LionRed
The author is based in the UK at the moment (ex-pat Kiwi) and travels the world as a consultant in developing countries working on business development. As a result, he is totally cynical about NGOs, the UN and WHO etc. He is regularly exposed to contact with governments and diplomatic agencies. He has regularly commuted to Myanmar and South East Asia over the past three years so is able to understand what China is up to in the world.
April the 9th, and the last thing we needed was a dose of sunshine. As they keep saying here, “It can’t get worse”; well it just has. It is 23c today with the sun blazing down, and that is not what the country needs coming into a long weekend. The idiots are already out in force, with the police chasing 30 people caught playing cricket. In Cornwall, surfers were out in numbers defying all the guidelines and the law. Don’t they realise that wet suits don’t give protection against the coronavirus? The usual suspects were out and about, cycling in groups, running in close proximity to each other, sunbathing and so on.
Manchester police closed down 494 house parties and 166 street gatherings. Police are turning back mobile homeowners and second homeowners as they attempt to reach holiday spots for the weekend. My local police are mounting roadblocks at night to catch these people trying to sneak in under cover of darkness. I am staggered at the stupidity of some people or is it just the sense of entitlement and the feeling that rules don’t apply to them? The police have now started complaining that they haven’t got strong enough powers and want new legislation to limit exercise to one, one-hour session a day. They are publishing online forms for people to dob in perceived transgressors.
This drive for more powers is undermined somewhat by their current actions. It is reported that in Edinburgh a woman was issued with a fine for having crisps, wine and snacks in her possession after leaving the shop. The current legislation just states that shopping for food (any food) is a permitted activity. Then one chief constable announced that the Lake District is closed. Further senior police have threatened to search shopping trolleys as they leave supermarkets. In my last letter, I half-heartedly raised the prospect of rationing, and now that appears to be a possibility, with the police deciding who can buy what. I am generally a staunch supporter of the police, and the rank and file have a difficult job in the current situation, but they are being badly let down by their leadership.
A collective stupidity appears to be infesting the nation. My reports from the north of England give a sense of community antagonism deepening towards the police and ethnic minority groups. The feeling, whether justified or not, is that members of these groups are deliberately flouting the law and being treated more leniently than others. This is storing up trouble for the future, especially if the lockdown continues. This is evident in South Yorkshire which is part of the UK that still treats the police with a degree of suspicion after they were politicised during the miners’ strike of the mid-80s. People have long memories, and the goodwill that has been gradually clawed back over the years is in danger of dissipating in just a few weeks of poor leadership by the police.
This poor leadership is also to be seen in the political class who seem to be losing their grip and are losing a sense of strategic direction. In Scotland, the chief medical officer was observed after she had driven 44 miles from Edinburgh to her holiday home on the Fife coast. It then transpired that she had done the same thing the previous weekend. Just to compound it all, this was after she had appeared on television urging her countryfolk to rigidly adhere to the regulations as this was essential to save lives. In fairness, she did offer her resignation, but this was refused by the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon! The medical officer persisted and eventually did complete her resignation.
It really is like living in a story by Lewis Carroll. All that is missing is someone defying the regulations and being caught playing croquet with flamingos.
On top of all this came the news that after a couple of meeting and greeting key leaders, shaking hands as he went, Boris Johnson had contracted COVID-19. This was followed by the news that he was admitted to hospital and taken into intensive care. Thankfully he has stabilised and is sitting up now, but that has just left a vacuum of leadership. There appears to be a growing conflict between the government experts and advisors and other scientists in the research community. Strongly opposed as I am to physical violence, I can, unfortunately, see only one course of action – and that is to bang some heads together.
When the news emerged about Boris Johnson, the Labour mayor of Heanor was commenting on the NHS and when hearing of his hospitalisation said: “Sorry, he completely deserves this, and he is one of the worst PMs we’ve ever had.” A prime example of the kinder, gentler politics that we have come to expect from the left. As a result, even the Labour party couldn’t keep her in her post, and she was removed from the party whip and resigned. She was employed as a paralegal with a firm of lawyers and the next day they terminated her employment.
All this seemed to overwhelm the news that the Labour party has a new leader, wealthy socialist Sir Keir Starmer. He is carrying on the tradition of the labour leadership being far removed from its traditional working-class membership, especially in the north, and instead comprising the north London cartel. Their brand of socialism involves driving to Harrods in a Prius and not getting one’s hands dirty as a hewer of coal, forger of steel or ship builder. This explains the loss of the north to the Conservative party.
Anyway, he appears to have made a decent start and has got rid of the main Corbyn supporters in the parliamentary party and has made inroads into the special advisors. He has made a solid attempt at building bridges with the Jewish community and has got an initial reserved blessing from the Jewish Council. I wish him luck in his drive to expunge this cancer of anti-Semitism from the Labour Party; he will need it. He has also made a good political move of offering cross-party support in the battle to beat COVID-19.
BREAKING NEWS
Priti Patel, the home secretary, who has not been heard of since March 23rd, surfaced today and put the boot into the police. Priti Patel, who has a bit of a reputation as a bruiser and street fighter got stuck into the attitude of some of the police leaders.
She emphasised that the police must not act in a heavy-handed manner and stressed that she certainly would not be giving the police further powers to deal with the current crisis. When asked about the prospect of the police examining shopping trolleys she said ‘That is not appropriate, let me be clear on that… that is not the guidance.’ Let alone the law!
Then the ex-justice secretary from the Theresa May government joined the fray. David Gauke commented that they were ‘wholly inappropriate’ and reveal ‘worrying and unacceptable authoritarian instincts.’
All this has the makings of a first-rate power struggle in the Home Office and the police were making a grab for more power under the cloak of implementing the new regulations. The Home Office has a reputation for being poorly run (unfit for purpose springs to mind) and has been a difficult portfolio due to the intransigence and incompetence of the civil servants involved. I can recommend watching this space as it could get very interesting.
And the sun is still shining away. However, despite that it’s going to be a miserable weekend best watched from afar.
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