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“What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”
William Lamb, Lord Melbourne
Back in early December, after a dinner between the British negotiating team and their EU counterparts, a photograph was released that, it was said, “sums everything up”. A characteristically dishevelled Boris Johnson was unflatteringly contrasted with the smartly dressed Michel Barnier. “Johnson’s loose tie, shapeless suit and messy hair alongside Frost’s errant collar stood out somewhat beside an immaculately turned out Ursula von der Leyen and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier” reported the Huffington Post, while reproducing a series of damning twitter observations. “Torvill and Dean meet The Chuckle Brothers” was one. Benny Hill and Worzel Gummidge were other points of comparison.
The subtext was clear: Brexit chaos. It has become a favourite headline over the last few months. Chaos at the posts, chaos in the negotiations. The EU represents order, the UK disorder. Fool Britannia. As Der Spegel described it:
“The United Kingdom is currently demonstrating how a country can make a fool of itself before the eyes of the entire world. What was once the most powerful empire on earth is now a country that can’t even find its way to the door without tripping over its own feet.”
As a scholar of medieval French, the lead negotiator of the British delegation, Lord Frost, may have allowed himself a wry smile at these comparisons. In medieval Europe, and in France especially, the period between Christmas and New Year was often marked by the Feast of Fools. Some traditions centred this on Monday’s Feast of Holy Innocents, others on today’s Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. Young boys would be elected as bishops, authority was mocked with ridicule, the established order was temporarily overthrown. These traditions began in the late 12th century, often as liturgical enactments of various New Testament passages that spoke of the world being turned upside down.
“He has brought down the mighty from their seats and lifted up the lowly,” says Mary in the Magnificat from Luke’s gospel. “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise,” writes St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. Armed with texts like these, a kind of populist and disruptive revelry was given licence, first in the churches and cathedrals and soon spilling out beyond them. By the beginning of the 15thcentury the official church had had enough. The Feast of Fools was banned by the Council of Basle in 1435.
Conventional thinking always prioritises order over chaos. Indeed, even the Bible presents the founding work of creation as the imposition of order on chaos. Order = good, chaos = bad. Chaos is dangerous. The vulnerable are harmed. The wicked prosper. But there is a minority report on chaos that regards it as the necessary birth pangs of a new order, and represents the recognition that human freedom is often experienced as chaotic by those who would overly regulate our lives. In his introduction to In Praise of Chaos the theologian Sean Caulfield writes: “I have written a book in praise of the splendid chaos of life that saves us from the fate of clones and robots, and opens the way to incredible futures.”
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SubscribeDuring my legal training, I was at a seminar and found myself talking to a very experienced judge. The conversation turned to the dynamics of the courtroom and what tactics can be used to persuade and influence. He said that the most effective lawyers in the courtroom were often those that turned up slightly dishevelled, papers flying around and generally giving the impression of not having much of a handle on the proceedings. To the outside, they looked messy and incompetent and naive opponents would allow themselves to be lulled into a false sense of security – only to be absolutely skewered later on by the “chaotic” lawyers’ incisive intellect and superior legal skill. I’m still not sure whether Boris’s chaos has some kind of underlying rationale to it that’s going to blow us all away when it comes to light…but when I observe him, I do always think of what that judge said.
And that dishevelement is not an act, it is a manifestation of a wide ranging and highly creative mind that often (not always) triumphs over planned and inflexible strategy
It’s called personal opportunism, with little concern for the damage it does to others.
Katherine, you will recall that much was discussed about the fact that the EU arrived on day 1 literally with tons of paperwork. The Brits, led by David Davis at the time, arrived with nothing. Bureaucracy v intelligence.
Remainers had a field day. Meanwhile, the UK just got on with it without any need for ostentatious, peacock like, displays of legalese nonsense.
And many of our politicians got pulled into that battle of legalese. Of course the EU was going to win at its own game. I think Johnson clocked on to the fact that carrying on like this was pointless and that we were never going to get a good trade deal. Better to limit negotiation time, avert the very worst and allow yourself to be whacked and humiliated a bit more – but all the while hatching plans for afterwards. That would seem the most pragmatic way forward, given the nature of the opponent here. I’m intrigued about what is still hidden up Johnson’s sleeve that’s been kept under wraps.
