Conservative Leadership Election

I am not a Conservative. I'm glad Boris has gone. I would relegate most of the cabinet to the backbenches for neither controlling his behaviour or speaking out against it. To my mind Sunak resigned to further his own ambitions. If it was really a matter of integrity & conscience it should have happened long ago. Truss still supports a man with no integrity or moral compass.

I realise I'm not unbiased.

But this election just shows how far away from democracy the UK has travelled. 23 different people have become Prime Minister since 1900. Of these17 changeovers happened outside of elections, but 3 were followed by an election called within 50 days of the new Prime Minister taking office. Recent examples are Gordon Brown, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. The Conservatives seem to have made a habit of doing this.

https://fullfact.org/news/unelected-prime-ministers-common-or-not/

Why wouldn't they - it means they hold onto power without any mandate from the people?

Our system of government is rooted in the past. It goes back to "rotten boroughs", Peterloo, male only franchise & womens suffrage. Change has been resisted by the rich & powerful throughout British history.

Wales & Scotland have at least got modern parliament buildings with no adversarial opposing benches like the houses of parliament. It sets the tone for heckling, braying, mocking & the pathetic boys behaviour we see every day in England.

 

I'm heartily sick of it all. 

If the UK wants to call itself democratic then it needs to move into the 21st century. 

• The voting system should represent votes cast, not artificial boundaries set to maximise conservative votes. 
• Hustings should only be about policy, not slagging off the opposition. 
• The amount of money spent on elections should be centrally funded so that each party has an equal chance & wealthy people & organisations can't sway the outcome.
• If a prime minister goes & the party elects a new leader that leader needs to call an election immediately to see if they party still has a mandate from the people.
• The houses of parliament should be sold & parliament should move to the middle of the UK into a new, purpose built, building. 
• Politicians need to make long term, well considered, policy in the interest of the country & the wider world. Not decisions based on being re-elected & retaining power as is the case currently. There is nothing wrong with a Coalition if it means that decision making is non party political but is a well thought out consensus.
  

It isn't rocket science. There are traditions that we can & should hold into. But this is too important not to change. People feel alienated from politicians & politics. It really isn't surprising considering the way things are at the moment.  

 

 

Extreme Heat 2

Hottest temperature 40.3 degrees yesterday. Over 34 places surpassed the previous record of 38.7C.

 

More than 400 London firefighters fighting at least nine blazes. 40 homes destroyed in East London. Harvesting machinery sparked crop fires.

 

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/20/wennington-fire-pictures-london-wildfires-heatwave-record-temperature/

999 overwhelmed.

 

NHS coping with huge surge of Covid plus ambulance call outs for heat related illness. Ambulances on highest alert level, patients waiting for hours for an ambulance.

 

Trains cancelled because rails expanding in the heat & electric cables damaged. 3 London stations closed today.

 

Gritting lorries out because tarmac melting.

Unbelievable! If this doesn't "spark", (sorry), real action for climate change nothing will. We aren't set up for this, but we have known it was coming for a long time. We also know it will get worse.

Meanwhile the Conservative leader election looks as if it will go to the party membership between Sunak & Truss. Truss generally votes against measures to prevent climate change. Sunak hasn't hindered climate action, but he hasn't been a champion. At Cop 26 he wanted to fire up 6 North sea oil & gas fields. He has a picture of Nigel Lawson, a huge climate change skeptic, on his office wall.

I despair! What will our world be like for my grandsons?

At the moment the temperature is reasonable in my North facing study. The night time temperatures aren't condusive to a good nights sleep. Any activity is completely exhausting in the day time. 

Just chatted to my postie. They were sent home at 11.30 yesterday but now have 3 days post to catch up with & have to walk bigger routes whatever the weather does. She has water, but can't drink too much because there are no toilets!

We need to wake up & smell the fires burning!

Red Extreme Heat Warning

This is a first. It is a National Emergency. Temperatures of 40 degrees plus.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/heat-health/?tab=heatHealth&season=normal 

Hopefully it will serve as a warning to all the Climate Emergency deniers. 

Many people will feel very unwell. People will die. In 2020 across the 3 heatwave episodes, the total cumulative all-cause excess mortality was estimated to be 2,556. This is likely to be higher. 

