Land of Hope & Glory? - UK Politics and other stuff

With the prospects for a relaunch looking reasonably good, Mr Johnson delivered two “keynote” announcements. One was devoted to defence and the other was about addressing the climate crisis. The timing of these initiatives was much more informative than the content. They were designed to demonstrate, not least to his own party, that the Tory leader can do more than preside over a series of debacles.

The idea was to show that he has a sense of direction and is in possession of an upbeat agenda for life beyond Covid. Those Tories who share his fiancee’s liking for eco-Conservatism got a bit of greenery. Those Tories who prefer macho-Conservatism were promised more moolah for the military. The green-coloured statement projected homes powered by hydrogen and streets buzzing with electric cars. The red, white and blue speech conjured up visions of British warships exterminating the enemy with “directed energy weapons”, which will destroy targets with “inexhaustible lasers”.

Presumably these will be powered from renewable sources.

If these many wonders ever materialise, it will not be for some years to come. That doesn’t bother Mr Johnson. He prefers to live in the future, that land of dreams where your failure to deliver on your promises has yet to catch up with you. The future is a much happier territory for him than the now. The now is a land where he defends the indefensible when his home secretary is found in breach of the ministerial code. The now is a land of self-inflicted embarrassment when some idiot in the cabinet delights the Scottish Nationalists by describing devolution as “a disaster”. The now is a land of scandalous shockers such as the National Audit Office investigation, which has revealed that safeguards to ensure the proper use of public money were tossed aside when the government awarded more than £17bn of contracts related to coronavirus during the first six months of the epidemic.

Critics of his green announcements were quick to spot that many were recycled and the sums pledged to decarbonisation are nothing like the commitment required to get on target to achieve net zero-emissions by 2050.

Smacc_25 · November 22, 2020, 2:43pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/GoodLawProject/status/1330496249536065536

https://mobile.twitter.com/LiamThorpECHO/status/1330277047835496450

Smacc_25 · November 22, 2020, 2:49pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/carlgardner/status/1330131857107787787

https://mobile.twitter.com/bmay/status/1232205841899687941
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https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Fraser/status/1330178557226709000

Smacc_25 · November 22, 2020, 2:56pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/AnnaJerzewska/status/1330442797904748547

https://mobile.twitter.com/AnnaJerzewska/status/1330443432154832904

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https://mobile.twitter.com/AnnaJerzewska/status/1330449657328259072

Smacc_25 · November 22, 2020, 2:59pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/frankieboyle/status/1330266521109749767

Smacc_25 · November 22, 2020, 3:00pm

https://mobile.twitter.com/donnyc1975/status/1330492770381914113