UNEASY TIMES
Somehow, I had optimistically hoped for a
gentler transition from the post-Brexit and the post-Covid era to a new season
of goodwill amongst all men. The last weeks have been sadly disillusioning –
snappy internal conflicts and an atmosphere of enmity towards Britain from the
usual suspects but also from once-cherished friends. While we are beset by
external problems, I have to admit that the Tory government I support has not
performed with the competence I would expect, adding to my own feelings of
unease and disappointment.
So, what has gone wrong with Boris? Boris has
been a vote-winner extraordinaire, the darling not only of the
comfortable parlours of the true-blue Home Counties but the hero also in the
gritty hearts of aspirational Midlanders and striving Northerners. Yorkshiremen
have unbent, Geordies have cheered and Lancashire has embraced the WI,
jam-making and Jerusalem. These great achievements are in some danger of
melting away in the current malaise.
Boris in a vacant pose
Boris is often his own worst enemy. That
spluttering caricature of a heedless Old Etonian which normally so enchants the
voters, hides an acute political brain who understands the EU and the world in
general. He is less sure-footed in Westminster, whose procedures bore him or in
Scotland where he does not play well with chip-on-the-shoulder Nationalists
(viz. Anglophobes), who there abound. Boris is a get-up-and-go character who
does not take kindly to stubborn opposition and can be ruthless. But he has a
tin ear to the cautious feelings of many Brits – caution about relations with
the EU, caution about the fight against Covid, caution about upsetting the
conventions of Parliament.
Consequently, fishing disputes with the EU,
torrid arguments about the Northern Ireland Protocol, scandals about defending
Owen Paterson, acrimony over the role of MPs, turn off an electorate who just
want these matters to be settled quietly and diplomatically in the
time-honoured British way. We do not want too much drama from our politicians –
we already have actors and players enough.
Boris has been shooting from the hip and that
is fine when it comes to defying tin-pot Napoleon Macron, determined to
“punish” us for Brexit, sinister Putin and fanatical Sturgeon. He may even have
to nudge old Joe Biden from his slumbers and put his hat straight about the
follies of impossible (and economically disastrous) carbon zero targets.
Of course, the COP26 jamboree in Glasgow has
given a platform to every oddball and crackpot in the universe and, as expected,
the guff emanating from this dire UN event has bemused and depressed most
observers. We have had to endure St Barack Obama virtue-signalling ponderously,
Sir David Attenborough wringing his wokeish hands and pronouncing eloquently
and idolised Greta Thunberg regaling the Glasgow mob with “You can shove
your climate crisis up your arse” to the classic Scots tune of “Ye canna
push your Granny off a bus”- surely a low-point in the proceedings!
Greta
in full voice
COP26 is well-meaning and the
effort to lower emissions is laudable but with China, Russia and Brazil
disengaged, any worthwhile global agreement is far away.
Shaking off Covid remains a
challenge. Dismaying numbers refuse to be jabbed and restrictions may easily be
tightened. The non-vaxxers rights (to spread the pandemic) will surely be
curbed, to noisy, and possibly violent, protest.
Boris’ government has the
talent to perform better and needs to get a grip on these thorny problems. It
should turn its combative instincts towards deserving targets and run a clean
ship. It must avoid charges of “Tory Sleaze” and its sources of financial
support need to be properly vetted. Millionaires inhabiting tax havens are
suspected of many sins and should be supped with using a very long spoon!
SMD
10.11.21
Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2021
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