Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…
Boris Johnson continues to demonstrate why he is totally unfit to be Prime Minister of Britain.
As a friend said: “He’s a completely and utterly self-serving bastard for using her death to promote his political agenda. We have come to expect nothing less from him.”
The real horror was the realisation that he was being cheered on by his Conservative party colleagues. Have they no decency? Well, rhetorical question, I suppose. Clearly they have not.
Jos Collignon, the political cartoonist of the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper sums up the shenanigans of Boris Johnson and his gang of shits, charlatans and shysters (thank you, John Crace) pretty accurately this week…
I see Farage has muscled in on the act as well…
I think John Crace has the measure of Boris Johnson and his choices for the cabinet in the UK’s new, and hopefully very brief, government.
Addendum: a comment on another article in today’s Guardian sums it up quite nicely:
So now you have a narcissistic pathological liar as PM, a home secretary who supports the death penalty, a chancellor who was a casino banker for Deutsche Bank prior to the 2008 crash, a foreign secretary who doesn’t know why Dover is important for the British economy and who wants to shut down Parliament, a trade secretary who almost got a mental breakdown over cheese imports and a scarecrow as environment secretary.
What could possibly go wrong?
We have just entered a region of severe turbulence. Boris Johnson has become Prime Minister of Britain.
Verily, I say unto you: Be afraid – be very afraid.
This is not going to end well for any of us, citizens of the UK or the EU alike.
It’s been instructive to observe how accurate the diplomatic briefings of Kim Darroch have been. And also how cowardly the likely next Prime Minister of Britain (I can no longer find it in myself to write “Great Britain”) is being.
As the Guardian states: Kim Darroch has effectively been sacked by Boris Johnson on the orders of Donald Trump.
It’s worth repeating the final paragraph:
Johnson will go through the doors of Downing Street at some point this month smiling and wanting to be loved, but many will instead see him, as one interviewer, Eddie Mair, described him, as “a nasty piece of work”. In the words of the chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, a former army officer: “Leaders stand up for their men. They encourage them to try and defend them when they fail.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, another “nasty piece of work” continues to pump out his poison to the world.
I’ve never had time for Ann Widdicombe. Her callousness and stupidity have been self-evident for years. Now she has re-invented herself as an MEP. And she’s still spouting stupidity. She and Farage make a pretty pair. They are in Brussels simply to wreck the EU in any way they can, and pocket the pay and pension from the EU whilst doing it. I despair.
Addendum: Marina Hyde sums up the Widdicombe spectacle better than I could. Read and despair.
As we get ever closer to the point where the UK’s Tory Party crowns the appalling Boris Johnson as their next leader and the country’s next Prime Minister, voices are beginning to be raised urging them to reconsider. Max Hastings has a particularly hard-hitting demolition of Boris in today’s Guardian. Sample zingers:
Like many showy personalities, he is of weak character. I recently suggested to a radio audience that he supposes himself to be Winston Churchill, while in reality being closer to Alan Partridge.
Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade.
If the Johnson family had stuck to showbusiness like the Osmonds, Marx Brothers or von Trapp family, the world would be a better place. Yet the Tories, in their terror, have elevated a cavorting charlatan to the steps of Downing Street, and they should expect to pay a full forfeit when voters get the message.
The sad thing is that Max has been telling us all the truth about Boris since at least 2012. Why is it that no-one is prepared to listen?
Jonathan Cook discusses the the assault by Mark Field on a climate change activist this week, and points out the bigger picture. He states that we are in danger of getting sidetracked. Worth reading.
These are disturbing times. Forget about the ongoing disaster that is climate change, and disasters such as Trump and Brexit. Let’s focus for a moment on the buttock-clenching mini-disaster that is the UK’s Conservative Party’s odyssey to choose their next leader – who will also become the UK’s next Prime Minister.
They will almost certainly choose the unremittingly dreadful Boris Johnson, but frankly, the field of candidates that they have to choose from is pretty dire. The one candidate who appears slightly different is Rory Stewart.
However, if you look at his voting record in Parliament, it is nothing to write home about. Ash Sarkar nails it.
In short – people in the UK, you’re doomed. We are all going to suffer the consequences.
But clearly, some are still more equal than others…
A walk from the Westerbork Nazi transit camp to Groningen as part of the “Night of the Refugee” fundraising activities has been cancelled after the organisers faced death threats and intimidation.
What really galls is that Thierry Baudet described the sponsored walk as “scandalous”, and Esther Voet, the editor of the Jewish newspaper Nieuw Israelietische Weekblad said it was “Tasteless”.