It was only a photo opportunity anyway, not a working session. The EU did it deliberately.
Even now I’ve seen many btl commenters at the Times, DT and Spectator continue to call Boris a buffoon, a clown, etc etc. This, after not one but a series of achievements which we were told were impossible. It was impossible to open the WA. The GE was on a knife edge. It was impossible to negotiate a trade agreement in a year. It was impossible to negotiate a trade agreement in a time of Covid.
Which raises the question, how does a clown and buffoon confound his naysayers not once, but again and again, and why do they refuse to acknowledge the evidence before them.
Envy. The British disease.
WA remained the same – he simply SOLD OUT Nothern Ireland – after he promised DUP, The Tory Party that no PM would put a border in the Irish Sea. He just did that.
The trade agreement (and YOU HAVE NOT READ IT – I am 100% sure of that) is nothing.
I totally agree that Johnson sold out Northern Ireland, but it’s fair to say that not one person on this forum has likely read, or is ever likely to read, that trade deal let alone understand it but, at this early stage ie one day in, you can be no more sure that it is ‘nothing’ than I can be sure that it is ‘something’.
The fact remains, the stark choice, apart from May’s thankfully previously failed attempts at Brino, was this deal or no deal.
Given that, which would you have preferred?
NI might turn out out to be a fantastic place to invest – now having business feet in both camps.
Let’s hope so 🤞
Yes. It might provide the best of both worlds for it in time, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
To my mind they were thrown under the bus by Boris (what is it with him and buses??) though in order to get Brexit done, but they might be thankful for it yet.
BJ’s deal over no deal anytime.
I did read it, all 1246 pages.
Good on you.
In a professional capacity, general interest or just out of sheer boredom?
Happy with it or not, or just a mixed bag?
Any particular concerns?
Lazy thinking and prejudice are the main reasons I’m sure.
Johnson doesn’t have to campaign, he can just sit back and let these commentators make fools of themselves – while increasing electoral support for him every time they open their mouths.
Candy – Babies.
Liberal-Left Groupthink, by my estimation.
It’s been a media disease for at least a decade, 2020 just brought it all to a head, from Covid to Trump, Brexit to Johnson.
HuffPo pretty much sums up LLG, with predictable reportage, fuelled by little more than rose-tinted comfort-zone thinking.
Most of us ceased to pay any heed to the media some years ago. They are just useless know-nothings who for some years have, for the most part, got their jobs through either cronysim or nepotism.
You should pay attention to the media because they have become downright dangerous.
They are still setting the mood music, unfortunately.
They also ration out the facts, which are all we have to think with.
How did this rationing impact on the Brexit vote, the last election, the trade agreement, the production of the Oxford vaccine etc. There is so little lof the 4th estate that is worth planning your day around.
Because they still read The Guardian.
Did you know that the New York Times & The Guardian keep a full staff 24/7 devoted to dig dirt on Trump and Johnson ?
If any site encourages conspiracies it’s this one -It’s difficult for people playing populist politics like Trump and Johnson with their past and present so known about to hide anything
So are we to conclude that the Guardian is rubbish at this task – or that Boris is a fine upstanding citizen ?
A bit like Trump in that he is often dismissed as a fool. Neither are fools. Having met Johnson many years ago the impression I had was of a clever but naughty man. I could not tell if he was good or bad at heart though.
“..was good or bad at heart though..”
His eldest daughter called him “an utter selfish a55hole”
That does not necessarily preclude his being an effective PM.
4 years to go – my guess he will not be one.
Actually three if we stick with fixed term Parliaments but with his majority Boris can change that to suit his position in the polls. I thin maybe the tail end of 2023.
It may well be a pre-requisite ….
Of course she did; she is his daughter.
So did mine – and that was on a good day 😂
Trump is an uneducated and ignorant t**t who inherited $200m when his dad checked out and has been busy destroying his fortune ever since.
