Week 2 of non Lockdown
Long nights, bleak grey days. Leaks to media of further weeks of tough restrictions. Rumours of a Christmas release for a five day feast followed by the fast of January and February lockdown are meet with universal despair.
There is little of note beyond I am not yet mad. Unless its 'mad' as in angry, in which case yes, I m mad beyond fury. It is the anger which is keeping me afloat above the mire of depression.
Partner walks with friends are keeping me sane. Everyone is sad but sadness shared lifts the spirits. This week I have walked every day with a different friend, tramping through mud, braving the wind and rain. If nothing else 2020 has shown me the value of true friends as well as my beloved family
This was the week that finally did for Dominic Cummings . The master strategist brought down by the mistress. The heady days of the rose garden press conference . when nothing it seemed could ever part Dominic from Boris, replaced by the winter of his discontent.
Did he go or was he pushed? I doubt we will ever know. What is known is that the cabal of two, he and Lee Cain, i.e. Brexit engineers in chief and most senior Gov advisors, cabal of two, were deemed guilty of plotting against Bojo's fiance, Carrie Symonds, and his new media spokesperson Allegra Stratton
This combined with weeks of negative headlines and Boris finally decided on a much needed fresh team. Hurrah for the women. Never underestimate a strong feminist, Dominic. Good riddance to bad rubbish was the universal response.
However the PMs brave new dawn hardly broke through our collective gloom. Boris was suddenly forced to field his 'reset' from the sidelines due to self isolation after a COVID positive contact. Not exactly an auspicious start.
All rather comical as Sir Kier Starmer found himself arguing with a virtual PM during PMQs. Maybe the PM was grateful not to be sitting opposite the incandescent rage of Sir Kier in full rant, lambasting the disembodied PM for the latest truly disgraceful report revealing just how many billions of taxpayers money was wasted yet again lining the pockets of the rich, famous and friends of the Tory party.
Boris defends the indefensible:
Ministers set up a VIP fast-track channel to buy billions of pounds of PPE from companies who had political contacts with the government and MPs, a damning report reveals today.
The Times did not mince its words.
It says much about the cynicism of the UK public at the end of 2020 that even those politically engaged people like myself barely raised an eyebrow and it didn't come up in my walkie talkie partner walks with likeminded friends. We've come to expect corruption nowadays.
Nor do we really believe anything we are told any more. Vaccines delivered by Xmas from an organisation who could not supply enough flu jabs for the elderly and vulnerable, let alone the over 50s urged to get a free one by a Government campaign early in the year. I don't reckon I ll be seeing one of those anytime soon. If there have been any press conferences this week I have not bothered to tune in.
Steve Bell in The Guardian summing up beautifully.
In America Trump continues to deny defeat to the bemusement of the rest of the world. You could not make it up. Unbelievable. But all too true. He drives round giving the thumbs up to his supporters insisting his victory was stolen by election fraud. He stirs up conspiracy theories. Biden has his hands tied, unable to begin transition policies. The world watches with increasing anxiety at the real possibility of civil war.
As I write Trump piles on legal writ after legal writ. Boris announces policy after policy to distract from his complete incompetence. Today he insists on keeping his Home Secretary Pritti Patel despite a report finding her guilty of bullying. His loyal Brexit, despite a history of bribe taking, bad behaviour and incompetence, stays by his side. Seriously? Hard to judge Trump too harshly.
Stevel Bell yet again.
Yet another professional senior advisor, the author of the aforementioned report, resigns. The nation takes another collective sigh of disbelief and wonders what to have for supper.
No one mentions Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment