13 January 2022
Diary of a Corbynista
Reach for the Sky
by Don Urquhart
It’s not often that a Corbynista has a positive thought but on Christmas morning we watched the launch of the James Webb telescope. NASA has a stream on YouTube.
It was inspiring. What a massive act of faith to send billions of dollars up into space so that mankind can learn more about the beginnings of our universe. And it seemed that there were people involved from round the world all contributing in their different ways.
Like the response of the world’s scientists to the pandemic, James Webb showed the best of humanity.
And we have Boris Johnson.
PartyGate rumbles on. The incorruptible Susan Gray is not rushing out her report and has seen her workload increase as a result of ITV being sent a copy of an email inviting 100 people to a party at 10 Downing Street on 20th May 2020 when the plebs had been instructed to stay home and meet nobody. The most depressing aspect of the recent revelation is that we learn nothing new. That Johnson is a serial liar who considers himself above the law has been common knowledge for some time. The Met is going through the motions of talking about investigating but we will not hold our breath. I wonder how those 800 people feel who received fixed penalty notices for rule transgressions in the week of Johnson’s party.
Will the bovine lobby fodder behind Johnson nudge him into the ditch? It would seem to be about time but in PMQ’s no Tory MPs addressed PartyGate despite them being described as angry and rebellious over the matter.
The media are starting to disown him after manful attempts to divert attention to the travails of a Serbian sportsman trying to get a game of tennis in Australia. This led the BBC News for 3 days, trumping the disintegration of the NHS, the millions going hungry in Afghanistan, the cost of living crisis, Russian aggression as well as PartyGate. The Prime Minister chipped in that he had played Djokovic and found him to be very capable.
For the Corbynista it is galling to see the person who whipped our lad at the Election being revealed Salome-like as at best an unprincipled charlatan.
Corbyn’s manifesto in 2019 was middle of the road for civilised Europe. They have their public services pretty much nationalised, their benefits are much more generous than ours. Life is better for the poor on the Continent. The German comedy ambassador Henning Wehn commented memorably when informed that the Brits came top as charitable givers. “The state pays for these things in Germany.”
That being said I had German friends complaining before Christmas that the Bundespost would not attempt to redeliver a parcel. You had to go miles to a sorting office. My friends let on that they knew it was only Christmas crackers from me and they couldn’t be bothered to take four buses for such limited payback. They tell it like it is these Germans. With typical efficiency the Bundespost returned the crackers and they arrived today. Before PMQ’s I was planning to pull them with the family to celebrate Johnson’s resignation. It wasn’t to be.
Johnson or whoever replaces him will be sure of around 35% of the electorate so will have a good chance at a General Election. I cannot see Starmer’s Labour Party getting close.
So the nub of my problem is still how to stop the Tories with their safe 35%. I am convinced that 65% of voters detest them so victory is assured. Except that it isn’t. The other parties do not get together to coalesce around the best anti-Tories. How do we convince them to do so?
The old school politicos would rather limit you to two choices – one goes into Government, the other is the official opposition – a duopoly. I don’t think that way. I see the political battle as being between the rich establishment and the rest of us. My priority is to wrest power from the plutocrats. Sir Keir Starmer might get a majority but I see him and his shadow cabinet as feeble minions in thrall to the billionaire gutter press.
It’s all a long way from James Webb.