Out of the cloud of the Pandemic chaos / dither / delay / incompetence, we appear to of ended up with the world’s largest COVID testing operation and the world’s first mass vaccine roll out. Both, I believe, had the dishevelled PM’s involvement all over them.
And amongst the highest rates of infection and death involving Covid in the world
Like Belgium and Japan. And who knows what in China.
Infection and death rates have more to do with underlying susceptibility factors rather than government action/ infrastructure. Otherwise Sudan, Kenya and Zimbabwe would be judged as the countries with the most effective COVID response plans and healthcare structure.
As is now becoming obvious, different variants of the virus transmit at different speeds. We also know demographics, mobility patterns, population density and Vit D levels play a large part. Unfortunately the UK has all of these factors working against it, which has nothing to do with Boris Johnson or the Conservative government.
Incidentally, if you insist on playing the COVID olympics, the UK hardly makes into to the world top 10.
Two main reasons, neither to do with Boris: 1) the NHS, the flagship of big state socialism in the UK and modelled on the Soviet Union’s state monopolies; 2) a bolshie minority who are vehemently opposed to lockdowns and will not follow the rules and guidance. It takes everyone to defeat a pandemic, only a few to accelerate it.
Merely stating that something is impossible, does not make it so. The achievements you list were never impossible and Johnson the buffoon did not perform impossible feats in carrying them out.
Boris reminds me of Willie Whitelaw: the latter was a brilliant Wykehamist, shrewd judge of character, and canny political operator who was never off duty. But everyone thought him a bumbler and he was content to let them think that.
I’m currently reading “The Spy and the Traitor” by Ben MacIntyre, an account of the KGB agent Oleg Gordievsky who worked for MI6 during the Cold War. The book also features Richard Bromhead, a formidable intelligence officer, who is described as being “one of those Englishmen who put a great deal of effort into appearing to be a lot more stupid than they really are.” These types are the most exciting around, and lethal if you underestimate them. Great book, by the way.
However, Whitelaw did not have a massive ego and only lied when he had to, like most politicians. Boris’s ego is obviously massive and his lies are so unnecessary most of the time.
If I were looking for outwards signs of self-regard, David Cameron would seem to be in another league to Johnson.
The sneering contempt so frequently demonstrated by Cameron seems completely absent in Johnson’s character.
This may explain why decent grounded folk hated Cameron so much – and seem to be drawn to Johnson.
Likeable characters are far more easy to forgive, than those who can’t hide their contempt for others.
I also struggle to understand the “ego” accusations. Maybe I missed something, but I’ve never seen any “I am wonderful” stuff from Johnson …
Happy to hear some examples of what I may have missed …
“every prime minister needs a Willie” Margret Thatcher.
If he wanted to turn his hand to it, I expect Boris would be one of the most successful second-hand car salesman ever.
Come to think of it, Mr Frost might also have been successful at selling ice to the eskimos.
I see references to Der Spiegel and The Economist in the article, two magazines that are now interchangeable in their contempt for freedom, normal people and any form of economic justice.
The German media has become alarmingly conformist to my mind. A lack of inquisitiveness seems to prevail and any distortion of the ‘norm’ is mocked. It must be lovely to watch the ‘chaos’ of Brexit from the safety of the mighty industrial machine that is Germany, but will they notice the barbarians at their own gates as the world moves inexorably onwards?
The Germans sound a lot more loyal to us than the BBC or Sky do.
Apparently the Germans are also suffering their own version of our “BBC problem” ….
Well, at least so far in this century Germany is not the barbarians at the gates…
I don’t trust em, they’ve been too quiet for too long…
The stimulus package means they pretty much own Italy already …and they are using the French as cover for taking Hungary and Poland 🙂
‘Democracy’ is, famously, the least worst form of government compared to all the others and is thus inherently shambolic.
Perpetual ‘organised chaos’, if you will.
The ‘orderly’ EU typifies and is the embodiment of an inherently authoritarian pan-European political elite that has come to fetishize rule creation and adherence, but has learnt the lesson in the latter half of the 20th century that it needs to promote the artifice of democracy if it is going to achieve its longer term, quietly ratcheting aims largely unopposed ie with the conspicuous illusion of popular ‘consent’.
