The Reckoning
Eventually, there will be a reckoning.
Trump will be forced to face up to how badly he has treated people of Hispanic origin - and maybe black people, poor people, disabled people and women. Ordinary decent Americans will decide they can't take any more and he'll be out. They may not be able to impeach him. And, to be fair, getting rid of Trump won't mean a lot to the people of El Paso...
But most of us are decent and we don't go for 'othering' the people we live and work with. We really just want to get on with living our lives. What is 'othering'? It's about making people feel they are different, less important than us. It's about denying they are just the same as us. It's what the Nazis did to the Jews of Europe. The Roma. Gays. The disabled. Some of these groups are still recovering from that treatment 80 years later.
The same thing will happen with Boris Johnson.
Johnson is just at the start of the process of disillusionment among English voters, but it will come all the same.
In the end, decent English citizens will look at this oaf, listen to his bluster, look at the people he has placed in government and realise they've made a terrible mistake. We don't need a Home Secretary who wants to introduce hanging. Nor do we need a Foreign Secretary who's not sure how British goods get to the rest of the world because he didn't know about sea routes. And we certainly don't need the PM's brother in the mix. Or Esther McVey or Liz The Mouth Truss, Johnson's rival in the over-confidence stakes who embarrasses herself every time she speaks in public.
We can't have a prime minister who goes to Myanmar and decides to entertain the press with a recitation of "There's a one eyed yellow idol" and has to be shut down by the attending civil servants because of the offence this display of colonialism is causing. We don't need him to go to Iran and totally screw up UK attempts to get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe out of jail and home to her family. But he's done both.
So what happens next?
Depends on where in the British Isles you find yourself.
In Northern Ireland, people need to agitate for a legal local assembly. Don't let Westminster take over the NI Assembly - and don't let the Tories walk all over the Good Friday Agreement.
If you're in Wales, people need to get out there, join a march (there are some going on) and keep demanding ways to redress the democratic deficit in your country.
In Scotland? Well, we know we need to do more of the same thing. Rally the people. Organise marches. Encourage Yes organisations and agitation online, especially on Facebook and twitter. We need to listen to people like Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie. Keep the faith. Read the National. Make sure we know what to say on the doorsteps. Remember what we're aiming for.
And finally, there's England. Can the Labour Party save the day? I have no idea. I've often seen Labour (I was a member for a long time) in disarray but this is the worst ever. Is Labour really riddled with anti-Semitism? Or do we just have the UK press's word for that? I left Labour 7 years ago and was never at the heart of the organisation - my choice. But if Labour can't pull itself together in the present emergency (and I really think the UK is in an emergency), then it's finished.
Good luck to us all.
But most of us are decent and we don't go for 'othering' the people we live and work with. We really just want to get on with living our lives. What is 'othering'? It's about making people feel they are different, less important than us. It's about denying they are just the same as us. It's what the Nazis did to the Jews of Europe. The Roma. Gays. The disabled. Some of these groups are still recovering from that treatment 80 years later.
The same thing will happen with Boris Johnson.
Johnson is just at the start of the process of disillusionment among English voters, but it will come all the same.
In the end, decent English citizens will look at this oaf, listen to his bluster, look at the people he has placed in government and realise they've made a terrible mistake. We don't need a Home Secretary who wants to introduce hanging. Nor do we need a Foreign Secretary who's not sure how British goods get to the rest of the world because he didn't know about sea routes. And we certainly don't need the PM's brother in the mix. Or Esther McVey or Liz The Mouth Truss, Johnson's rival in the over-confidence stakes who embarrasses herself every time she speaks in public.
We can't have a prime minister who goes to Myanmar and decides to entertain the press with a recitation of "There's a one eyed yellow idol" and has to be shut down by the attending civil servants because of the offence this display of colonialism is causing. We don't need him to go to Iran and totally screw up UK attempts to get Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe out of jail and home to her family. But he's done both.
So what happens next?
Depends on where in the British Isles you find yourself.
In Northern Ireland, people need to agitate for a legal local assembly. Don't let Westminster take over the NI Assembly - and don't let the Tories walk all over the Good Friday Agreement.
If you're in Wales, people need to get out there, join a march (there are some going on) and keep demanding ways to redress the democratic deficit in your country.
In Scotland? Well, we know we need to do more of the same thing. Rally the people. Organise marches. Encourage Yes organisations and agitation online, especially on Facebook and twitter. We need to listen to people like Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvie. Keep the faith. Read the National. Make sure we know what to say on the doorsteps. Remember what we're aiming for.
And finally, there's England. Can the Labour Party save the day? I have no idea. I've often seen Labour (I was a member for a long time) in disarray but this is the worst ever. Is Labour really riddled with anti-Semitism? Or do we just have the UK press's word for that? I left Labour 7 years ago and was never at the heart of the organisation - my choice. But if Labour can't pull itself together in the present emergency (and I really think the UK is in an emergency), then it's finished.
Good luck to us all.
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