The major western democracies are moving towards corporatism. Democracy has become a business plan, with a bottom line for every human activity, every dream, every decency, every hope. The main parliamentary parties are now devoted to the same economic policies – socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor – and the same foreign policy of servility to endless war. This is not democracy. It is to politics what McDonald’s is to food. John Pilger
I’m often amused when I hear politicians described as centrist. There is no such thing as centrist. Who says, and what do they mean centrist? Centrist usually means I suppose someone who is over to the right wing. I don’t think there is such a thing as centrist in politics. You either believe some things or you don’t. Or you believe both. John Pilger, In Conversation
Somehow politicians have become convinced that negative campaigning pays off in elections. George McGovern
The ‘democracy gap’ in our politics and elections spells a deep sense of powerlessness by people who drop out, do not vote, or listlessly vote for the ‘least worst’ every four years and then wonder why after every cycle the ‘least worst’ gets worse. Ralph Nader
Political discussion in the United States is usually restricted to the moderate to conservative range that precludes discussion of class conflict. If ‘class warfare’ is mentioned, it is because a conservative wants to suggest that certain matters should be kept off-limits in American political discussion. Steve Brouwer
Politics in a sense has always been a con game. Joe McGinniss
The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. Theodore Roosevelt
6Now they’ve taken over our government, but with Republicans and Democrats there’s no difference any more between the two parties. They [the Federal Reserve and New World Order] control both parties. It doesn’t matter to them which one wins. Because whoever’s running for President will be someone they anoint ... They make sure who gets the money. Aaron Russo, interview with Alex Jones
Prime Minister Michael Callow, my life, my life depends on you. Black Mirror 1/3: The National Anthem, kidnapped princess Susannah, Channel 4 2011
Prime Minister Michael Callow must appear on live television ... and have full unsimulated sexual intercourse with a pig. ibid.
Some more breaking news now – and a severed finger thought to belong to Princess Susannah has been delivered to UKN. ibid. news
Online polls suggest that 86% of voters now believe the demand should be met. ibid. news
The public, the Palace and the Party insist on compliance. ibid. female adviser to prime minister
This is an official announcement. In a few minutes the prime minister will perform an indecent act on your screens. ibid.
Brian: Are you the Judean People’s Front?
Reg: Fuck off! Judean People’s Front! We’re the People’s Front of Judea. Judean People’s Front cor!
Other bloke: Wankers.
Brian: I hate the Romans as much as anybody. Brian
Reg: The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People’s Front. Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 ***** starring Graham Chapman & John Cleese & Terry Gilliam & Eric Idle & Terry Jones & Michael Palin & Kenneth Colley & Neil Innes & Gwen Taylor & Terence barler & Carol Cleveland & Spike Milligan et al, director Terry Jones
Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we’re tired of hearing promises that we know they’ll never keep. Ray Davies
No-one voted for the coalition. Rory Bremner’s Coalition Report, BBC 2015
Have you been involved in a coalition that wasn’t your fault? ibid.
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues arising from this government, you may be entitled to compensation. ibid.
Ukip want to take us back to 1065. ibid.
‘You need Manifesto Plus.’ ibid. advert washing powder
‘I could be in a completely different world – Birmingham.’ ibid. John Bird
You’d catch something – Ed-bola. ibid. Bremner
‘I’m just pleased to be on the employment ladder, even if it didn’t have any rungs.’ ibid. woman in café
I have been in the witness protection program for the last three weeks. I campaigned for Ralph Nader. I’m now living as a woman in Mississippi. Phil Donahue
Paul has joined the three largest donors ... He will be our undercover donor ... Around £50,000 to each party. Dispatches: How to Buy a Meeting With a Minister, Channel 4 2015
Is there still a gap between the conduct of some politicians and how the public expects them to behave? Dispatches: Politicians For Hire, Channel 4 2015
I am self-employed so no-one pays me a salary. ibid. Rifkind
Normally, if I’m doing a speech or something it's £5,000 a day – that’s what I charge. ibid. Straw
Britain is in the midst of a monumental extended political crisis. And now the starting gun has been fired on what could be the most bitter and toxic general election in living memory. But this election isn’t just a battle between the two main leaders: both have at their shoulders powerful advisers who sit outside the traditional mainstream of the parties. Meet Dominic Cummings: Boris Johnson’s chief strategist. Even some allies said he was unfit to work in Number 10. And meet Seumas Milne, the most influential figure in Jeremy Corbin’s leadership team. Tonight, are these unelected aides pulling the strings at the top of the Labour and Conservative parties? And if these are the people shaping our politics as we go into this election, where do they want to take us? Dispatches: Puppet Masters: The Men Who Really Run Britain, Channel 4 2019
After a man has far more money than he can possibly spend for pleasures what is left to excite him? For those with a ruling-class mentality the answer is power. Raw power over other human beings. Money can buy such power only to a point. Beyond that politics is the sport. World politics is the ultimate game. G Edward Griffin, The Capitalist Conspiracy
Under every stone lurks a politician. Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae
With a lawyer for a husband, and a politician for a lover, Caroline knew full well that legal rights had to be secured by act of parliament. Amanda Vickery, Suffragettes: Forever! The Story of Women and Power II, BBC 2018
It wasn’t just women who were politically disadvantaged in nineteenth century Britain ... Only one in five men could vote. ibid.
I’m interested in politics. That’s all. Long Walk to Finchley BBC 2008 starring Andrea Riseborough & Samuel West & Rory Kinnear & Philip Jackson & Julia Joyce & Michael Selwood & Geoffrey Palmer et al, Margaret gets research chemist job
Politics is about people. ibid.
A politician is the devil’s quilted anvil,
He fashions all sins on him, and the blows
Are never heard. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
When a group of cabinet ministers begins to meet separately and to discuss independent action, the death-tick is audible in the rafters. Lord Curzon, November 1922 shortly before fall of Lloyd George
Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world’s ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all. John W Gardner
The entire edifice of game theory rests on two theorems: Von Neumann’s min-max theorem of 1928 and Nash’s equilibrium theorem of 1950 ... Nash introduced the distinction between cooperative and noncooperative games ... By broadening the concept to include games that involved a mix of cooperation and competition, Nash succeeded in opening the door in applications of game theory to economics, political science, sociology, and, ultimately, evolutionary biology. Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind
After the Scott Report you just think, What does it take for these people to resign? Mark Thomas Comedy Product s1e1, Channel 4 1996
Everyone in this room knows that politicians are bent. ibid.
The politics of the left and centre of this country are frozen in an out-of-date mould which is bad for the political and economic health of Britain and increasingly inhibiting for those who live within the mould. Can it be broken? Roy Jenkins