Hence the completed check box of the various institutions long suggestive of a democracy, not least a largely toothless parliament where genuine debate is a myth and whose primary purpose is to rubber-stamp whatever comes its way.
Long before it ever gets to its final destination, the uber-legislating EU has mastered the behind closed doors art of presenting its ‘citizens’ with the perfect, fully formed Euro-sausage without really ever letting them in on the uglier truths about how, or why even, it was ever made in the first place.
A civilised society isn’t just defined by its rules or sheer amount of them, however, but often by its conscious decisions not to adopt them and simply understand what areas best to stay out of.
This approach, or lack of it, betrays a great deal about the attitude and demeanor of those who lead it or come to lead it, never mind whether they’re personally subject to the periodic indignities and inconveniences of universal suffrage or not.
To me, that picture above is not so much a depiction of ‘dishevelled vs order’, but more a measure of skin in the game and, for all its imperfections, ‘UK democracy vs European authoritarianism’.
Very well said. Give me chaotic democracy over organised tyranny any day. As Kemi Badenoch MP said in her maiden speech: “Democracy is like sex. If it’s not messy you are not doing it right.”
Brilliant! Love it.
Excellent comment.
As someone who has worked with EU representatives, I fully agree with your description of it. Their agenda is one of technocratic rulership where the masses are managed by ‘experts’.
Lord Frost, you have tied your tie far too short. But you are forgiven for almost anything today, and most certainly for that. Well done and thank you from this Leave voter for your remarkable efforts.
Thanks to you and to Boris, I think we have a good chance to making this thing work now. When I look back at the dreadful May debacle, it is like remembering a particularly awful nightmare. But thanks to today’s outcome, it seems remote and distant,.
John Polinghorne talked of the ‘edge of chaos’ as the place where exciting things happen. We need order so things can take root and flourish, but not too rigid or that’s stagnation. There’s nothing to hang onto in chaos, but excitement is and new ideas fly. I think of it as freedom with responsibility or as C S Lewis put it for children: Bacchus has his central place at the feast but all the same the children are glad Aslan’s there.
Great comment.
Polkinghorne
Is this not a case of style v content? Sharp suited salesmen v down to earth common sense? Von der Leyen doesn’t have much content at all judging from her experience as defence Minister in Germany (just a Merkel acolyte). Barnier? Just a civil servant
Merkel acolyte or got out of the way for the real Merkel acolyte?
Barnier’s judgement on the Wuhan labs was arrogant and dangerous when as French Foreign Minister he ignored his Security Services’ warnings.
The fastest way to lose an argument is to assume your opponent is a fool. Remain did it in the referendum and the Eu did it in negotiations.
Keep playing the fool!
Very good. And as someone whose professional role has always been, at least to some extent, to ‘play the fool’, I love the quote from William Lamb at the head of the article.
Yes the quote struck a chord with me too. However we don’t have wise men anymore, just experts.
I am sure Lady Caroline would have agreed with you. Perhaps Byron also.
Plenty of wisdom on offer here – thanks Giles
When negotiating under pressure and for very high stakes, you don’t want your opponent to think that you are too rational and orderly. They ought to think that you are crazy enough to do what s/he considers to be self-destructive. This is how Boris played it. Shambling, clowning, ignorant of the finer points of trade agreements, but driven by a sense of personal destiny. That’s what won it, God bless him. Career Eurocrats with nothing more than a pallid ideology informing their position had no chance.
Very good Father Fraser. No doubt the Left would have demanded an impact and risk assessment before allowing the birth of Our Lord.
You don’t need to risk assess a fairy tale.
And let’s not forget the ever important ‘Equality Impact Assessment’ God alone would have know how that one would have panned out
Except – The scruffy ones got what they wanted. The EU did not.
Michel Barnier reminds one of a immaculately tailored Sales Director explaining why he has just lost the firms second biggest customer.
