July 4th, 2021.
62-metre riverside path.
In Taunton, Somerset, in a spirit of inclusivity and in acknowledgement of LGBT etc, the local council laid a multi-coloured 62-metre riverside path.
A local arts movement said that “The rainbow footpath will signal to both visitors and the community that Taunton is making considerable steps towards embracing equality, diversity and inclusion and visibly trying to overcome any inequalities”.
Unfortunately, this spirit of inclusion doesn’t extend to the colour violet which has been excluded from the path. The irony of the situation escapes them.
I expect that there will soon be a twitter movement to state that all colours matter – especially violet.
The spirit of inclusion also didn’t extend to Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health as he was excluded from the cabinet. Boris Johnson claimed the credit for sacking him, but it appears that Hancock actually resigned, and the timeline seems to show that Johnson was mistaken in his thoughts that he had sacked Hancock.
This farce was followed by the Batley by-election which the Conservatives were expected to win thus increasing their number of previously safe Labour seats captured in the North. Unfortunately, the voters were upset by the whole Hancock affair and the hypocrisy on show and Labour scraped back in by just over 300 votes. This appears to have temporarily saved the job of Keir Starmer the Labour leader and we can expect more internal conflict as Labour continues to rip itself apart.
There is an increasing disconnect between Johnson and his wife and Conservative MPs who are beginning to show signs of revolt. Many do not like the greening of the party and the neglect of traditional values. There is disquiet over the proposed reform of planning laws, relaxing regulations and allowing more building in the green belt. This is having a huge impact on its support in the leafy conservative seats in the Home Counties. Just as they are winning in the North, they are throwing away support in the South by ignoring their traditional vote.
This a mirror image of what is happening in the Labour party here in New Zealand. They have ignored and taken for granted their traditional working-class vote and moved to become a left-wing metropolitan elite party, full of theorists and people who have never had a “proper” job. Many of their MPs were advisors, party hacks etc who have come into support roles in the party straight from PPE at university. Many think that the last proper Labour ministers and shadow ministers were Alan Johnson and John Prescott from the North.
Many regarded John Prescott, an ex-steward on ships, as a buffoon. The people in the North agreed, however they said, “of course he’s a buffoon, but he’s OUR buffoon”.
This sums up the dilemma for both parties. They are losing their traditional support but haven’t yet decided where to position themselves.
As far as Johnson goes, the electorate is beginning to look on him as a liar and waffler who never knows where he stands on issues. They are falling out of love with his fun-loving persona and are realising that it is a façade, and he can’t get a grip on serious issues. This is a shame because he is an intelligent man but one who has a short attention span and is reportedly lazy. Whatever the truth, he is becoming a figure of ridicule instead of a figure with whom we could laugh.
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