One of the criticisms that could reasonably be levelled at me in this blog is that I trivialise important issues for cheap jibes. I regret for instance calling Kemi Badenoch a buffoon. She isn't a buffoon. I think she's a thoughtful person who is perhaps more philosophical and less overtly political than her party (which elected her) wants its leader to be. And perhaps they will swallow her up as they have so many others recently. I grouped her with Robert Jenrick, who I genuinely think is a buffoon, and that was unworthy.
It's the same with the small boats issue. I have for a few years - since the matter came to the fore after Brexit - thought that treating the poor souls in the dinghies crossing the Channel, at great risk, as numbers, rather than human beings, is inhuman. Obviously some of these people are likely to be just playing the system with no genuine asylum claims but others will be people in danger, truly scared and at the ends of their tethers.
Yesterday I was guilty of trivialising their plight by talking about politicians lying and not being willing to face up to the truth and say "we can't stop these boats".
But today there is an answer. We are going to war! Not today, because we don't actually have enough bullets, but maybe in 10 years' time when we'll have bought or manufactured....some more nuclear weapons!
If you were one of those poor people deciding where to travel to in order to enjoy a new, civilised life, would you go to a country that is ready to launch nuclear war? You'd probably go to Rwanda, or Fiji, or Australia, where you'd be safe.
Problem solved. No more boats.
There I go again, trivialising. But here's my defence. I have spent my life vowing that I could never support a Prime Minister who is prepared to press the button and eliminate millions of people with a nuclear strike. Even in the face of a nuclear attack on us, I would argue that it would be grossly immoral. Unfortunately I then went against this moral stance by refusing to support the one leading politician that I could be reasonably certain wouldn't take that action: Jeremy Corbyn.
Politics is hard.
And on that we agree. I marched with CND way back when I was 17 and camped out at Greenham in later years. But Jeremy Corbyn who had lots of good policies was an appallingly bad leader. It is very hard.
ReplyDeleteAs for Jenrick he’s a nasty piece of work. Kemi is a typical Nigerian and doesn’t get British politics despite being quite a clever lass.
I’ll send you a piece about a boat person in a minute. By email.
I don’t think Badenoch is a buffoon, nor Jenrick actually. Only Boris meets that bar.
ReplyDeleteMy problem with most politicians - and it’s naturally worse with people who want to become party leader - is naked ambition and self interest. It makes it very hard to square that with any ‘national interest’ they might believe in, though I assume most probable did get into politics for that reason.
My other problem with Badenoch and Jenrick (and Farage, and sadly the current Labour leadership) is that they are only interested in making Britain better for certain groups.
So intelligence and thoughtfulness are useful qualities, but wasted if you are only interested in thinking about yourself. Badenoch’s downfall will be her failure to accept that the Tories can only win from the centre. She must know that from history, and therefore if she is not a centre right politician, she should not have run. These people always think they know better than everyone else, and very rarely do.