Tag: Government
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Poise On
While it made the headlines, we did not witness the expected dogpile onto Dominic Cummings in the wake of his apparently premature evacuation. A few expected barbs from our old centre-left faves who momentarily broke away from their Diwali celebrations, and that was about it. The whole affair is characterised largely by stunned silence: the…
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Steer Calmer
So, the man Diane Abbott had once inadvertently christened ‘Steer Calmer‘ has finally made an impact. Unfortunately, it was not in matters political, and some hapless cyclist was upended at a junction in Kentish Town by Sir Keir’s quintessentially social democratic SUV. Comatose Keir likely indicated left but moved to the right before toddling off…
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Clowning Glory
Looking at the free school meals row, you might feel that this is a classic confrontation between a government and an opposition with diametrically opposed positions on social welfare. It isn’t. It’s actually an artificial squabble for political ground that distracts from a much more damaging affliction: local government incompetence. If local government agencies had…
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Noes Out of Jaunt
The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, has told his opposite number, Michel Barnier, not to bother coming over for the final bout of trade talks unless the EU fundamentally changes its position. In response, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission’s head Beurocrat has noted that her own team will go to London anyway,…
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Tiers for Fears
Who are the most relieved people in the UK right now? No, apart from the Russian currency speculators? Retired epidemiologists. Like many other academics, epidemiologists have merrily nurtured careers and pontificated on their theoretical expertise, their forecasts, and their models, and then it all came crashing down. They became relevant as reality kicked in. Worse…
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Mealy-Mouthed
Congratulations to Marcus Rashford on his MBE for his work to alleviate child hunger in a first world country. In these times, we might very well celebrate altruistic star leverage of personal influence. Most of them are out sharking social media and spouting fatuous twaddle in order to scoop up a sackful of Twitter or…
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Dread Locked
So, batshit albino-bear Johnson gave his conference speech, which was less of a serious manifesto and more that of an acid-dropping ‘Generation Game’ contestant with a limited time to recall as much as possible on the political conveyor belt before the breathing walls closed in around him. And ‘Didn’t he do well?’ Well, no. The…
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Nacho Concern
I had thought that the demise of Debenhams – entirely self-inflicted but precipitated by the COVID catalyst – would rest at the pinnacle of premier-league self-pity. And then I read about Cineworld who are temporarily battening down the hatches, ostensibly owing to further delays to the release of Bond 25, No Time to Die. Now,…
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The Golden Shirk-All
The plot of the second ‘Kingsman‘ movie centres on a psycho drug dealer holed up in the jungle, who infects her product with a deadly virus and blackmails the world for in exchange for the vaccine she’s already developed. Her gang is the self-styled ‘Golden Circle’. All those who believe in conspiracy theories, snag a…
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Any Scheme Will Do
I’ve always been sceptical about COVID mask diktats because adherence to face coverings has inexplicably landed squarely in absolutist territory. Veiled criticism doesn’t feature when it comes to masks (chortle). Donning a vizard of whatever type is good. Not wearing a mask of any type is bad. And that wasn’t the case a few months…
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