Tag: Post-Truth
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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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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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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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Bitter Ex
I made a trip to the opticians recently, which considering the now mandatory COVID re-engineering of processes went essentially smoothly. Professional and organised staff, hassle-free, and frames that nestled peacefully on my asymmetric features. To top it off, I saved a hefty chunk on my last similar purchase. A fat, juicy tick in the customer…
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Collars and Cuffs
Tragic news from Croydon where a Police Custody Sergeant has been shot dead in a secure custody suite. Nothing can detract from the awful reality that a man has lost his life. Most telling, though, is the gamut of reactions on social media. Pro-police commentators have trumpeted that the Sergeant was ‘murdered’. Others are beyond…
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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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Top of the Populists
This week’s edition of Top of the Populists comes directly from Downing Street as Boris looks straight into the camera while surreptitiously abusing members of the audience. Blondie and the gang are rapidly closing the gap on Jimmy Savile’s scumometer needle reading, but surely not even Jim could have fixed this clusterfuck. Even keen Brexiters…
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Moonage Daydream
Moonshot testing. What planet (or astronomical body orbiting the Earth) is this schmuck on? Today, I listened to Moonage Daydream, and for the first time ever, it never felt even remotely bonkers. In a few weeks’ time, I Am the Walrus will feel like a contemporary social commentary. Shooting for the moon is somewhat risible…
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Britannia Waives the Rules
The current UK Government, which has been unravelling at an unparalleled rate of knots since Christmas, is about to traverse the fundamental red line of any respected nation state. They have announced that they are pondering a deliberate transgression of international law in relation to the EU Withdrawal Agreement – because it suits them. This…
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Rumpy Pumpy
The US Presidential race is gathering pace on the uphill side of pretty warm, and with that we have started to witness a corresponding stoke-up of rhetoric. But for all the criticism of Mr Trump – all the bonkers, collapsible car/squirty flower clown stuff – he made it to the White House. And that route…
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