Anyone else think its odd the senior chaps in Brussels haven’t lost their jobs ?
People seem to forget, the EU could of ended Brexit the day David Cameron came to request a few almost irrelevant and very modest concessions. They refused ‘on principle’ and triggered Brexit
They repeated the same mistake with TM. She could of easily got through a softer Brexit if they had just conceded some language on the ‘back stop’.
It was only because BJ made it very clear they were looking down the barrel of a ‘no deal brexit’ that they finally conceded.
The EU caused Brexit as much as the UK did
An excellent resume, thank you.
The choice of photo is also perfect. The stick thin member of the master race, holding her mask, juxtaposed with our somewhat overweight, scruffily turned out, smiling, maskless, PM. Which is the more human?
Behind the Union flag clearly dominates over its somewhat insipid challenger.
But is this really DC’s moment of triumph? I gather from my ‘spies’ that he is clandestinely still ” on the payroll”.
“The stick thin member of the master race..”
Are you done with WW2 references?
Come off it Jeremy, you know full well that the concept of the “master race” well predates Adolph & Co.
Your former fellow countrymen were rather keen, as I recall even pursuing their ideas into the world of Eugenics.
If only Ursula was a red faced fat bloke…that’s what humans should look like. And less German (apart from the fat red faced German blokes, who are alright).
Yes indeed, the late Helmut Kohl being the perfect example.
He was always going to be on the payroll till the end of the year.
House of Lords by Easter?
That would be too fun for words ..
The fish motif tie on the last day was probably enough for a while 🙂
Funny I’d just written this (a Safeguarding training assignment!) when I found your article Giles –
“If everybody agrees that a decision is right, it must be
wrong” is a dictum that shows “how institutions think” (title of a book by
anthropologist Mary Douglas). It seems that it is in the nature of institutions
that they hinder change until they see the necessity for it, and then become
ardent promoters. But the fact of group-think shows the need for critical
feedback within institutions such as the Church, which means tolerating “fools”
(another longstanding cultural institution)”
A very preceptive article. “Indeed, when situations seem to require some sort of paradigm shift, the rules of the old order present a block on the emergence of the new. Things will always seem chaotic when change does not travel according to pre-established ideas of how one thing follows from another.” There is an excellent example of this in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Einstein, where Isaacson notes that the two biggest influences behind Einstein’s thinking that led to his special theory of relativity were Poincare and Lorenz. But not only were neither able to make the leap that Einstein made, but both still not believe his theory even after he had published it, such was their belief in Newtonian physics.
There is also an ability he does seem to have; to hold conflicting and contradictory thoughts , and truly be quite comfortable surfing across them as one wave swells, and others subsidesrather than have a ‘plan’, and simply be aware of flaws in it- which isn’t quite the same thing.
But using outward appearances to confound accurate analysis of one’s strengths and weaknesses, and so be able to exploit the inaccurate analysis is also something most people understand.
And at the end of the day maybe the media are just a bit dimmer than they used to be.
Substance over style? Another superpower might well be misdirection.
Your best sermon in a while, Preacher….notwithstanding sabbaticals and subsidence, welcome back – the break has served you well.
Its almost like you’ve embraced the chaos of the Demolition man.
Missed you.
I do not mind fools, being one myself, but prefer it if they keep their folly as private as possible.
A Prime Minister ruled by impulse is not a pretty sight, not a pretty sound, and threatens to induce panic in the population.
I’ve been around for far too long to expect anything even vaguely resembling a philosopher king, but I would occasionally like to glance at the news and see a man of stature emerge from Number 10 to address the nation.
To be fair, I am sure he would prefer to keep it private too. He refuses to even entertain discussions on his family, but the press keep trying.
Appearing to act on impulse is a lesser evil, if those responses are based on a settled set of principles/beliefs below the surface.
The appearance of unceasing certainty should raise a red flag …
Always a pleasure to read you, Loose Canon. I think your point concerning Johnson applies to all good leaders, including clergy. One has to recognize that conflict and chaos are opportunities to move a system “a business, a government, a parish, a family ” forward. Great leaders not only recognize the opening but make something good come out of the mess.