Perhaps Baudet and Voet should be reminded of the poem written by Martin Niemöller: “First they came…”
A nice selection of placards from the anti-Brexit march today…
And at the same time that I’m shaking my head in despair over Brexit, here in the Netherlands, we’ve just had elections for the Provinces. And it appears as though populism is rearing its ugly head here as well. The Forum for Democracy (FvD) party has (according to the exit polls) made substantial gains.
While it wears a gentler face than Geert Wilders’ PVV party, at its heart it seems to embrace the same sort of worrying ideals. As Wikipedia says:
The party opposes the European Union and campaigns for a referendum on Dutch EU membership. It also adopts a nationalist viewpoint in which the Dutch culture should be protected; the party is in favor of reinstating border controls and ending what it perceives as mass immigration. It campaigns against unchecked immigration, and says it would introduce a “Dutch Values Protection Act” and wants to ban Islamic face veils and other face coverings.
A Dutch Values Protection Act… Oh dear. I’m reminded of the song and the scene in Cabaret: “Tomorrow Belongs To Me”.
Apparently that’s Europe’s verdict on the Brexit shambles, as reported in today’s Guardian. It pains me to say it, but I think Europe has got it exactly right. Indeed, I think we have a clear case of omnishambles here.
The cherry on the top of this (Eton) mess is likely to be that Boris Johnson will replace Theresa May as Prime Minister. Out of the frying pan…
Donald Tusk hits the nail on the head. The Nigel Farages, Jacob Rees-Moggs and Boris Johnsons of this world deserve nothing less. It is they who have betrayed the British people, not the EU.
In these dark times, god knows, I need a little cheering up. And Randy Rainbow continues to deliver and prick presidential pretensions.
Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, delivered a speech this week on the nine lessons of Brexit. The full 10,000+ words transcript is here, but if you prefer a précis, then this will do nicely.
The basic message is that the choice for Brexit and, in particular, the process of Brexit have both been fucking disasters, although Ivan Rogers is too much of a gentleman to use such words. The blame for this trainwreck, he argues, cannot rest on the shoulders of the Brexiters or the Remainers alone – both sides have contributed to the dishonesty and the confusion that today reigns supreme.
One might almost say “A plague on both their houses…”
Boris Johnson’s throwaway remark that “Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a Titanic success of it.” proves a hostage to Fortune.
It’s really not going to end well, I’m afraid.
So, today there was a wedding, a Royal Wedding. And while I wish Harry and Meghan to live happily ever after; I remain a republican. This Royal Wedding was unlike any I have previously seen. Today, I witnessed the sermon from the Rev. Michael Curry. And “witnessed” is the apt term.
Yes, I’m an atheist, but I loved this. Probably shook up the congregation a bit, but quite right.
God knows, I need to stop thinking about how much of a disaster Donald J. Trump is, so I suppose this will do nicely… Doesn’t make me feel any better, mind you.
Here’s one of the tributes to van der Laan, performed in one of the nightly talkshows on Dutch TV, “The World Keeps on Turning”. I’ve done a (shaky) translation of the text that’s on the page:
The original song is from 1964, written by Kees Manders and sung by Rika Jansen. It was rewritten for us by F. Starik and is sung by Glennis Grace, born in the Jordaan (a district in the centre of Amsterdam), together with a mixed choir consisting of The Swans Choir, The Army of Salvation Amsterdam Staff Songsters, and The Choir of the National Opera.
Text: Amsterdam cries text F. Starik.
As a father you stood for the city of Amsterdam
for whomever was rich or poor, every woman, every man
from the Bijlmermeer to me at the corner.
As a father, you stood up for us all
for the homeless guy, come but outside
then we get up – I have fire in my head
As a mayor with a heart for the city,
for everyone a clap on the shoulder, a hand on the heart
and sometimes there was a late hour
when you turned the tables on a joker
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, now it feels the pain
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, because the fun has gone
as a father you stood for the city of Amsterdam
for Nouri, Ajax, for kutmarokkanen and Surinamese and
the angry white man –
As the friend that you were, Eberhard van der Laan,
for city council, for the junks and the whores
and that it will all go well
thanks man, for everything, though you go too early
and awkward as it sounds from many pubs, you were there for us
you carried us, you were like a father,
how we will miss you, you who bore us
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, now it feels the pain
Amsterdam weeps where once it laughed
Amsterdam weeps, because the fun is gone.
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