I have a front North / rear South facing house. I can't bear to be at the back from early morning onwards. The rear extension has big windows & bifold doors which don't, as yet have any blinds. Renovation isn't finished. Fortunately I had shutters fitted in the front study just before this event, so I can retreat. I close the windows at the back & lower the blind in my bedroom, which is at the back. I open windows on the shady side if the air is cooler.

I know enough about protecting myself to feel reasonably safe, despite being elderly with a pacemaker & pre-existing conditions which make me vulnerable. But I'm not able to do anything much during the day apart from read & doze. Such a waste of time! I'm normally very busy. Any exertion makes me breathless & sweat profusely. My legs feel like lead weights are attached.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I cannot imagine going to work in this heat. I cannot imagine living in a bedsit or flat with little ventilation. My car has air con, public transport must be dreadful. Most of our building aren't adequately built for extremes of weather. 

We haven't prepared. Much of the responsibility for preparing lies with the government who are way behind the curve. But we, individually, have a responsibility too. We either accept the fact that we should make our own homes climate change ready, or we suffer in both summer & winter. Unless we are prepared to effectively lobby government to make the changes & pay more in taxes for those changes, we will continue to suffer episodes like this.

We are at a critical turning point. The current government is in a state of flux. The new leader needs to take action. There may be an election before the end of this parliament. The next government needs to have this as the highest priority.

It's no good being stoic & passive & resisting change. This is here now. We need serious actions.

Good & Evil - Black & White

Oddly, for someone who isn't religious & doesn't believe in a god, I do believe in good & evil. To quote Isaac Newton "For every action there is an equal & opposite reaction".

So there needs to be at least a balance between good & evil. Preferably there needs to be more good than evil, or Armageddon, the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgement, will result as set out in the new testament. 

How do we decide where the balance is today? Modern communications mean that we know immediately about wars, pestilence, the climate emergency, famine, poverty, injustice, corruption.....The world seems to be a place that has entered the "dark side". All of the negatives grab headlines. It is easy to give up & despair, believing that alone we can do nothing.

I have to believe that is wrong. I have to believe that the balance will eventually tip towards good - fairness, equal opportunity & justice. I believe in Karma. I believe that in some way at some time the people who live on the "dark side" will get their just deserts. 

What we need is all the ordinary people who are good at heart to stand up & confront the "dark side". Not just apathetically say "its' not my fight" or "I can't achieve anything". If the majority stay silent the baddies win. It's that simple. Or the "dark side" will win & then where will we all be? We will be where we ourselves chose.

You have to be counted. There is always a choice.

Government Failure - Icarus, Hamlet or the Emperors New Clothes?

"Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."

"The group of people that constitutes the governing authority of a country".

Today the current government of the UK failed abysmally & very publicly. The Prime minister and most of his ministers resigned. We do not have an effective government at all. I would argue that we have not had an effective, democratic, government for a long time.

I have to admit bias. I have never thought Boris Johnson was fit to be Prime Minister of the UK. I have always thought his sole purpose was his own aggrandisment & power. I have never believed what he says & I actually don't think he is particularly clever. He is an empty vessel, a buffoon, a caricature. He doesn't even have common sense. He is a product of our social media, PR, sound bite age.

The damage he has caused to the reputation of the UK, our political class, our international standing, the important systems we all depend on & our fiscal policy is difficult to overstate. Boris is a wrecking ball, who like Trump cares not a jot for this country & us. Like Trump he clung to power because at heart he has no moral compass or honour.

Like Icarus Boris believed that he could fly close to the sun. Today his wings have melted & he has fallen into the sea. Like Icarus Boris didn't understand that life is a gift and maintaining a balance with everything in moderation will ensure a long one. Boris believes in Boris & nothing else. His hubris was always going to be his downfall.

The real question is why didn't the Conservative party see that? Why did they keep him flying despite the  lies, obfustications, breaking of rules, lack of real policy, disinterest in detail....? Why have so many yes men & women defended the indefensible for so long?

To misquote Hamlet - "There is something rotten in the state of Britain" Political corruption is a major theme in the play. It reveals itself in the actions of the characters. Images of corruption- decay, rotting, disease – proliferate throughout the text. The rottenness in the state of Denmark is reflected everywhere in images of ill health. with weeds overwhelming healthy plants, everything decaying and rotting, and with poison killing wholesome things.  

Does that remind you of anything?