Yet another rollercoaster fortnight has passed, during which we’ve seen the accession of Rishi (which some erroneously persist in calling ‘election’); dismay in many quarters at his Titanic deckchair rearrangement including the reappointment of disgraced former Home Secretary Suella Braverman; the delay of the Autumn Statement until 17th November; heavy media coverage of the £50bn ‘black hole’ in the public finances, softening us up for massive cuts when any shortfall (this idea of any deficit has been discredited by numerous economists) could be corrected by measures like removing non-dom status and pursuing tax evaders; legislation effectively deleting 2400 EU laws remaining post-Brexit; the progress of the draconian Public Order bill; schools, the NHS and social care in crisis; disgraced former Health Minister Matt Hancock bringing his party and Parliament further into disrepute by participating in I’m a Celebrity following the public snub from Sunak and failing to get a Cabinet job; and the continuing and deepening migrant crisis which has shown Braverman in an even worse light regarding the conditions at the Manston immigration centre. Added to this the news that the UK is up for the longest recession in 100 years as the Bank of Englandraised interest rates to 3%. Phew.
This constant state of upheaval is bad for our mental health but it’s unlikely to end any time soon. Global ‘headwinds’ are reinforcing profound weaknesses in UK governance and its economy, aggravated by the evidence that no one is really in charge. We hear that Collins Dictionary has named ‘permacrisis’ (defined as an extended period of instability and insecurity) as their Word of the Year. This phenomenon is discussed by Jenny McCartney in an editorial for The Week. Citing the British-Turkish writer Elif Shafak’s views on Western distinctions between ‘solid’ (safe and steady like the US and much of Europe) and ‘liquid’ states (where sound governance, human rights and free speech could rarely be guaranteed), she says Shafak now finds this to be an artificial distinction. Effectively we are all ‘living in liquid times’, characterised by the rise of disinformation, demagoguery and divided identifies, with the capacity to undermine any political system. Identifying the factors contributing to the UK’s increasingly ‘molten’ state, Brexit is one of the key ones, ‘opening up a glaring new chasm in society, exposing and exacerbating differences over culture, security and national identity…. ‘Changes in policies and personnel now happen at a breakneck pace on an updated Twitter thread, generating gossip and drama in their turn..But ordinary people must endure the real consequences of this jittery churn, which plays out in nervous markets, escalating bills and atrophied institutions’. To counter this, she rightly suggests that politicians need to engage in thoughtful and long-term initiatives ‘to strengthen our communal bonds’. But there’s little evidence of this government’s willingness or capacity to change from their laissez faire short termism. ‘Jittery churn’ is such a good way of putting it.
It was worth watching Braverman’s lengthy and forensic interrogation by Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, during which Braverman repeatedly used inflammatory language to describe asylum seekers and on her fibs and avoidances being exposed, tried to portray herself as the victim of a ‘broken’ system. This prompted MPs and others to demand ‘who broke it?’ when, after 12 years of Conservative government, the answer is clear. It emerged that only 4% of those arriving on small boats have their applications processed within a year and that Mitie, a company headed by a Tory donor which benefited from crony contracting during the pandemic, has the contract for running Manston (only meant to hold 1600 but accommodating 4,000 when the scandal broke). No surprise there.
Despite the Home Office denials, we now know from the police that the firebombing of the Dover processing centre was motivated by extreme right-wing terrorist ideology. Again, no surprise when we witness the escalation of incendiary language in relation to immigration by some media and organisations, a key example being Nigel Farage on GB News. What’s depressing to realise is this government has a vested interest in not improving the asylum system or conditions in immigration centres, so they can continue to use the immigration bogeyman in their messaging to supporters. Some commentators have suggested that the Tories are now doing so badly in the polls that this ‘illegal immigrants’ gaslighting is the only weapon they have left in their armoury.
Adding insult to injury, the Independent’s number of the day on Friday was £3,500: the hourly cost of flying a Chinook helicopter, the transport selected to take Braverman the 20 miles from Dover to Manston on Thursday, where she refused media questions. A shocking example of the Home Office’s policy in tatters was the group of asylum seekers dumped outside London’s Victoria Station, with no suitable clothing and nowhere to go.What would have happened if a local charity hadn’t stepped in to help them? Curiosity has been piqued as to just why so many Albanians feel the need to make this journey when their country is not at war, a question astonishingly not asked recently of the Albanian PM, who complained about his people being unfairly associated with criminal gangs and drug dealing. A journalist based in Albania gave an interesting interview on Radio 4’s PM programme, saying that Albanians have always wanted to leave their country (as if it’s part of their culture and DNA, almost) but it also has to do with severely depressed wages, poor working conditions, the lingering effects of communism and that political upheaval, domestic violence and persecution of the LGBT community. We have to wonder what the Albanian government is doing to halt this diaspora, another interview revealing that some areas and villages were becoming depopulated.
