Banana Time in British Politics

Abstract

One way of manipulating the demands of citizens is by shaping their perceptions of what is possible. An important technique for creating the illusion of impossibility is the familiar political claim that ‘the time is not right’ for a particular reform. The argument purports to point to objective, immutable constraints. More often, reference is merely to the artificial bargaining routines of politics. Groups are co-opted into issue-specific subgovernments, not out of necessity but for sheer administrative convenience. Political time moves quickly or slowly in that sector depending on the number, character and obstinacy of those co-opted groups.