being less visible will breed less resentment.

At the very least, they have discerned we don’t want to see them any more than we have to. There may be some truth in this; however, it isn’t a formula for dealing with our myriad of problems. Sometimes things get better on their own, sometimes they get worse by neglect.

The government has shown a talent for fostering the latter: their unwillingness to engage with unions, for example, have led to nothing but more industrial action.

Nevertheless, I remain hopeful. A tipping point is coming: my constituents are simply tired of the current government at both a local and national level. The sloganeering that worked in the past isn’t effective anymore. People want substantial leadership which will take measures to improve their lives.

An insubstantial government won’t be missed if it disappears: it may very well collapse into a general election provoked by its internal inertia.

Local elections will provide us with an opportunity to get rid of our similarly ineffective administration.

The Christmas trees are down, the lights are put away for another twelve months. It’s back to reality and back to work. The new year is a chance for a fresh start; we desperately need one. In the coming months, my colleagues and I will work to give this to the people of Peterborough.