Independents Day?

On Friday evening I had a new and potentially terrifying experience: I found myself agreeing with Danny Finkelstein, former speechwriter for John Major and chief blogger for The Times. The conversation, on Newsnight, was about what is currently being called The New Politics (where everybody jumps on the political/constitutional reform bandwagon in the wake of expensegate).

The above-mentioned Tory made the point that political parties in their current closed, secretive and cabbalistic form would not survive the internet age, with its emphasis on openness and instant information. My slide to the right continued with David Cameron's pieces on the same topic in the Guardian over the last few days, which containted the following statement:

"In media, shopping, travel, entertainment and music, we have huge choice and control provided by many organisations that offer us incredible service and value. But when it comes to the things we ask for from politics, government and the state, there's a sense of power and control draining away; having to take what we're given, with someone else pulling the strings."

This is, it seems to me, an excellent point. Our political parties are hugely outdated. All the evidence suggests that, contrary to their media portrayal as feckless hooligans, many young people (who don't vote in droves) are genuinely interested in politics, but are put off by our heavily party-oriented political system. In pretty much every other area of life, such as those outlined above by DC, people have a real say on the things that affect their lives. If you don't like a particular newspaper, you can just read another one. There are an almost infinite number of opinions to read, bands to listen to, or TV shows to watch. In comparison, there are pretty much only two political parties that have any chance of forming a government and our influence on them is, at the very least, questionable.