Tonight I am feeling as low as I felt that night in 1979 when Thatcher grabbed the keys to 10 Downing Street. This time the British electorate have apparently given their support to Johnson and his baying Tory mob. I am looking at television and the writing is already on the wall. The Conservative Party is about to enjoy a solid majority in The Houses of Parliament. They will be gloating and guffawing as only Tories can gloat and guffaw.
How on earth could British voters have allowed themselves to be fooled like this? I shake my head in despair. Five years of Johnson ahead and no chance whatsoever of returning to the European fold. That ship has already left the wharf.
I spent Thursday working at one of our local polling stations, arriving there at 6.15 in the morning and departing at 10.30pm. I had been hoping that the day would bring a hung parliament with a chance of achieving a second European Union referendum. But that dream is over.
The Tories are in and as I say I feel terribly low tonight. There are food banks in our country. There are rough sleepers on our streets. There is continuing division. The NHS is in crisis. We are breaking away from The European Union. Thousands of children are living in poverty. And yet, and yet...British voters fell for Johnson's lies, false promises and buffoonery.
He kept saying over and over again "Get Brexit Done!" and an army of fools listened. Hope is lost now. We are entering an unhappier world with kindness in retreat. BoJo The Clown is pulling the strings now. Save our Souls.
How much I can relate sitting here in California trying to avoid news as if I were an ostrich at the beach. I am sorry for your despair and hope that sanity comes back to both our countries.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you can travel so far along a road that you just cannot find your way back.
DeleteAh, yes. Welcome to the big world. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteI look around. Is this the big world? I don't like it one little bit.
DeleteIt is a sad time to take an interest in politics or the human condition. I don't understand people at all. I do know that facts don't change people's minds though. Beliefs and facts seem to be polar opposites in fact and I know that I am just as guilty as the next person. We have a belief and then we search for facts to support our beliefs, ignoring all others.
ReplyDeleteI think the world has always been like this though, it's just that it's our time now to live through the shit. I do wonder what life will be like in the future. Humans can be as good as they can be bad. A strange species indeed.
Facts v beliefs. Beliefs v facts. You are right to suggest that truth is often the main victim in this struggle.
DeleteI had hoped fpr a Labor win. However, we will have to live with what you've got.
ReplyDeleteThat is indeed the reality Red.
DeleteI understand your feelings completely. I was there a few years ago and I'm sorry to say things have not gotten any better. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteJohnson is probably Trump's love child.
DeleteIt's a dark day and unfortunately will continue to be so. I genuinely cannot understand the gullibility of the British public.
ReplyDeleteFive years of darkness ahead.
DeleteI think it wasn't so much that people wanted Boris, it was just that they definitely did not want Comrade Corbyn. If you want someone to blame, you should blame him for refusing with dogged determination to step down from Labour leadership. With his lunatic Marxist, anti-semetic views and dithering on Brexit, he was never going to win. With another leader and more central policies, Labour might have stood a chance. It's incredible that even deep-seated mining communities voted against him. My Dad always taught me never to discuss politics and religion, as everyone will have their own view. It's true they are both causes of wars and, in extreme cases, unhappiness. At least we have the freedom to criticise our politicians, so I am at least thankful for that. Some countries don't have that choice.
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly disagree with accusations that Mr Corbyn propagated extreme Marxist views or anti-semitism or that he "dithered" on Brexit. This mud was thrown by right wing newspapers, certain TV stations, Tory social media mischief-makers and those who would oversimplify what leaving the European Union might really mean.
DeleteHowever, just because Mr Corbyn was sullied in those ways - in what was a concerted and vindictive campaign of character assassination - I do believe that he should have stepped down earlier this year - allowing in a different leader who the assassins had not yet fouled - someone like Keir Starmer, Hilary Benn or Yvette Cooper.
My Dad and Mum always taught me that two of the most important subjects to discuss are politics and religion because everyone will have their own views and these subjects matter greatly to human advancement.
I think with Keir Starmer at the helm, Labour would have romped through and we'd be waking up to a different result. He seems a level-headed man and genuinely nice man. I am convinced the anti-semetic issue was not just newspapers - two Jewish Labour MPs resigned because of the prejudice shown against them by the Labour party. There's no smoke without fire.
DeleteIt is very easy to make smoke without fire. All you need is wet leaves. What exactly were the so-called anti-semitic issues? Nobody seems able to clearly cite the nature of the anti-semitism. As I understand it, many Tory sympathisers mischievously used social media to propagate the anti-semitic mythology - disguising themselves as Labour supporters. Also many right wing people with Jewish backgrounds - like the Chief Rabbi - describe any legitimate criticism of the state of Israel as anti-semitic. It is all like the witchhunting in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". It has no real substance.
DeleteI think Addy is right on some counts. Corbyn failed to take a stand on Brexit, and that's when I washed my hands of him. Brexit is going to be a nightmare for working people in this country. He should have said so from the outset. He completely failed to lead.
DeleteHe was a good man, a better man than Johnson but Mr Corbyn was so badly smeared that it was almost inevitable that he would fail.
DeleteI work with a lot of people who are in their late 20's early 30's and they are so against Brexit, that I was convinced that the Lib Dems would get a foot in the door with their no Brexit campaign. So it was a bit of a shock this morning to wake up to the results. We are going back to the Victorian times, where the rich just use up the poor and spit them out when they have got what they wanted from them...
ReplyDeleteI will give this to Johnson, Cummings and the rest of the Conservative campaign team - they disguised their true intentions quite brilliantly. Many politicised young people will now surely turn their backs on the mainstream political scene and look to Extinction Rebellion or other super-parliamentary vehicles for their disenchantment.
