over the pond.

When I wrote this post almost a year ago, I had no idea what our dear Conservative government would do with the political mandate bestowed upon them by the election result. I had lived five years under a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, I had lived under David Cameron's leadership before, would he really do any more damage with a full Tory government?

This past year living in the states, I have spent a lot of time educating myself on the American political system, and, as a result, my own country and its failings have been placed temporarily on the back shelf. But what I have heard has left me incredibly angry.

The response to the opposition of junior doctor's to Jeremy Hunt's contract proposal is not just cowardly and stubborn, it is downright dangerous. I could write a post about why I believe the contract itself is wrong, but others have written far better articles and blog posts about it. The reason why I am so angry goes beyond the awful ideas of our health secretary to the fundamentally flawed and ultimately terrifying state of the so-called democratic system.

As the government push through legislation to impose a life-changing and NHS-destroying contract on the junior doctors, they refuse to acknowledge any opinion or idea other than their own. They are deliberately and maliciously ignoring the voices of the people they apparently represent. Not even in the face of a two day strike that could potentially endanger lives. Like children, they put their hands over their ears and pull faces at the young men and women who are fighting for the right to a safe and sustainable NHS. But David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt are not children, and their refusal to acknowledge the needs of their people is not childish, its tyrannical.

In the past year the government has repeatedly ignored the cries and protests of the people it has authority over. And with another four years of almost absolute power due to their majority win, it seems like there is little that the public can do to stop the destruction of our NHS, power hungry military attacks such as the unnecessary missile strikes in the wake of the attacks on Paris, cuts to disability and welfare benefits, or indeed anything our leaders stubbornly set their mind upon.

Their message is loud and clear: you can protest all you want, you can march the streets, you can quit your job, you can write letters and make videos, you can scream in their faces or lie bleeding at their feet, but they will not listen.

And that frustrates and terrifies me. We are at the mercy of indifferent and unfeeling politicians who we voted in. Under the name and authority of "democracy", the Conservatives can do as they please.

I want to believe in the voice of the people, in the role of art, in the force and power of intelligent and motivated activists and groups to influence and bring about justice. But right now I feel suffocated and helpless.

I'm writing this post, angry and upset, with the freedom to say how I feel. But what good does that do when anything other than the opinion of those in leadership is discounted, muted and ignored?

We will continue to protest, we will continue to fight, we will continue to pressure and push the government towards compassion, as I wrote back in May last year. But I no longer shout it or truly believe it will be effective. And, sadly, that is what they want. For those who want to cry out to realise that they will scream until their voices strain and break to no avail and therefore not say anything at all. It will be an exhausting fight, but in the face of such opposition, we cannot stop, we mustn't stop. Or we place the autonomy they so ardently desire in their hands, and I for one cannot live with that responsibility.

A couple of weeks ago I moved to a new country for no reason other than cultural experience. I get no transferable credits from my university course, so my time spent studying is just that, filling my time. I have the privilege to move country, to move continent, legally and without any setbacks, because I was born into a country and family with money. There are millions of people around the world without this luxury, or indeed without this necessity.

I have watched from the states as the refugee situation in Europe gets worse and worse, as images of desperate Syrian families and dying children cover the front pages of British newspapers. And I have seen ignorant comments from privileged politicians and first world citizens alike making excuses as to why we shouldn't let refugees into our country. Our country. What an ignorant, privileged position to be in that we believe that "our" chunk of earth, "our" tiny corner of the planet has been preserved and maintained entirely for the benefit of "British" people. British people are simply individuals who have been lucky enough to have been born into a society with adequate health care, democracy and education. They have no more of a right to this life than anyone else.

The situation in Calais is desperate, the situation in Syria is unimaginable, the situation in Britain is inexcusable. We need to step up as a country to show solidarity with the refugees, we need to see the refugees for what they are; humans just like us.

There are many people in the UK and across Europe who care about this situation and these people, there are many people who are trying their hardest to donate and support the work of charities and individuals in the heart of the crisis. But it is the government who need to step up. It is not enough for individuals to give their time, resources and aid; it is David Cameron and the government whose duty it is to stand up and say that Britain will help. To stand up and say that we can share what we have because we understand that it was not ours in the first place. To stand up and say that after the horrors and trauma that refugees have experienced, the least we can do is to offer hope for the future.

These are not benefit scroungers wishing to leech off the "hard earned money of us poor Britons", these are families and individuals who have been driven to extreme efforts for their survival.

Who do we think we are to say that we deserve safety and security, a roof over our heads and food in our kitchens, jobs to provide for our loved ones and education for our children but they don't? We are ignorant and blind to the lives that these people are running from.

