Schools are back, and so am I. I don't suppose you missed me but...
Today I want to talk about one or two people who have caught my eye.
First up is Mrs May, who returned form the Matterhorn full of vim and vigour but obviously with no clear idea of what then hell she is going to do about Europe. Repeating 'Brexit means brexit' sounds too much like the warbling of a desperate woman who has thought of a clever phrase and thinks that all she has to do is repeat it like a mantra to achieve Nirvana. I'm not sure Kurt Cobain would agree with her but let's ignore that side alley for a while and concentrate on the matter in hand. She appointed the unholy trinity of Johnson, Davies and Fox to grease our exit and already they are squabbling. I like to think of them as Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber, in fact there could be a 'hilarious and wacky' comedy film in there somewhere.
She is clearly faced with a dilemma. She has been handed the poisoned chalice by David (see you later) Cameron and doesn't fancy drinking from it. You have to sympathise. As an ambitious politician she has finally reached the pinnacle of her chosen profession. In politics you can't get higher than PM. But oh how she must wish that it had happened in slightly different circumstances. Depending on what ultimately happens she will either go down in history as the Prime Minister who triggered Article 50 and led the country out of the EU, or she will be remembered as the Prime Minister who fudged the matter and ultimately ignored the wishes of a majority of those who voted, the leavers.
From what she has been saying she finds the first option the slightly less toxic one and seem to be heading imperceptibly in that direction. No hurry lads, let's take our time and see how things pan out. Equally she does not seem keen on calling an early election, something she probably could engineer despite the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, and there are several possible reasons why. If she goes to the country now she will have to do so using the current constituencies. The Labour Party is in disarray internally but who knows what might happen if they were faced with a snap election. While they are fighting amongst themselves the Government thinks it has a free rein to carry on as normal. It is in her interest, given the size of her majority, to have an opposition in disarray. So if she waits until 2020 and has the election then, after the Boundary Commission's changes have been imposed she has a chance of being returned with a much larger majority. While this will be a disaster for the country because by then most of it will be being run either by Virgin or G4S, it will fit in well with the Tories plans.
The second person I want to talk about is Jeremy Hunt (say it carefully Mr Naughtie). Once again his grinning face is filling our front pages and our flat screens. If the new contract is imposed on the Junior Doctors as he has indicated it will be, then we can expect more of them to leave the NHS and move abroad. This will further weaken our already stressed health service and lead to more out-sourcing. I don't know about you but I rather like the idea that when I need it, medical or surgical assistance is available without anyone askingme for my credit card first.
It wasn't so very long ago that everybody thought that it was a good idea to out-source customer help lines to India because it saved money. That went well didn't it? And so it will be with the NHS. It might work well to begin with, but that won't last. Private companies want to make money, they are not concerned with how they do it. I don't want my medical services provided by anybody whose main motive is cash rather than my well-being. Look at what has happened to social care. The carers are still the same hard working, low-paid people they were before, but their bosses won't let them do a proper job now because it costs too much. One day I might need a carer. I want one who can look after me, not one who has to make a choice between giving me a bath or giving me breakfast when I need both.
The third person I want to talk about is Ruth Smeeth. She is the Labour MP who accused a Labour activist of being anti-semitic. I have just watched the clip again. Nowhere did he even mention her religion, although he did accuse her of colluding with the Daily Telegraph. She chose to take this as an anti-semitic attack and left the meeting in high dudgeon.
I should at this point make it absolutely clear that I find any sort of racist or phobic attack deeply repugnant but I also resent the idea that anti-semitism has increased since Jeremy Corbyn became party leader. If it does exist within the Labour Party, and I doubt this very much, then it cannot be a new problem and really should have been dealt with long ago.
What has changed is social media, where anybody and everybody can have their three-ha'pence worth, often anonymously. The internet had led to the evolution of the internet troll, who takes delight in winding up those foolish enough to rise to the bait. To claim that these troglodytes are in some way Corbyn supporters is at the very least disingenuous.
Anyway, she, Ms Smeeth, has been attacked again and this time there is no doubt about the nature of the attack which was posted on Facebook. I read a transcript of the post in The Sun online (other rightwing tabloids are available) and I agree that it is indeed a vile piece which while not directed solely at her seems to suggest that she is a CIA spy. That it does so in unbelievably inflammatory language only adds to the insult. Her response to this beggars belief, if the Sun is to be believed (and that of course is a big if).
According to the article she is directly quoted as saying "I very much hold Jeremy personally responsible." Now I think it is safe to assume that she is not actually claiming that Jeremy Corbyn wrote the piece himself. This morning on the radio I heard her say that Jeremy Corbyn should name and shame the perpetrator. As I understand it the Police are directly involved in this so perhaps now is not the time to be doing that. I don't suppose the writer posted under his real name anyhow, and so even if he wanted to how could Mr Corbyn name him, thereby shaming him? I also doubt very much that the writer is a real Corbyn supporter at all. At various points in his tirade he attacks both the Jewish people and the LBGT community and also at one point condemns the execution of William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw Haw. His main point seems to be about the US spying on the UK.
In effect this attack seems to be the work of a super-conspiracy theorist, possibly ultra right wing, with a penchant for abuse. So, Ms Smeeth while I deplore the fact that you have to put up with this kind of abuse I do note that the piece was posted on 13 July and yet only yesterday did it appear in the rightwing press, coupled with a veiled attack on Jeremy Corbyn, who in no way can be held responsible for it. Why the delay? If the Police have not made any significant progress in discovering who posted the attack, what is it about Mr Corbyn that you think will make him any more successful? Is he a part-time hacker? Is that what he does down at his allotment, locked in his shed with his laptop, hacking into the Kremlin? This attack, vile though it is, has nothing to do with Jeremy Corbyn and nothing to do with the Labour Party. Why is it that you feel the need to attack your democratically elected leader whenever you get the chance? What exactly do you expect him to do?
For those who feel the need to read the Ruth Smeeth attack for themselves the link is here https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1712291/counter-terror-cops-hunt-foul-mouthed-jeremy-corbyn-supporter-who-launched-a-vile-tirade-threatening-to-hang-moderate-labour-mp-ruth-smeeth/ It is also curious that the images posted by the Sun have misspellings and unknown words underlined in red which only happens on drafts before they are posted and do not appear when the text is actually posted to Facebook. I wonder why?
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