Officially I am on holiday this week. I don't rate my chances of getting much time off. There is too much I want to do. Life is returning to ‘normal times' after a long hot summer.
Except it is not, of course. If it was returning to normal, from the perspective from which I view it, then the policy agenda would be riding high as the party conference season looms. Climate, the economy, education, health, social care, housing, the failing benefits system, the lack of an industrial policy, a tax system that is not progressive, and the failures of the accountancy profession, would all be issues demanding space on agendas.
And we just have Brexit.
It's not just the folly of Brexit in itself that annoys me - and it does that, by the bucket load. It's the opportunity cost of it that deeply irritates as well.
Whilst May fiddles and the UK burns there are manifold issues that need to be addressed that are being ignored, by parliament, by the civil service and by society at large. We'll also pay a price for that.
This year we're not going back to normal times. We are going back to something very far from them. And that's something we cannot afford.
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Is she fiddling or is she playing a blinder? If you consider that the thing the financial establishments around the world most fear is a Corbyn led government then her brinkmanship could lead to the EU eventually caving in and giving her what she wants. Since the most direct route to a Corbyn government is a hard Brexit followed by economic turmoil the EU elite will finally seek a deal to avoid it. She could return as the conquering hero, defeat her mad Brexiters, get half the Labour Party behind her and win a parliamentary vote. Guaranteed 10 more years of Tory rule, austerity will be cranked up and the country will become a land fit for bankers to live in. Mrs May is married to a zillionaire hedge fund manager. The things that concern you and me are not even on her radar. Just saying.
I don’t dismiss what you’re saying…
If she turned even remotely one nation Tory she’d have the country begging for more of her
That’s deeply worrying
“If she turned even remotely one nation Tory she’d have the country begging for more of her”
That one nation would be England. The notion of one nation Toryism is probably the best recruiting sergeant for Scottish Independence, not that I’m complaining. It won’t go down too well with half of N Ireland either and that’s the half that is gradually increasing its support. I don’t know where Wales stands on one nation Toryism, but if the Westminster Gov’t ramps it up, it’s likely to accelerate the end of UK/GB.
Agreed
Hear, hear.
I’ve always thought TM to be a very canny politician. She understands her own party and has a personality type that resonates with many voters – quietly authoritarian while ‘appearing’ to be relatively modest. Of course her record suggests otherwise. She’s ruthlessly ambitious, amoral, egotistic (even narcissistic) with sociopathic, reptilian tendencies. For her the Tory Party takes precedence over all else; she will manoeuvre and manipulate in any way to maintain its primacy. Caveat suffragator!
Having got that off my chest, I’ll say what I originally intended: “take a well-earned short break Richard”. It’ll be the same chaotic mess in a week’s time and you’ll be feeling even more energised to deal with it. But you don’t need me to tell you that.
I am out walking the woods this afternoon….I promise
I’ll have a pair of binoculars with me
And I won’t be looking for a teddy bear’s picnic
https://twitter.com/ministerofmemes/status/1034354349680541696
playing a blinder? look at the state of her,this one is worse than the curtsy one to prince andrew?
We must stop blindly trusting the age old status quo and seek a new paradigm. One that has the raising of the poorest until there is no basic need left unmet as the prime aim.
That requires deciding to be a dissenter to the great and powerful who think exactly the opposite.
Recharge your batteries Mr Murphy, you are one of the changers that are instrumental in opening our eyes. Thank you.
“I don’t rate my chances of getting much time off. There is too much I want to do.”
Isn’t that the idea of a holiday….creative leisure.?
And when you walk in the woods DON’T take binoclaurs (sic) with you…you’ll only use them to look back and check your inbox 🙂