I am aware that this will not be read by David Cameron, that the people who check in on my little blog, my friends and family, are all of the same opinion. But I needed to write this, I needed to share this. I want to be in London for the protest on September 12th, I want to help persuade the government to be compassionate and to offer Britain as a place of refuge, I want to use my little voice to shout about how we all need to get involved, to donate, support and influence. Because these are the people without voices, the nameless, faceless people who are in dire need of help. The photos circulating in the media at the moment are starting to give these people names and faces, to show their humanity, the love they have for the family, the fear they have for what they've left and what they are facing now.

These couple of weeks have been hard for me, starting from scratch, knowing no one, but I know that it is nothing in comparison to the hardship facing the refugees, leaving their lives behind to throw themselves down to the mercy of unknown lands and governments, relying on the generosity of people they have never met and who they must trust with their lives.

I got on a plane to America, my father paid for the ticket. The refugees have not had this luxury, they travel by whatever means they can find, regardless of their own safety, in the hope that they reach somewhere better. And what they reach are inhumane camps run by or ignored by immovable governments and authorities.

I don't doubt the refugees' humanity, I doubt the governments.

Britain is in a position of privilege where we have the ability to make a difference, to save people's lives and secure their future. Instead of burying our head in the sand of our own tiny problems, we must act. The fortune we were accidentally born into is now something that we must deliberately share. And all the fortunate, white, public school educated leaders of our country need to take a long hard look at their selfish, inward declaration that we should not take on "more and more refugees" and try to imagine life outside their entitled bubble. Even the Sun is urging Cameron to take on refugees.

We must act, we must help and we must take responsibility for both our part in the erosion of the societies refugees are escaping and in the rebuilding of their future.

Update: David Cameron has reluctantly agreed to take in some refugees because everyone, even the Sun, even his own back-benchers knew that he was being inhumane and ridiculous. Read the article here.

Ever since the illusion of change and progress was broken with the results of first the exit polls and then the actual results of the general election, social media has exploded. Friends who voted Labour or green have been expressing their disappointment in the results and highlighting problems with the Conservative party's policies. Tory voters on social media, however, have been loftily projecting that "bloody lefties" are sore losers and that they should get over the result and accept the wishes of the "majority". Someone I know even tweeted that left wing voters don't understand that they are a minority and that they should respect the "decisions of their electoral peers". Aside from the Tory majority only being 37%, an elitist attitude that dismisses the views of minorities surely isn't something to be celebrated in this event of democracy.

Yesterday, people took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the new government, as they are allowed to do in a democratic society which prides itself on freedom of speech. Aside from the weak news coverage, BBC only reporting it hours after the event, the focus was primarily on the arrests of 15 protesters and of the desecration of a women's WW2 memorial. The cry of many has been dismissed because of 15 supposedly rowdy people and one absolute idiot who sprayed one line of graffiti.The response from twitter and facebook was unbelievable. The Daily Mail branded it a "hate mob" and as a group of "hard line socialists", and the the top comment on their article read "Anarchists? Looks like a bunch of spoiled hipsters to me".

This attitude is why us "bloody lefties" were so upset by the result from Thursday's election. Because the voice of anyone who does not support the Conservatives is being muted. It's being dismissed as a cry of whiny socialists who don't believe in democracy.

I believe strongly in informed voting. I believe in people voting for the policies and ideas and people who can speak for them in parliament. I would encourage anyone to vote, even if they thought something that I didn't and couldn't ever agree with. If that was truly what they believed. But I find it hard to believe that 22,918 people agreed with the views of Julian Brazier, the Tory MP for our constituency.

He voted very strongly against equal gay rights. He voted very strongly against the fox hunting ban. He voted against laws to promote equality and human rights. He voted strongly for the rise in tuition fees. He voted strongly for the restriction of legal aid. He voted strongly against higher benefits for those unable to work long term due to disability or illness. He voted very strongly against increasing benefits at least in line with prices. He voted strongly against taxing high earners. He voted very strongly against the mansion tax.

Why would anyone vote in someone who is against equality, students, the disabled and the poor and only serves his own interests as a high earner?

If being a "bloody lefty" means that I look beyond myself and my privileged position as a middle class student and care about how the decisions made by the government affect real people, then so be it.

If being a "bloody lefty" means that I value peoples lives over the money that can be squeezed out of them, then fine, throw the insults my way.

If being a "bloody lefty" means that I won't stop "whining" about the policies and decisions that are made over the next five years that affect me and those around me, then be prepared to moan about me being a "bloody lefty" for the next five years. Because we do not have to be silent. We do not have to sit still and be good British citizens and worship our leader. We do not have to roll over.

Being politically engaged isn't a phase. It isn't something to care about for three weeks leading up to the election and then forget about once your "team" wins or loses. Because losing the election doesn't mean you lose your voice, doesn't mean you lose your opinion. It doesn't stop your views from counting. If you voted for reform, push for reform. If you voted for a compassionate government, push the government to compassion.

The government works for the people. And we are all the people. Those who voted left or right. And we all deserve to be heard and spoken for.