Reading the comments, some people contrast the “messy” government of Britain with the rigid tyranny of the EU. However, the EU is as shambolic as ever. One of the missed opportunities before the Brexit vote was to insist on those changes that can make the Union work much better ” by enforcing the conditions of its creation which have never been respected. Perhaps this is the remedy. But will it work for all concerned? Stay tuned.
Giles, a question for you.
Imagine some of your congregation have been to a New Wine week and they have returned transformed with a stronger faith, a deeper relationship with God, greater enthusiasm and commitment and an interest in the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12.7-11) These charismata eg. prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing, gifts of knowledge and wisdom are creative, “chaotic”, one writer calls them “playful” gifts from God which are meant to encourage and inform His people and give a definite sense of His presence with them.
One Sunday during the Eucharist a member who you have known a long time comes to you during the gradual and says that they have a prophecy which they would like to share with the congregation. An instance where the spontaneity and “chaos” of the Holy Spirit is seeking to break through into the order of the Eucharistic liturgy. You are the presiding priest and you have the responsibility to decide what happens. St. Paul was very keen on the charismatic gifts but also insisted that everything be done in order when the community meets for worship.
What would you do?
The chaos is symptomatic of what is formally called a “wicked problem” ie a problem with a paradox between desired and potential outcomes. Hence the ‘having your cake and eating it’ nonsense.
These “wicked problems” can not be solved as such. They require the implementation of a least bad solution which (hopefully) will create a series of normal problems which can be rationally approached.
Had the outcome of the brexit referendum been recognised as a “wicked problem” from the start we would have dealt with it faster at lower costs.
Yes it is true that ordered thinking will not create real change, but I suggest that once one has established the direction of the change that implementation will require ordered action…hopefully a range of them to give a variety to the changes.
The problem with the chaotic approach is that at sometime you have to have some idea of what it will mean in practice. You then need too be able to add up. Which unfortunately chaotic thinkers need help with.
Unheargf PETER HITCHENS: Guess where Professor Lockdown got his ideas “¦ China’s police state
SEARCH dailymail debate/article-9106799/PETER-HITCHENS-Guess-Professor-Lockdown-got-ideas-Chinas-police-state.html
“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail” – Ben Franklin
“Before anything else preparation is key to success” – A.G. Bell
Most of time organised and disciplined people do better than the chaotic but the type of individuals who lead well regulated lives seldom have the capacity to cope with chaos. At particular moments in history we need the less rigid and more original individuals to find new ways of doing things. Evolution would have weeded out the renegades if there was no value in them.
Your quotes prove nothing. Undoubtedly, it is right to prepare as much as possible for foreseen events, but many are either unforeseeable, or a mistake is made in identification. Thus, once the unexpected has occurred, the type of individual best suited to preparation and therefore likely to be in the position of authority may not be the one most suited to the flexibility now required.
Pawperso, anyone with infantry training will know this, a matter of life and death.
It’s also generally true, as von Moltke said, that no plan survives contact with the enemy and why most business planning is a waste of time.
Lowering the tone somewhat, this reminds me of Mike Tyson’s famous quote…
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face”
I’m thinking the “UK Internal Markets Bill” was just such a punch.
And taking the whip off the Conservative MPs who voted against.
That reminded me of the following quote:
“Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”
I don’t know quite how clever – or not – the PM is but one redeeming feature is “applied laziness” which results in a high degree of delegation. On the other other hand he does seem disinclined to take difficult decisions.
Johnson is extremely clever. He was a King’s scholar at Eton and Brackenbury scholar in Greats at Balliol. He is unbelievably well read and can quote hours of poetry, much of it in Greek. Never underestimate his intellect. Very many people have, which is a major reason why he is prime minister and they are not.
One of the most important (and rare) skills is the ability to rapidly identify people that you can trust to delegate important things to.
Boris does seem to have this skill ..
Well, he did with Lord Frost. And with Cummings to some extent. And Liz Truss seems to have negotiated a lot of trade deals. You may well be correct.
