Here in the UK we have been suffering a chaotic conservative government that keeps appointing Cabinet Ministers who espouse deeply extremist views, or whom are simply not intelligent enough to hold a position of power without exposing their ignorance and vices to the general public. Thanks to social media, and the digital highway the general public in this day and age are far less tolerant of stupidity and malfeasance when the perpetrator is having much longer lunch breaks in all expenses paid in-house restaurants, and getting away with 'stuff' that others can't, simply by dint of being an 'MP in Westminster'. Our latest 'sacking' of a cabinet member is our wholly 'unsuited to the job' Suella Braverman (1), who despite being the daughter of refugees had taken on a hard-line stance as UK Home Secretary (2) on 'stopping the boats' (3) (refugees fleeing war, or political, moral or religious persecution and crossing international waters in unsuitable craft, often exploited by criminal gangs, in order to take sanctuary in more tolerant countries). She also made headlines by declaring that people who were homeless had made a 'lifestyle choice' (5). Colleagues and senior party members advised her to not discuss such complex issues and to use wiser language but Suella refused to budge and ultimately this was her downfall. She was sacked on Nov 13th, 2023 in a a Cabinet shuffle, following comments made to the media that stirred up the far right and led to ugly confrontations in London during the Remembrance events at the Cenotaph (4).
The Lifestyle choice comment touched me deeply. I recently chatted to a man who came to fix my heating, who told me that he tried to steer clear of politics and get on with living his life. I replied that I felt, as a woman in a patriarchal society, that I had a duty to get involved with politics, otherwise people would make detrimental decisions on my behalf and I would have no voice in the making of those decisions and subsequently less control over not just my own life but over my own body. We had already discussed how he nearly lost his wife in childbirth and how that had affected him.
I don't suppose anyone other than those with an eye to supreme power and megalomania really want to get involved in politics, its a dirty, egotistical world, however as so many enlightened women of the twentieth century have discovered, it's a vital step in giving a voice to the repressed, supressed and downtrodden. Sadly, that clearly doesn't mean that female politicians aren't subject to the same corrupting influence that power and status exherts. But is homelessness a lifestyle choice? Anymore than poverty is? No, I truly think not. I think that a capitalist driven state means the few exploiting the many, that a majority of people are driven into poverty, homelessness, debt, and vice not through choice but by design. The design being government policy influenced by moneylenders, banks and business who profit and exploit the lack of education, ignorance and naievite of people who are trying to live more simply, or whom are more susceptible to undue influence. "There but by the grace of God, Go I". In 2020 Cambridge University press published :-
Stating, "Many have depicted a steady rise in lifestyle politics. Individuals are increasingly using everyday life choices about consumption, transportation, or modes of living to address political, environmental, or ethical issues. While celebrated by some as an expansion of political participation, others worry this trend may be detrimental for democracy, for instance, by reducing citizens to consumers. Implicit in this common critique is the notion that lifestyle politics will replace, rather than coexist with or lead to, other forms of political participation.
In dealing with lifestyle choice purely from a political perspective the article echoed something deeper in the fabric of society, that politics was in fact, pre-determining 'lifestyle'. I am not sure that 'choice' is anything more than a throw-away add-on giving the phrase more resonance because increasingly, 'choice' has become a luxury not a right. As government policy undermines, throws in to chaos through its refusal to accept legislature and blindsides any 'human rights' that hitherto have given the poor, the disenfranchised and the vulnerable an opportunity to improve their circumstance, protect their dignity and claim their human rights, there has been an erosion of quality of life, of societal expectation and of access to basic human needs - shelter, food, protection.
These are dangerous times, and any government culpable in the destruction of the roots of a compassionate and humane society, should be held to account. The line between criminal negligence and poor governance has long been blurred by this conservative government and the fall-out is yet to come. Lifestyle choice is not, and never should be an appropriate term to use in reference to people who have been dispossessed or disenfranchised.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suella_Braverman Braverman was born in Harrow, Greater London, and raised in Wembley.[2] She is the daughter of Uma (néeMootien-Pillay) and Christie Fernandes,[3] both of Indian origin,[4][5] who immigrated to Britain in the 1960s from Mauritius and Kenya respectively.
2. The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office.[3]The position is a Great Office of State, making the home secretary one of the most senior and influential ministers in the government. The incumbent is a statutory member of the British Cabinet and National Security Council.