DeleteNeil, as I said over on Steve's blog just now, this was terrible news to wake up to. I can't tell you how sorry I am. And as for your feeling of despair, I know that feeling well. It was that way here when Trump won the last election and it's been with me (low level) every single day since. Both our countries are in deep deep trouble. Again, I'm so sorry.
ReplyDeleteI accept your kind condolences Jennifer. Something died last night.
DeleteHumanity seems anti-enlightenment right now.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. Trump, Johnson and Morrison. What a trio
Don't forget Bolsonaro in Brazil or Erdoğan in Turkey! In the same mould as the trio you listed.
DeleteI am sorry for people like you and the Labour Party YP. Their policies were too working class and in Tory eyes these people don't matter.
ReplyDeleteUnder Tories, the central philosophy has always been, "I'm all right Jack - pull up the ladder!" Or as Thatcher beamed, "There's no such thing as society."
DeleteWell life will still go on but unfortunately in the same mode. People in the end vote for themselves, this time round the safety net of capitalism pulls them in, and they rely on charity to solve the 'problem of the poor'. Until we are forced down to rock bottom nothing will change...Still can't believe we would vote a liar in!
ReplyDeleteA liar, a chancer, a charlatan and an empty vessel - that's Johnson.
DeleteI feel the same despair as I did in the 80s, perhaps more so because I am now a parent, and both of my daughters have suffered with their mental health as a direct consequence of the last 9 years of Conservative government.
ReplyDeletePolitics impacts upon people's lives - there's no getting away from that is there Scarlet? I am so sorry to learn that both of your daughters have had struggles with their mental health. This cannot have been easy for you as their mother. Hugs from Yorkshire x.
DeleteI wrote in my post last night that I was feeling neither joy nor despair and then I came here to find that you ARE in despair and when reading the reason why, I felt it too.
ReplyDeleteI seriously do not understand what is going on in this world. But as so many of my fellow countrypeople have said here- we know exactly how you feel. Despair hardly begins to cover it. I am so, so sorry.
What a horrible mess. I feel as if we are all entering the dark ages once again.
I think I need a good long adventure - far from here - where I will not need to see Johnson's piggy face on my television any more. I appreciate your thoughtful support Mary. One of my friends - Bert - who is 83 - said last night that will never live to see another Labour government. Tragic.
DeletePerhaps you need a trip to Mexico. Not necessarily Cozumel although I do highly recommend that. But maybe the Yucatan? Go and visit the ruins. Chichen Itza. Coba. Palenque. Tulum. Let those places remind you that politicians come and they go. And also, the food is amazing.
DeleteRight know I wish I could leave this country and start again somewhere more rational, kind and sensible because it ain't that here! In my 58 years I've never really worried about politics but now I worry about them all the time and today's result makes me truly depressed!
ReplyDeleteJoin the club Mad-About. Join the club.
DeleteHow in the world did this happen? Well, we know how it happened but why might have as many answers as the numbers that voted for him and the conservative party. My beloved son-in-law is just beside himself. Can't believe it! It surly does not bode well for our upcoming elections next year. I have been saying for a couple of years that Donald will win again and then there will be no stopping him completely destroying our Constitution and our Republic. I think your country and my country will, again, be in the same boat!
ReplyDeleteIt is depressing isn't it? I don't know if it is just because I am very tired after working all day at the polling station yesterday but today I felt like slashing my wrists. I may need to get drunk tonight.
DeleteHi yorkie
ReplyDeleteBit off topic but lidl have New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at £4.49 instead of £6.99.
Eh? I thought that Lancashire women only drank milk stout.
DeleteI know Yorkshire men appreciate a bargain. 😉
DeleteThis Lancashire lass only drinks wine and gin.....
Thanks for the tip Christina. Under The Blonde Fuhrer Lidl and Aldi will be crowded out from opening to closing time.
DeleteI'm not at all surprised by the result but very despondent about it. Does our country really deserve this? Well it appears that we do because to many people have made a lazy choice. Why they think that it will all now be sorted beats me. We may not be 'united' or 'great' for much longer!
ReplyDeleteWe will be known as Lesser Britain or The Once United Kingdom under The Blonde Fuhrer. Thanks for calling by SmG and for demonstrating that I am not the only one who is down in the dumps today.
DeleteI'm sad that you dismissed Addy's comment in the way that you did. I agreed with much of what she said. I have never voted Tory and can't imagine that I ever will. However the majority of British people are, I believe and history would tend to show, are centrists and not extremists. The difference between Corbyn and Johnson are that people could see without any dubiety what Corbyn believed (I don't think the anti-semitism issue armed him significantly) whereas no one on the face of this earth has any idea which life Johnson will re-incarnate as next week or month. People understand Corbyn. They know he is far left Momentum. People have been fooled by the Conservative machine into believing that Johnson is a centrist.
ReplyDeleteI certainly did not dismiss ADDY's comment. I replied politely to it with true feeling and honesty. Through blogging I have communicated with ADDY for a pretty long time now and have much respect for her. I am sad that once again you have misinterpreted my words Graham. However, I agree utterly with your last sentence.
DeleteYP, I would never suggest that your feelings were not sincere and honest. No one could ever say that of you with justification and I would defend you on that point even if I disagreed with your views very strongly. However I truly believe having re-read it several times that you did overall dismiss Addy's comment.
DeleteDismiss or utterly disagreed? What is the difference?
DeleteI don't know much about British politics but Boris was re-elected by such a huge amount that to us it seemed that he was the preferred prime-minister by the people.
ReplyDeleteIf only it was as straightforward as that Amy. The story is much more complicated. Johnson is a proven liar with an ego as big as a hot air balloon.
DeleteAs you know, I couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteIf Keir Starmer becomes the leader of The Labour Party I am sure we will see opinion polls swinging back to Labour in a pretty dramatic fashion.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete