“Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”, so the
ancient proverb goes. I’m quietly rejoicing over the great Cyprus bank
bungle, the latest symptom of European insanity and a clear sign that the gods
are on my side! I have my eye also on the craziness of our present
coalition government in England, the craziness in particular of David Cameron
and George Osborne, the Dumb and Dumber of our political life.
I’m in the mood for quotations; I’m in a particular mood for
Disraeli. England does not love coalitions, he rightly said. I
would update this slightly by saying that England hates coalitions;
this Englishwoman certainly does. The grand old Tory also said that a
Conservative government is an organised hypocrisy. My, oh my, I do wonder
what he would have made of our present government and the present leadership of
the Conservative Party – a disorganised idiocy, perhaps?
Lynton Crosby, Cameron’s campaign chief, has a cunning plan for a Tory
victory in the scheduled 2015 general election, or so I read recently in the
Telegraph. In the wake of the drubbing the Party got in the recent
Eastleigh by-election there are to be no more stupid ideas. Really?
Then I take it we can see gay marriage and windmills dropping from the
agenda? I have a plan also for a Tory victory, though it’s not really
that cunning – get rid of Cameron and Osborne.
Take the Prime Minister…please. Mediocre leaders are the rule
rather than the exception in the Tory Party. Margaret Thatcher? No
thanks; let’s have John Major instead. But, my goodness, on the scale of
mediocrity Cameron has no contenders. He even manages to make Stanley
Baldwin look good. When it comes to breath-taking incompetence there are
few better than Call Me Dave. His latest wheeze was the introduction of
minimum alcohol pricing. Eh, excuse me, Prime Minister, does this not
mean that the price of booze will increase when voters have had more than
enough of price increases in general? Oops – goodbye to all that.
Simple truths are simply stated – the Conservative Party led by Cameron
is heading for sure defeat. I was tempted to write that there are lies,
damned lies and David Cameron but, on reflection, I think that’s unfair.
It’s better said that he is a little man lost in his own confusion.
Having no identity of his own he took on that of Tony Blair and the
metro-cosmopolitans. The Tory Party went mad when it elected him leader,
much as Labour did when it elected Michael Foot. The Cameron Manifesto is
another of history’s long suicide notes.
The credibility of all politicians is pretty low these days, particularly those in the Conservative Party. It gives me no pleasure to write
this because I have only ever voted Tory – a long family tradition – and I have
a great many Conservative friends. But the Party has forfeited all
credibility and all trust; people simply do not believe a word it says.
In fact the more Cameron and Osborne say the greater the disbelief. These
men are hopelessly out of touch. The one great platform
the government stood on was reduction of the public debt. What’s
happened? It’s now more bloated than ever. Some of the reductions
we have had are beyond crazy. Favoured socialist causes have been
ring-fenced while defence spending is being slashed. We spend millions on
foreign aid while depriving tank regiments of, er, tanks. This really is
the political theatre of the absurd.
Can things get any worse? Yes, indeed they can.
If people distrust the Conservative Party the Conservative Party
distrusts itself. Call Me Dave’s gay marriage scheme has introduced a
huge fissure into the Party ranks, one I suspect will never be fully
healed. Nobody wanted this; nobody needed this except a loud-mouthed
minority. And when it came to standing up to Europe and the European
Court of Human Rights the Cameron government is nothing but piss and
wind.
Oh, yes, on the subject of wind we have what the Chancellor calls a
‘renewable levy’, a rip-off tax by any other name, one which will penalise
consumers and cripple industry. And for what? Merely to placate
another loud-mouthed minority, the green fanatics who are set on covering this
green and pleasant land with ugly and unpleasant windmills.
I
do not care what Osborne says in today’s budget (I wrote this piece before I
knew the details) because it will make little practical difference. The
game is up. There are simply not enough gay couples, greens and lovers of
foreign aid to secure a future Conservative government. Under Cameron the
Tory Party has become a movement of faddishness and minorities. In future
it is likely to become the biggest minority of all.
Cameron should take a lesson from Silent Cal Coolidge: Keep your mouth shut until you have something to say that must be said.
ReplyDeleteBut Coolidge at least said something now and again. :-)
DeleteBut we must re-elect them Ana. They have promised to renegotiate our position in the EU and then give us a referendum on the outcome. (we'll be allowed bent cucumbers)
ReplyDeleteAnd, if Bonny Scotland decides to stay with that other country that Westminster won't mention. Dave will give them loads more devolution and money.
Nah! sod 'em..................vote UKIP.
Possibly. :-)
DeleteThe left and the other assorted loons have for many decades now been systematically destroying the UK economy and it's society. When in government they do it with great zeal and thoroughness when not insidiously. Conservative governments then have the task of repairing the damage which time and opportunity never allows them to do so adequately. Margaret Thatcher had she not been stabbed in the back may well have been more successful in repairing and reversing the lunatics damage. Labour 1997 to 2010 was a period of left dominance too far coupled with accumulated previous damages done by them has caused so much havoc that repairing it needed a long term strong right wing leader and government and even then it would be an Herculean task. In the event the UK got none of it. Instead a weak and divided government and leaders that will be ousted at the next election having achieved nothing and will be replaced by the nation's wreckers yet again. We know what that portends and it is not a land of prosperity or liberty, there is little left of that already another dose of the left and there will be none.
ReplyDeleteEd Miliband as a future prime minister, the horror! the horror! This is the way my country ends, this is the way my country ends, not with a bang but a whimper.
DeleteI'll take it you will be voting UKIP next time round?
ReplyDeleteAh, Damo, by the next time I may already have jumped ship. :-)
DeleteBut if the Scots decide to go it alone then labour will be 41 down.
ReplyDeleteThen it will depend upon UKIP and LD...since many LD supporters, the ones that changed TO the LD's at the last election, look like departing to UKIP it seems that it may be a tie as to the amount of UKIP and LD seats (maybe, I remain unconvinced that even an Englishman can be stupid enough to believe Nigel).
That given it may well be an almost complete tie between L and C.
Fun times ahead !
As to the budget..sneaking in unannounced is the 100K maximum discount under right-to-buy for London properties and the increase in discount elsewhere to a maximum of 75K.
Not to mention that the much announced mortgage assistance seems likely to apply even to second houses (so I mentioned it)
The rise in tax threshold to 10K means a lot of people will be outed from working tax credit (I'm sure it isn't an accident)
He didn't need to increase the fuel tax, the rises in prices recently would mean another increase would have seen sales drop....
All in all, from my viewpoint, a quite sneaky budget.
John, compared with last year almost anything was bound to look like a work of genius. Yes, there are funny times ahead. :-)
DeleteGood luck with all of this.
ReplyDeleteWe certainly need it.
DeleteIf you're jumping ship, where are you going ?
ReplyDeleteyou are so sickeningly gorgeous and brainy , where is suitable ?
Another ship! Thank you, Eamon. :-)
DeleteExpertly put.
ReplyDeleteBetter for a people to die with their boots on, Ana.
Vote UKIP.
Didn't they do well, Nobby. :-)
Delete