Anyone seriously believing that ‘Rishi’ would prove some kind of saviour, ‘a safe pair of hands’ to quote that cliché, would now be disillusioned, not only by some serious mistakes within his first few days (like reappointing Braverman, demoting his climate change minister and refusing to attend COP27, only U-turning on this when it emerged that Boris Johnson was attending) but also by his poor performance in the Commons including Prime Minister’s Questions. Jacob Rees-Mogg resigned before he could be pushed and while Therese Coffey was ‘demoted’ to the environment portfolio, which many consider disastrous, Sunak saw fit to return Steve Barclay to Health and Social Care. Remember when he briefly occupied this role before and was AWOL for weeks? It seems the same thing is happening now as, unlike the others, he hasn’t appeared in the media. This is a disgrace when the NHS is in crisis and we need to know what his ideas are about its improvement. (Yes, we know the Tories want to privatise it but they can’t admit this openly so at least will pretend to be committed to resolving its intractable issues). Perhaps media-shy Barclay is still recovering from being accosted by that angry woman outside a hospital who demanded to know what he was doing about the NHS crisis before bellowing ‘You’re doing BUGGER ALL’.
As the much-criticised Oliver Dowden, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove returned to Cabinet, one Twitter user summed up the feelings of many: ‘Just by moving the pieces around board won’t fix the fundamental problems: a divided majority party in Parliament with three Parliamentary factions disconnected from its membership. Massive economic turbulence. Huge debt. Low growth. Workforce shortage’.One of the most cringeworthy performances I’ve seen in a long time is that of new Business Secretary Grant Shapps, whose chirpy ‘elevator pitch’ is available to watch on YouTube. Let’s hope that at some point the media assess his actual performance against his pitch. We sometimes get reminded that UK politics hasn’t always been like this clutch of pretentious and disingenuous lightweights. Last night Dame Margaret Beckett was on the BBC’s Any Questions, an example of the intelligent and thinking politician we used to have before the fibbing, gaslighting and scripted sound bite merchants took hold, aided by media collusion.
Another major source of Sunak disillusionment is the unacceptable situation of having claimed ‘a mandate’ from 2019, no longer valid, but also stepping away from what he promised during his leadership campaign. TheIndependent tells us: ‘A senior spokesperson for the prime minister said he was no longer committed to any of the promises made during his bid for the Tory leadership this summer, which included a cut to 16p in the basic rate of income tax by 2029 and a massive increase in offshore wind power’. Such developments have strengthened even further calls for a General Election, and those only listening to BBC News might not appreciate the extent of this as yet again the BBC is not reporting one of the many People’s Assembly demonstrations taking place today. The Larry No 10 Cat parody Twitter account observed: ‘417 years ago today a gang led by Robert Catesby and including Guy Fawkes attempted to destroy parliament. In their memory the Conservative Party now attempt the same most weeks’.
Very good news, then, to see that Labour MP Richard Burgon has been granted a Parliamentary debate on making the constitutional changes needed to allow people to directly call a General Election when the vast majority have lost faith in the Government. ‘That there’s no mechanism for people to do this is a scar on our democracy’. Quite so. With a Tory majority this initiative is unlikely to get that far but it does raise the profile of our democratic deficit, especially when the media refuse to report on the thousands attending demos to campaign for it. Meanwhile, government corruption and cronyism continue to rule the day. Just one example is that of ex health minister Steve Brine, who took a paid job as adviser to drug firm Sigma without telling ACOBA (the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments). He then arranged a meeting between Sigma and vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, the company later ‘winning’ a £100k Covid contract. Brine has just been made chair of the Health Select Committee.
There seems no limit to deluded ministers’ hubris: in the week we learn that hospitals and care homes have still not received any of the £500m emergency fund promised by the government in September to prevent the NHS becoming overwhelmed this winter, we see that the demoted Health Minister, Therese Coffey, wrote to thank her ministerial team, saying what a lot they achieved in 7 weeks. The background is that more than 13,000 of the 100,000 NHS hospital beds in England currently contain ‘delayed discharge’ patients, leading to A&E units becoming too crowded and ambulance staff unable to hand over patients. ‘As a direct result, thousands of 999 patients are suffering potential ‘severe harm’ every month because ambulances are stuck outside hospitals’. With NHS and social care chiefs saying things have never been this bad and calling for the new minister, Steve Barclay, to make this an urgent priority, the Department of Health and Social Care, when challenged, predictably said: ‘We are working to finalise details on distribution and these will be announced as soon as possible’. Clearly this time not working ‘at pace’ or ‘straining every sinew’.
