Nice medieval reference, Greg! Æthelstan indeed! Of course, he was responsible for a whole bunch of good stuff to happen to early medieval England (laws, absorption of the diverse groups in the North of England commonly called the Danelaw, a cultural efflorescence . . .) that Boris could not produce on a bet. Boris's clownlike demeanor hides a far more vicious and scary personality, one without any ethical or moral center. But Brits of a certain ilk find it easy to overlook his incompetence because he speaks their white supremacist, neo-imperialist language. The true clown is the Victorian-affectation windbag Jacob Rees-Mogg, another scary dude derided as ridiculous by the pundits and comedians but someone who is genuinely determined to return Britain to the "glory days" of the Empire as he imagines it.
Sir Keir Starmer is, alas, leader of the Labourites not because he is particularly competent but because he is not Jeremy Corbyn: he is intellectual where Jeremy was ignorant; legalistic (he is a Sir because of his barrister gig as a QC--they are usually knighted) where Jeremy was inarticulate; serious where Jeremy was risible. I like him well enough: his ethics are in the right place and he gained his parliamentary seat after a distinguished career as a civil rights lawyer. He's just boring as hell. But the Labour Party wants to stay away from people who might remind everyone uncomfortably of Tony Blair, who was both the most effective leader of the party and the architect of its demise.
I fully expect that Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be part of the UK sometime in the next five years, especially as the Republic of Ireland is softening its political opposition to hot-button issues involving Catholic doctrine. They were the first nation to vote in favor of gay marriage and, despite the hand wringing coming from the Vatican, Irish Catholic leaders tend to be far leftier than their autocratic and doctrinaire American counterparts; they are having to deal with the so very public awfulness of their predecessors when it comes to the abuse and enslavement of women (Magdalen Houses) and the sexual predators among the clergy. The ginning up of conflict between Unionists and Republicans by Boris and his ilk is a sign they are really worried. But taking a page from Thatcher's notebook won't help.
I am originally from Memphis, by way of ten years in Boston and five in DC, now in London since 1985. The Boris-Tory "government" in the UK now is the single most openly incompetent and corrupt I have ever seen here. Boris' once-chief (asshole) advisor, Dominic Cummings, is a long-time Russian agent, and yes, Brexit was a plot funded extensively and directly chiefly by Putin and his henchmen. When is the West going to wake up and cut off ALL the Russian oligarchs? (Oh yes, I see, now Putin can destroy all satellites in orbit, so we are just fcked.)
The reference to clowns and to two of them and their destructiveness reminded me of the clown we have in Texas (should I make that plural) who keeps chattering about "seceding" and whose fervent desire is to build a gigantic wall to keep OUR immigrants from coming here to do the work that nobody else wants to do. How is it that we see such pathetic and immoral men rising to power around this world? Have we all lost our collective minds to allow this to happen? We truly do seem to be living in a world where the inmates are running our various asylums, whether it be across the pond or right here at home.
Nice medieval reference, Greg! Æthelstan indeed! Of course, he was responsible for a whole bunch of good stuff to happen to early medieval England (laws, absorption of the diverse groups in the North of England commonly called the Danelaw, a cultural efflorescence . . .) that Boris could not produce on a bet. Boris's clownlike demeanor hides a far more vicious and scary personality, one without any ethical or moral center. But Brits of a certain ilk find it easy to overlook his incompetence because he speaks their white supremacist, neo-imperialist language. The true clown is the Victorian-affectation windbag Jacob Rees-Mogg, another scary dude derided as ridiculous by the pundits and comedians but someone who is genuinely determined to return Britain to the "glory days" of the Empire as he imagines it.
Sir Keir Starmer is, alas, leader of the Labourites not because he is particularly competent but because he is not Jeremy Corbyn: he is intellectual where Jeremy was ignorant; legalistic (he is a Sir because of his barrister gig as a QC--they are usually knighted) where Jeremy was inarticulate; serious where Jeremy was risible. I like him well enough: his ethics are in the right place and he gained his parliamentary seat after a distinguished career as a civil rights lawyer. He's just boring as hell. But the Labour Party wants to stay away from people who might remind everyone uncomfortably of Tony Blair, who was both the most effective leader of the party and the architect of its demise.
I fully expect that Scotland and Northern Ireland will not be part of the UK sometime in the next five years, especially as the Republic of Ireland is softening its political opposition to hot-button issues involving Catholic doctrine. They were the first nation to vote in favor of gay marriage and, despite the hand wringing coming from the Vatican, Irish Catholic leaders tend to be far leftier than their autocratic and doctrinaire American counterparts; they are having to deal with the so very public awfulness of their predecessors when it comes to the abuse and enslavement of women (Magdalen Houses) and the sexual predators among the clergy. The ginning up of conflict between Unionists and Republicans by Boris and his ilk is a sign they are really worried. But taking a page from Thatcher's notebook won't help.
Greg and Arthur, Thank you.
I am originally from Memphis, by way of ten years in Boston and five in DC, now in London since 1985. The Boris-Tory "government" in the UK now is the single most openly incompetent and corrupt I have ever seen here. Boris' once-chief (asshole) advisor, Dominic Cummings, is a long-time Russian agent, and yes, Brexit was a plot funded extensively and directly chiefly by Putin and his henchmen. When is the West going to wake up and cut off ALL the Russian oligarchs? (Oh yes, I see, now Putin can destroy all satellites in orbit, so we are just fcked.)
The reference to clowns and to two of them and their destructiveness reminded me of the clown we have in Texas (should I make that plural) who keeps chattering about "seceding" and whose fervent desire is to build a gigantic wall to keep OUR immigrants from coming here to do the work that nobody else wants to do. How is it that we see such pathetic and immoral men rising to power around this world? Have we all lost our collective minds to allow this to happen? We truly do seem to be living in a world where the inmates are running our various asylums, whether it be across the pond or right here at home.
I now refer to Britain as the Westerly Isles of Muscovy.