There is no doubt that what we saw on Thursday was a political tsunami. To see a huge Tory majority swept away in 13 hours and replaced with a massive Labour majority was incredible but in no way was it a surprise.
So what has gone so wrong with the Conservatives? In two words, it is Tory arrogance. For so long they have watched as the poor got poorer and the rich richer. Arrogance to think that people would accept austerity year after year, with less and less money going in grants to local councils so that essential services were cut back or axed altogether.
Arrogance to watch as the NHS failed more and more people while the rich could jump the queue and go private. Arrogance to think it acceptable that people had to wait hours for an emergency ambulance.
Arrogance to watch as people were unable to access the care they needed – unless they were rich, of course.
Arrogance to see state schools suffer through lack of finance while the rich were able to ensure their children were properly privately educated.
Arrogance (and stupidity) to think it acceptable to cut police numbers and halt prison building and watch crime levels soar and have to release prisoners early.
Arrogance to think it acceptable to watch the result of Brexit and see the British economy falter by 5% and not talk constructively with Europe to redress the problem.
Add to this Boris’ arrogance in thinking there was one rule for him and his cronies and another for us. The list of Tory arrogance which has resulted in Britain becoming a world-wide laughing stock seems endless.
I hope that people keep in their minds the epitome of Tory arrogance and remember seeing on our TV screens Eton-educated Rees-Mogg slouched over two seats in Parliament. I’m delighted he lost his seat.
I can recall hearing, as a child, people say Tories are born to rule”. I didn’t know what it meant then. Sadly I have seen what it has meant with far too many years of Tories being in charge.
There is no doubt that the Labour landslide and Tory massacre would not have happened so dramatically had it not been for the intervention of Reform and Nigel Farage. I believe many voters who voted Reform actually did not know what they were voting for. If they thought Truss and her crazy economics was bad, Reform is even more right wing than her. I rest my case.
Anyway, I wish Sir Keir and Labour the very best. They have a gargantuan task in front of them to get Britain back on its feet again. We need massive investment and with a huge majority they should be able to get the money the country needs from those with the broadest shoulders and who have been feather bedded for far too long by the Tories.
You will see I have referred to our great country just as Britain. The Tories changed the country’s name after Brexit to United Kingdom – even though we are far from united. I hope that soon we Brits can, one again, say that we come from GREAT Britain – and change our car number plates to proudly display GB.
MORAL MISSION
What a sorry state the lack of morality has come to in Britain. We now hear that bottles of olive oil are having to be security tagged to stop shoplifting in at least one supermarket chain.
It seems that the “liquid gold” has become so expensive it is increasingly targeted by thieves.
The drought in Spain and diseases in plants is said to be the cause of a 110% spike in price of olive oil in the past year.
And with UK police not bothering to turn out to investigate shoplifting unless the haul is more than 250 pounds, the country has become a shoplifters’ paradise. Added to that prisons are so full that some criminals are being released increasingly early to make room for new “arrivals”.
It gives the green light to criminals who know that they hold ever more of the aces. But then it’s becoming increasingly difficult to identify the criminal from the police, what with dreadful allegations against some Met officers, Met officers on the PM’s security team rushing to put bets on the date of the election when they hear private conversations and a chief constable getting the sack for lying about his military career to gain promotion.
And this is on the Tory watch – a party which used to pride itself as being the law and order party. It’s a joke now.
It’s going to take the wisdom of Solomon to sort this mess out.
SLAPPING ON CHARGES
It’s common knowledge that Britain has a reputation for clobbering the motorist, whether it is fining them for straying into a bus lane or stopping at a box junction, daring to drive to an airport to drop off passengers and are faced with at least a 6 pound charge, or paying through the nose at hospitals.
And one of the worst places are private car parks, where if a motorist exceeds the time limit by just a minute a bumper fine is on its way.
So I am pleased to hear that at last these private car parks will soon offer motorists a 10 minute grace period before slapping on a fine.
I must applaud the Spanish for their culture of acting against the creeping scourge of slapping on charges for everything. Pity Brits have allowed it to happen.
SEALING UP THE LOOPHOLES
Yet more attacks by XL bully dogs have been reported. The worst was in Ireland where a woman was attacked and killed by one.
Last week a woman was injured by one which attacked the public and was “dangerously out of control.” Police had to shoot it.
Why can’t for once a government make a law which is total and absolute. If XL bullies are dangerous, as clearly they are and cannot be trusted, then the obvious is to order their total destruction, with no ifs, buts. How can creating exceptions and loopholes, allowing some dogs to slip through possibly be defended when the public remain at risk?
It is high time that these loopholes in every walk of life are plugged. And one classic example is the multitude of loopholes in tax which allow the super rich to avoid paying their dues.
They employ a vast army of overpaid accountants to find and exploit every possible loophole and the result is that millions, if not billions of pounds remain in the hands of the super rich instead of in the Treasury or in town halls, available to put right the multitude of problems we now have in the UK.
One of the biggest loopholes is the ridiculous council tax system in which someone in a mansion is allowed to pay the same tax as someone in a house valued at 320,000 pounds. How can this possibly be defended?
KNOW WHAT YOU’RE VOTING FOR
Far Left or far Right political parties have always attracted some obnoxious people, and what has happened to the Reform party in the UK is a prime example.
People who rushed to join the new party and offer to sit as candidates in the election have very quickly shown their true colours, embarrassing leader Nigel Farage in the process.
Perhaps the worst example was one would-be candidate suggesting that Army recruits should be deployed on beaches in Dover to take target practice on newly-arrived illegal immigrants as they quit their boats.
Another used derogatory racist terms to describe Sunak and it all resulted in Farage having to disown what was a growing number of loudmouths.
Whenever something goes seriously wrong in a country, up pops an extremist party with a popularist leader and then extremists are drawn to that party. The prime example of this was in Germany in the 1930s and we all know where that led.
There is a thin dividing line between someone offering legitimate protest and someone inciting violence – and it usually is the minority group which is singled out as the victim.
What has always surprised and saddened me is the result of vox-pops conducted by TV interviewers. We have seen several of these with reporters asking shoppers in high streets around the country what they think about election issues.
So often we hear from someone who says they are “still undecided” as to how they will vote. How can anyone with half a brain not know whether they would vote for a party which supports business and the better off, or one which was formed to support the working class? Policies of the Tories and Labour are poles apart and swinging voter nonsense is really irritating.
People should understand they are not voting for an individual but a party and its policies. Perhaps we should stop putting an individual on a pedestal – whether it be Sunak, Starmer, Davey or Farage – and instead put election promises on a voting paper, and then hold the parties to it.
THE PPPP ‘P’ POLICE
Now I want you to be totally honest. Hands up all of you who have ever had a pee in the sea?
Well, if it’s a habit, beware. More Spanish councils are going to fine you a maximum of 750 euros if you are caught.
The big question is how on earth is anyone going to know? In swimming pools there may be something in the water to highlight urine flowing from someone. But not in the sea.
So, is this another bit of environmental nonsense? And what about all the fish which are not only peeing in the water but pooing to? They must be stopped and fined at all costs!