Describing several sources of a Westminster consensus last week, it’s worth reading this marvellous take-down of Matt Hancock by John Crace. ‘…Because the biggest outbreak of agreement was around Door Matt Hancock. You couldn’t find anyone who didn’t think he was a complete prat. His vanity meets hubris in I’m a Celebrity. Poor Matt. Delusional to the last. He wanted to connect with the real people, he said. And now was the time to do it. When the UK was still in complete chaos and no one would miss his valuable input as an MP. That much was true. It was a chance for the little people to hear about his fantastic new book, Pandemic Diaries. The everyday story about a man promoted so far out of his depth he ended up killing loads of elderly Covid patients by sending them back to care homes. A man so needy he imagined the public might fall in love with him. A man so dim he couldn’t see he would end up being made to do the bushtucker trial night after night. A man destined to disappear into obscurity as he chokes on kangaroo scrotum. Westminster won’t miss him’. Ouch!
The book, scheduled to appear on 6 December to cash in on Christmas, has a cover picture of Hancock, posing to look macho and authoritative, which he never does in the flesh: it will no doubt attract further ire from his critics, especially the Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice. Interestingly, its co author is the right-wing journalist Isabel Oakeshott (he didn’t feel able to pen this on his own?) and part of Biteback Publishing’s blurb reads: ‘This unique book, based on the author’s contemporaneous records of those extraordinary months, candidly recounts first-hand the most important events and decisions as they unfolded throughout this unprecedented global emergency’. Hmmm…‘the most important events’? Will this include the crony contracting and cynical discharge of Covid patients to care homes? I can’t wait to see the reviews. The real ones, that is. The blurb already contains one we may have cause to question, by Michael Gove: ‘This candid account tells the story of what it was like to be at the heart of things. It’s the first draft of history and will help anyone fighting like we did to handle a pandemic’. Many might suggest they weren’t ‘fighting’ and they didn’t ‘handle’ it.
The government has already restricted democratic protest through its draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, enabling, for example, the police to ban demos they consider ‘too noisy’. It’s now taking its Public Order bill through Parliament (2nd reading in the Lords last week), designed to prevent climate change and other protesters from causing disruption by ‘locking on’ etc. A petition signed by more than 300,000 people and coordinated by Liberty and Greenpeace was handed into the Home Office, demanding the Bill to be dropped. During the Lords debate Conservative peer Andrew Sharpe, a parliamentary under secretary of state for the Home Office, said: ‘Protesters can continue to have their voices heard but…they will not be allowed to wreak havoc on the lives of others while doing so’. Perhaps he deliberately missed the point that these days protesters against anything have to resort to measures some might consider extreme as it’s the only way to get people to sit up and take notice.
It’s ironic that today has seen another big pro-democracy demonstration underway in Central London which so far (as so often in the past) hasn’t been reported by the public service broadcaster (BBC), which is repeatedly stressing its impartiality during its 100 anniversary celebrations. The BBC’s mission is ‘to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain’, but nothing is ever done to address the insidious spread of right-wing bias reinforced by the appointments of the current Tory-supporting chairman (Richard Sharp) and director general (Tim Davie).
Expands the mission statement: ‘Its content should be provided to the highest editorial standards. It should offer a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other United Kingdom news providers, using the highest calibre presenters and journalists, and championing freedom of expression’. But what we’ve seen on Radio 4 at least is the steady dumbing down of ‘flagship’ news programmes, poor quality journalism exemplified by presenters taking too much at face value and failing to challenge lies, multiple contributions from right-wing think tanks without stating their mission or sources of funding, and ‘balance’ interpreted as featuring several right-wing contributors and no one from the Left. This is what you get when the public broadcaster has been politicised but the fact that many only get their news from the BBC and the right-wing press means people can be collectively brainwashed, an attack on democracy, as is evident from the inaccuracies trotted out about immigration and the economy, for example.
Finally, it’s interesting to see that two representatives of the same socio-political class which has produced many of our politicians have set up a support group for men who’ve been made to feel ashamed of their privilege or been left numb by their boarding school education. We’re told that the Privileged Man group, which charged an annual fee of £1995, holds weekend retreats and Zoom calls for its members. It’s long been known by psychotherapists who work with Boarding School Syndrome that the damage caused by early separation from parents, giving rise to a premature and emotion-denying need to survive, can be considerable. A substantial number also experienced physical and sexual abuse, leading to lifelong relationship difficulties. Many products of this education form our ‘ruling class’, the unfortunate effects we’ve seen in the behaviours of Boris Johnson and his colleagues. The Privileged Man website states that it is ‘a movement of men committed to empathy, honesty, accountability and creating positive impact. Men who join the movement have seen another way to live and are ready to commit to themselves’. Good luck to them –they shouldn’t have any shortage of members although those most in need of it probably won’t be signing up any time soon.
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 