For most of my adult life, I was a spectator to politics rather than a participant. I rarely paid attention to what happened in Westminster — the differences between political parties felt marginal, the outcomes largely the same. That all changed in 2023 when I moved back home to London after spending a few years working in Singapore. There, taxes are lower yet everything runs smoothly. Back home in London, I was paying much more tax and getting a lot less. Missed bins. Crumbling roads. Endless strikes. Hardly world-class public services, as my Japanese wife, who I met in Singapore, regularly reminded me.
So when I found out in February last year that my council tax was going up again, I decided to go along to a council meeting for the first time in my life. I went to the budget meeting, expecting a clear explanation for why bills were rising and what residents were getting in return. I didn’t get one.