And Liz Truss seems to have negotiated a lot of trade deals.
How many of those trade deals were sweetened by freedom of movement to the UK being on the table?
“Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.”
Love it!!!
Who said that. Moltke?
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord – though as ever maybe apocryphally.
quoteinvestigator.com attributes it to German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in 1933; that’s the earliest written version but I’d guess the origins likely go further back.
Nice Quote, and a valid point about BJ. He puts off tough decisions and these delays are expensive.
BJ’s Brexit is pretty much exactly what Teresa May would have delivered if she a reasonable majority and had been prepared to lie to the ERG and the DUP.
I think TM’s Brexit was hampered by political advantage-seeking by her opposition, variously seeking fall of the govt (Labour), reversal of the referendum (LibDems), Indyref2, and power within the Tory party. The happiness or otherwise of DUP and ERG were probably minor factors.
What I would have preferred was for all parties to recognize the closeness of the referendum result and go forward with a mutually beneficial relationship outside the EU.
The irony is, as you’ve said: BJ has pretty much delivered on that.
The other great irony is that at the beginning of 2020 BJ was being bigged up by the media as an authoritarian, and we end the year with the biggest complaint against him being that the govt has not clamped down hard enough.
It seems that events have revealed him to be a British-European classical liberal (it feels weird to say that, but I can’t marshal any counter-arguments).
A further thought: his inclination is to put off decisions that would be unpopular with the public, but e.g. in dealing with Tory rebels he was remarkably ruthless.
Possible – but we only saw dreadful negotiation capabilities from her ..
No plan survives contact with battle. Unless you’ve been able to map out every alternative scenario and can call them all instantly to mind a certain flexibility is also needed.
You assume a slightly “foolish” appearance means that no preparation has been done. That simply demonstrates your prejudice.
I also have the strange opinion that if your only (or at least major) response to any proposal is “non” then your preparation leaves plenty of time for smart dressing. Possibly taking an hour or two to select just the right tie rather than having to rush because the packaging is rather less important than the contents of the package.
Substance over style…
A superficial article that ignores the anarchic or anarcho-syndicalist traditions of the left completely.
I agree it’s not a clear Left vs Right thing.
I love these sort of comments. Problem is they don’t come with a translation into my reality.
“Quo usque tandem abutere, Boris, patientia nostra?”
This is what cybernetics is all about. People such as Ross Ashby and his theory of homeostasis, and Stafford Beer, studied communications and decision making in complex systems. At the heart of homeostasis is random decision making in response to external changes or stimuli. It sounds counter-intuitive but it is how the human body works and the reason the human body is so adaptive and versatile. Survivability of a species is dependent on random mutations of its genes – seemingly chaotic but paradoxically producing stability, certainty, safety and survivability in unpredictable environments.
This site must be hard up for commentators if it gives space to Giles Fraser who has been given the elbow by just about every other outlet. I recall a ridiculous article in The Guardian where he claimed to have been having a glass of wine and a fag outside his local pub, Indo, opposite the East London Mosque and Muslim Center on The Whitechapel Road in Tower Hamlets wondering what went on in the building. It was of course a puff piece as I had seen him in the build being glad handed by the Jaamat I Islam extremists who ran it at that time.
He was roundly destroyed for this chicanery by the East London Advertiser journalist Ted Jeory on his then blog Trial by Jeory which pointed out that he, Fraser, lived in C of E accommodation at his church in Kennington in South London and quite obviously Indo, formerly The Blue Anchor, wasn’t his local pub. He was a stalwart defender of Lufur Rahman the disgraced former Mayor of Tower Hamlets who just after this incident appointed Fraser as the chair of his Fairness Commission to find out if Tower Hamlets was a fair society. After pocketing £2000 Giles reported that in fact Tower Hamlets was unfair and Rahman then proceeded to divert millions of pounds to spurious groups staffed by his appointees.
After the Electoral Court removed Rahman Fraser’s star waned for a while but you can’t keep a good self promoter down and he is bouncing back like the veritable Vicar of Bray that he is. I’ll check if I have spelled Bray correctly but I think you all get the drift.
