You can say a lot about politics, that its corrupted, easy to corrupt, or just outright pointless, but what cannot be ignored is the inherently social nature of it. It is easy to say that politics is power but that power stands on very tenuous social ground where a politician is flavor of the month in one instance, then dickhead of the year the next.
The recent and ongoing phone hacking scandal has provided insight on a number of things but what seems to standout is the proximity between members of the political class and powerful media figures.We all know a politician's job is to make friends and influence people(especially the powerful) and that's involves schmoozing with other public figures but politicians suffer badly when the bottom falls out as there is no bottom in the first place.
Britain has a long held tradition of the satirical mocking of the political class, especially its relationship with the business community and the media as politicians become ironic parodies of the actual contradictions of their job as many a prime minster has found out. The problem in Britain with regards to members of the political class and social intersection with other powerful figures is that the public know that the majority of politicians are no good but don't like their opinion confirmed so graphically.
The solution of proximity between the political class and other figures is not build a firewall between them but involved parties to be more open, as discoveries that major legislation that affected you was discussed over a dinner party in Kettering or a pie and drink at Chequers does grate to say the least.
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