Parish-pump

parish pump politics    parish-pump squabbles

Never avoid bars or smoke-rooms, because in the former case you miss the chance of marrying a flirt, and in the latter of having your mind improved by local parish-pump politics, and your head broken by a fool in his cups.

I now turn to the question of political progress. Ten days or so ago I was criticized in a newspaper for saying that I would confine political progress to the parish-pump level. […] I believe it right to ensure that truly responsible local government at the rural community and Municipal Council levels is firmly established and as quickly as possible.

I don't think I've voted once since the war. The issues nowadays so often seem—well, a bit parish pump.

This study […] pays serious attention to so called parish-pump conflicts in the belief that they performed a fundamental role in shaping opinion in the countryside. The vitality of parish pump alignments had a temporal dimension, too, for it seems that the querulousness of the rural community expressed a developing perception of equilibrium and well-being.

The idea of "parish-pump politics" is well known. Instead of engaging in problem solving at the community level, local politicians often think only of their own, local community, even if it is much more reasonable to cooperate with neighbouring communities and to pursue common regional interests.