This is wisdom.
Giles – really good article. I think your piece ties in with broader critiques of technocratic rules favoured by office holders. Aside from your valuable points about the creative possibilities offered by ‘chaos’ , it is worth noting how the centrist logic of ‘rational’ and expert policy making – works to exclude divergent and ‘non-expert’ opinion. It is existing office holders and dominant media outlets that get to define who the ‘experts’ are. As the Covid 19 crisis is revealing, some ‘experts’ in the scientific community are preferred to other ‘experts’. The loss experienced is a democratic one – fewer dissenting voices are heard.
Just like to say how foolish and deceitful the people are who keep blaming the UK government for the high death rates from COVID.
It’s all the F*****G idiots who go about their everyday lives as if we are living in normal times. Over the last week – there have been numerous people from London shopping in M&S in the Liverpool stores, after chatting to many of the till operatives – they have told me that people from Tier 4 areas have openly boasted that they travelled by car to shop in Liverpool. Need I say more!
People shopping and chatting, and moving from one place to another?
Disgraceful! Call the village elders, a case for the witch finder, methinks.
Unless we are all popped into little boxes with food pushed through a narrow slot occasionally covid is going to kill people.
I know there are some who would like that solution but at some point the people pushing the food through the slots will stop either because they haven’t been paid or there’s no money for food or both.
Scaling up hospital isolation was never going to work.
Its an endemic virus that cannot be supressed. The only way out is herd immunity by people getting it and recovering or by being vaccinated. Even then it will be with us for the foreseeable future and will probably pop up every winter. Hiding away from it only puts off the inevitable and is not sustainable. Furthermore, industrialised countries have made them selves highly vulnerable by having too many half dead and unhealthy people, partly because we have allowed industrialisation to feed us too much crap food and too much sedentary living.
Not 100% sure what Mr Fraser is on about? he describes the Roman feast of Saturn whose origins are probably as old as agriculture itself, then ascribes it to Christendom. Next thing he is on about Dionysus (pleasured himself in public) and Nietzsche (syphilitic). That is certainly an example of chaos – chaotic thinking. Perhaps this sort of piece is a product of what Roger Scruton called the nonsense machine? I think everyone realizes that perfect reason and order are impossible, but none the less remain social benefits we want more not less of. I find the general denial of reason in the article quite scary. People who think like that should not be allowed to work on vehicles, with food or any other potentially hazardous situations. If you want to see real chaos take a look at the failed track and test, chaotic vaccine roll out and fake death stats resulting from the SARS-CoV2 outbreak in the UK. If Mr Fraser’s ideas move from the metaphysical realm to the corporeal one that is the result.
Journalistic conceit bombing!
Do not go in for the demeanour nonsense. Boris Johnson surrendered to the man with the plan not the insurgent chaos of a no deal Brexit. Unfortunately for Boris Johnson his power base is at the rotten tomatoes end of the Channel Tunnel.
More anti-rational idiocy from Giles Fraser, one of the ugliest and most regressive English commentators in these dark times.
And we’re expected to thank “Unherd” for this garbage.
In that case, I recommend you spend your time elsewhere..
Or, as an alternative, do what I do. Click on the articles, if I find one I’m not interested in, for whatever reason, move on to the next. Sometimes I’ll skim the article and read the comments. Sometimes (especially with a long waffly article) I notice my eyelids closing so I move on. Rarely do I give up because I don’t like/agree with whats written. The main reason I’m here is to learn.
Precisely.
I have posted an exposure of Fraser which has no been put up. Fraser is a proven liar.
It is no more rational to believe in Reason than it is to believe in Unreason. Rational rationality consists in acknowledging that there is Reason in the world and that we do not understand it, although in order to operate at all we must make hypotheses about It while recognising that such hypotheses do not exhaust the Mystery of Reality. These are called Acts of Faith and appear to be what Fr. Giles (and, according to a contributor above, the Revd. Professor Polkinghorne) is commending. Try it sometime, you’ll like it.
If you don’t like it then leave. You know a bit like Brexit but in a more personal level.