Well off they all go, clutching bucket and spades, on their summer hols. The Gove to Ayia Nappa with Sarah and the kids; Boris Alexander on a volunteering holiday in France building and repairing bridges with no doubt a bit of French 'slap and tickle' on the side; Osborne to Jaywick Sands to enjoy a bit more austerity, because nothing says austerity quite like Jaywick; Farage to Florida to Disney World to help Trump become a real Mickey Mouse President; Mrs May to Bournmouth for two weeks in a boarding house because that's what she's always done... the list goes on. I wonder if the Blairs are still regulars at Cliff Richard's villa in Barbados, or will it be a Russian criminal who has the honour of entertaining them this summer?
And what do they leave behind?
Well firstly they leave Jeremy and Owen, still fighting over who should be Team Captain for next season. Those two won't be having a prolonged summer break, although I imagine Owen will find time to get back to his roots to recharge his batteries. I understand Barry can be very nice in August, if you're lucky and it doesn't rain although it probably will. As for Jeremy, well he often waits for things to hot up before he takes a break so I imagine he will wait until the schools go back and prices come down before nipping off somewhere quiet, just as the leadership election is reaching a peak. After all the ballot doesn't close until 21st September.
As usual this government also leaves behind a rather nasty smell. As they left they quietly scrapped the pledge not to keep the children of illegal immigrants awaiting deportation in prison-like conditions. At present they are housed in The Cedars, a purpose built facility but funding has been withdrawn and now they will housed in Tinsley Park Immigrant Removal Centre which is run by G4S. They also confirmed the plan to scrap student nurses' bursaries, and the closure of the Office for Civil Society. This latter was a throwback to The Big Society (remember that?) and proof that that is now dead in the water.
How will the world look when they all return in the autumn? Well it is entirely possible that there will be major conflict somewhere in the Middle East. Following the attacks last night in Munich I am beginning to wonder if there might be something to astrology as my neighbour told me his astrologer had predicted an escalation in attacks right though to the middle of August. I think I shall remain entirely sceptical about astrology but the astrologer in question seems to have got it right so far. Let's hope they don't continue to be right.
On BBC's This Week last night I caught the unedifying sight of Liz Kendall explaining how so many people had bust a gut trying to work with Jeremy Corbyn but he was just hopeless. This I assume is the same Liz Kendall who refused to work with him from the day he was elected leader. Please tell me I'm wrong.
It took an SNP MP, John Nicolson, to point out how badly many on the Labour right had treated him right from the start. Ms Kendall remained unrepentant as she sat alongside Michael Portillo, the well know left winger, who more or less supported her case.
On a stranger note I wonder how many heard the story about the Allens, Matt and Adele, an 'alternative' couple and their two children, Ulysses and Ostara who want to go and live in Costa Rica. They totally reject just about all the norms of society and while I would question a fair few, I do believe that vaccination and conventional medicine have a part to play and that boundaries need to be set for children. Anyway who am I to judge and if they want to go and die in a field somewhere in Central America I am not about to stop them. The twist to this tale is that they are trying to crowdfund their enterprise. Not only that, they want to raise £100,000 so that they can be, and I quote: 'self sufficient'. So far they have raised £145 despite appearing on This Morning and a TV appearance usually drums up quite a bit of trade. Quite why they think that anybody would want to give them money so that they can bugger off to Latin America and be self-sufficient I cannot imagine, but some people are obviously willing to make a small contribution to their cause. Oh I almost forgot to mention that contributors will receive a free copy of Adele's as yet unwritten book The Unconventional Parent in electronic form once it is finished and published. I hope she has time to write it, what with all the self sufficiency and stuff. And what will she use to write it on? Living off-grid doesn't seem to include living off-line. Don't computers require electricity to function properly or is it just mine? It might be worth bunging them a quid or two just for a copy of the book.
Maybe we could run the entire welfare state by this method, and the health service. Abolish taxes and make everybody raise their own cash to visit the doctor or pay their JSA. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in a think-tank somewhere hasn't already given the idea some thought. After all it would mean very small government and would be the ultimate market economy.
On the other hand we could use this method find out how popular Trident actually is by crowd funding it and seeing how much is raised.
Take care
Love Tim xx
No comments:
Post a Comment