Boris the Kipper Waver

Well, now we have all seen Boris waving a kipper and blaming the EU in a let's face it, speech to woo the hearts of all those who haven't a brain in their heads. "Hold on" you might say, "didn't the media almost universally report this with the corrective that what he said was mistaken, therefore, false!" "Yes" I reply, "they surely and most gratifyingly did." But you know what? That will not change the reality one little bit. Boris will gain, not lose out of that little scenario. This is the place we live in folks. The shouters and the blamers and easy solution peddlars are winning the popular vote.

But the real kicker in that little mistake, (which again won't matter a jot to the voters), was that it was Britain that had made the rule that Boris was railing against. And the thing that those who whinge on about us having lost our sovereignty to the EU don't get, is that most of those rules and regulations were made in order to bless, to protect, to enhance communities and individuals. I think that's what governments try to do as well, except that they have voters to please in a way that the EU does not, at least not in the same kind of way. This means that they can be more objective in setting down laws for the benefit of the majority whereas the national politicians have to have one eye on the vote at the next election. Unfortunately, what is most popular is not always what will actually benefit the majority, strangely enough.

The other little quirk with rule making is this: whilst many rules and laws are made with the hope of addressing and sorting something that has surfaced as being wrong either through omission or mistake or inability to keep pace with changing social circumstances, there will always be those innocents whom the rule affects adversely through some combination of factors unseen and unimagined by the rule makers. When their predicament comes to light, this brings about in us all a sense of indignation at the general stupidity and thoughtlessness of the legislators. I think of these situations much like the eddies created by a strong current flowing. The main stream is in the right direction but there will be bits that don't quite tick the box. This and the more general and mistaken rant about giving us back our sovereignty has set opinion against the EU in those places where the population count is highest and the feelings of resentment are most easily exploited.

Still, I do have hope that in Parliament, there are enough sensible people to steer us to a least damaging of outcomes. That I think is the best we can hope for. As Barnier said, "Brexit is not a game where there is a win win option. It is a lose lose game."

Dazed? me too, and angry.

The latest round of events involving our Ambassador to the USA, Sir Kim Darroch, has stunned me. Not the disclosure of what he said in his confidential reports, for that is the professional duty of our diplomats. Honest assessments are needed, confidential but honest to be sure. No, what is beyond stunning is the peeved, childish, petulant absurdity of the tweets issued by that man who instead of being the respected leader of the largest country in the "free" world, is looking like he wants to be despotic ruler of all. His beyond acceptable level of primary school rhetoric is embarrassing to serious politicians all over the globe, and encouraging to thin skinned dictators fearful of any kind of criticism. "He's like me" they're thinking. Frankly he is an embarrassment to the USA way beyond the 50's and 60's stereotypes of the ignorant bragging tourist from over the pond. And not only is he mouthing off insults about this diplomat whose opinions he should have in true statesmanship either ignored or simply said something flat and neutral, but he is insulting our Prime Minister. Whether or not you are a fan of our PM, whether or not you think she has done a good job, is entirely beside the point. What is to the point is that there should be universal outrage that that man has had the temerity to insult her in public using the only forum that suits him: limited vocabulary and length, Give him more and he simply repeats himself anyway. 

As if this were not enough, we have Boris Johnson refusing to endorse, support, stand alongside Sir Kim when the opportunity to robustly do so was given him on an open plate in the TV debate on Tuesday. Instead he mouths off about what he would do when PM, and to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, this was a grovelling wink and nod to America's White House. And make no mistake about it, this complete mess of a candidate for the PM's job is going to get it. The handful of people (relatively speaking) who make up the Tory party membership have a starry eyed majority within their ranks who think that Johnson is the big strong lad who tells it like it is. In the event we may find that just over 60,000 people have presented us with our new leader. I hope with all my heart that I will be proved wrong, but I fear I may be right. Not that I prefer his rival much more, but it's a case of anything, anyone but Johnson.

But these people who will vote for Johnson simply represent the average voter who gave us this s.....storm we call Brexit in the first place, and who skilled manipulators of public opinion can easily influence, are what we have, both here and their equivalents who gave us the USA President too.  Democracy needs a reset. I do not know what the answer is, but please let there be one, for at the moment it seems to be the day of the big mouthed blamers and easy solution makers as far as democracy is concerned. I do believe that more of us need to start speaking out and calling out the idiocy we see in some of the politics and politicians of our day, like the Biblical prophets of old. At the moment, we have a few brave newspapers and that is about it. Our television journalists are embarrassingly neutral, and the church is ridiculously silent. Let's start to do a bit more, eh?