I suppose that the headline for me would be that Boris-idiot has already shown signs of weaselling on some of his empty promises, though covering up that with lots of noisy hullabaloo. The part-Jew public entertainer again, this time in his most challenging comedy-drama role, as Prime Minister of the UK. His mistakes as Mayor of London were on a correspondingly smaller scale.
He has to call upon more serious noise to disguise his deficiencies this time, not just a cable-car over the Thames or a garden bridge over the river, promoted by a charming actress who, however, really should steer clear of government policy.
Joanna Lumley’s previous policy disaster was when she “shamed” the then Labour government into allowing not only retired Gurkha soldiers into the UK but their entire extended families. The result? Aldershot is now a Nepalese town (the inhabitants mostly living off State benefits). It is not now an Army town as it once was.
Ironically, the Gurkha retirees (whose pensions were previously upgraded to the British Army norm) would have been far better off living in Nepal, a very poor country where such pension monies go a long way.
Boris-idiot was not responsible for the Gurkha mistake, but he was responsible for the cable-car and the Garden Bridge, which —like “Boris Island” Airport— were not necessary and were unworkable as planned. I have nothing against either cable-cars or garden bridges in principle though. Also, what is the Boris obsession with the Thames?
Boris-idiot, we are told, “does not do detail”. Meaning that his mind is on the lofty outlines of grand strategy. I suppose some poor saps believe that nonsense. The greatest leaders of the 20thC were interested, at least up to a point, in detail. That lack of interest was what sank all three projects noted above.
The cable-car was built partly at public expense but carries only a few regular passengers per day (it was planned for commuter use but in fact is now just a tourist attraction). “There has also been criticism of the project’s £24 million-plus cost to taxpayers, caused by a budget overrun. Boris Johnson, the former Mayor of London, had said the cost of the scheme would not be underwritten by taxpayers.”[Wikipedia]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Air_Line_(cable_car)
As for the Garden Bridge, it was a lovely idea but was poorly-planned (the Boris leitmotiv). Wrong place, arguably, for one thing.
“On 14 August 2017 after months of uncertainty the Garden Bridge Trust entirely abandoned the project. The BBC London transport correspondent Tom Edwards described the situation as a shambles which was “an embarrassing mess for the capital … already descend[ing] into finger pointing and a blame game over who is culpable for wasting £46.4m of public money”.[75] In February 2019 it was revealed that the total public cost had been £43m.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Bridge
Boris Island. Never got far beyond the cartoon brain of Boris-idiot. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35855676
We can add to the above the water-cannon “Boris” ordered after his panicky (lack of) performance during the 2011 black riots in London. Scrapped and sold for peanuts. Another Boris disaster, though on a smaller scale; this time “only” £300,000 was lost. Still, the water-cannon did their job: not dealing with rioters, but getting Boris-idiot publicity as the man who wants to “get things done” (a completely mistaken view, of course).
Then there were the Boris-buses:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Routemaster#Criticism
https://www.cityam.com/a-brief-history-of-boris-and-buses/
You get the picture: Boris cannot plan anything, his ideas are rubbish, just schoolboy nonsense, he has no executive ability to get anything done properly, and he leaves the public with a headache and a bill.
A musical interlude:
and now to the Labour leadership contest
I shall blog separately about this once all the runners and riders have been listed.
In the meantime, a few tweets seen:
https://twitter.com/JackRussellsMom/status/1207880411155750913?s=20
System drone Stephen Kinnock. An atheist. Shooed into a safe Welsh Labour seat, his wife a former Prime Minister of Denmark, he himself given, inter alia, a nice little sinecure at the British Council in St. Petersburg (via his father, ex-Labour leader and EU Commissioner Neil “We’re All Right!” Kinnock). Completely System, completely NWO/ZOG. A nasty little freeloader.
Clive Lewis is standing for the position of Labour leader. I saw this tweet by the Novara Media person Aaron Bastani:
Well, I have just read that piece. I cannot see anything of substance in what Clive Lewis says. Soundbite stuff about “democratizing the party” and about how “climate change” and “technological change” will define the next UK general election.
Underwhelming, like Lewis himself. His record is not inspiring. A “half-caste”, he read Economics at Bradford, but has never worked in that field. He spent time as a security guard before getting work as a local and regional journalist. He also held (2006-2009) commissioned rank in the Territorial Army, presumably as 2nd Lieutenant (unconfirmed; his eventual rank may have been higher). He was in Afghanistan for three months in 2009, but returned to the UK suffering from depression.
Lewis is MP for the relatively safe Labour seat of South Norwich.
There have been accusations of Lewis shouting inappropriate sexual jokes when drunk, and also of him groping at least one woman. He has also made other inappropriate remarks, usually of a sexual nature (e.g. one involving Ed Miliband and a goat).
My provisional view: underwhelming. Clive Lewis is not fully British for a start. Apart from that, his character seems weak to me. A loose cannon, not very trustworthy. On the face of it, could not hack Afghanistan for long and had a kind of breakdown. Whether that means that he could not fulfil a Labour leadership or, potentially, prime ministerial role, I do not know, but I doubt it and think that others might have similar doubts. Ideologically shallow. Unsuitable.
Having said the above, Clive Lewis’s pitch to the Labour rank and file (who will elect the leader in the end) is clever. It offers those rank and file members more —and more direct— power. That might be persuasive. Revolution in the revolution?
Another musical interlude…
Labour again…
I can see why many people are just laughing at the Labour leadership contest, after the recent election fiasco. However, the fact is that more than three-quarters of the 2017 Labour vote stayed with Labour: 32.2% as against 40%. Also, the demographics favour Labour in the medium term. As mentioned in previous blogs, had only under-25s voted, there would not be a single Conservative Party MP now. In fact, had only under-40s voted, most seats would be Labour, and even if only under-60s had voted, there might now be a Labour government.
Whoever wins the Labour leadership contest now may well head a Labour government in 2024, 2023 or even 2022.
Stray thoughts
Driving around the semi-flooded coastal part of Southern England in the dark this evening, it was incredible to experience how bad the roads are. Huge potholes, a feeling of disrepair. My car is fairly large, with large tyres, but these days it becomes necessary to drive something like a Range Rover just to smooth the ride! Thank God that I do not have false teeth!
Now it seems that this miserable new regime will press ahead with the HS2 white elephant, when the North of England needs regional railways and the South needs repair of the roads, which are degenerating into a 17thC condition. An exaggeration, but not a complete one.
The more I think about the state of the UK, the more I think that it will be fortunate to avoid either a repressive dystopia (following on perhaps from a chaotic one) or (and/or) some kind of civil war somewhere down the line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9D1svZ9Y0s
Ian Robert Millard 