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Ben Jones
Ben Jones
9 months ago

TL;DR it’s all Boris’s fault, atomisation and despair did not exist before him.
Look, I have little time for Johnson, but journalists like Tanya need to find a new explanation for the state we’re in (hint – it’s perpetual soft-left centrism, but I doubt she’ll ever understand).

Benedict Waterson
Benedict Waterson
9 months ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

Endless articles vaguely describing Boris as ”unserious”, whatever that means. At least he successfully represented the result of a democratic mandate half of Parliament was trying to overturn.
Were people like Lammy serious when they asserted Brexit supporters were worse than Nazis.
Is middle-class Brexit hysteria ‘serious’?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

” it’s perpetual soft-left centrism, but I doubt she’ll ever understand”
Well, it looks like the Tories will be wiped out in the next election. Time for the party to select real conservatives as MPs and they can govern as true conservatives – once they win in 4/5 years down the road.
You are going to suffer 4 years of Labor but that is the price you have to pay. As they say “no pain, no gain”.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

Out of interest, what does “real conservative” mean to you?

James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

Out of interest, what does “real conservative” mean to you?

Benedict Waterson
Benedict Waterson
9 months ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

Endless articles vaguely describing Boris as ”unserious”, whatever that means. At least he successfully represented the result of a democratic mandate half of Parliament was trying to overturn.
Were people like Lammy serious when they asserted Brexit supporters were worse than Nazis.
Is middle-class Brexit hysteria ‘serious’?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Ben Jones

” it’s perpetual soft-left centrism, but I doubt she’ll ever understand”
Well, it looks like the Tories will be wiped out in the next election. Time for the party to select real conservatives as MPs and they can govern as true conservatives – once they win in 4/5 years down the road.
You are going to suffer 4 years of Labor but that is the price you have to pay. As they say “no pain, no gain”.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
Ben Jones
Ben Jones
9 months ago

TL;DR it’s all Boris’s fault, atomisation and despair did not exist before him.
Look, I have little time for Johnson, but journalists like Tanya need to find a new explanation for the state we’re in (hint – it’s perpetual soft-left centrism, but I doubt she’ll ever understand).

AC Harper
AC Harper
9 months ago

I am reminded of the Monty Python’s Life of Brian song – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
People seem to delight in pulling Boris Johnson down, to say he has no depth or gravitas. And yet his looking on the bright side of life was a cheerful counter to general misery and despair. The misery and despair often turbo boosted by the media.
The piece about Uxbridge is probably more insightful than most, but I also hear another line from the Python song… “Life’s a Piece of Shit, When You Look at It.” It seems that many candidates major on the pieces of gristle and forget that the voters would welcome some positivity.
Altogether now.

Rasmus Fogh
Rasmus Fogh
9 months ago
Reply to  AC Harper

This:

Johnson’s danger was always in his precedent. His unseriousness — his sense of carnival — is toxic.

Rasmus Fogh
Rasmus Fogh
9 months ago
Reply to  AC Harper

This:

Johnson’s danger was always in his precedent. His unseriousness — his sense of carnival — is toxic.

AC Harper
AC Harper
9 months ago

I am reminded of the Monty Python’s Life of Brian song – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
People seem to delight in pulling Boris Johnson down, to say he has no depth or gravitas. And yet his looking on the bright side of life was a cheerful counter to general misery and despair. The misery and despair often turbo boosted by the media.
The piece about Uxbridge is probably more insightful than most, but I also hear another line from the Python song… “Life’s a Piece of Shit, When You Look at It.” It seems that many candidates major on the pieces of gristle and forget that the voters would welcome some positivity.
Altogether now.

David McKee
David McKee
9 months ago

A good, evocative piece from Tanya.

Ennui is right. People think it doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing will change.

I can’t think of any government in power during the pandemic which is popular enough to win an election, and ours is no different. Does Kier ‘lockdown’ Starmer have any better ideas? Nope, and it will take the voters six months of a Labour government to rumble him.

Politics will be interesting for the rest of this decade.

Bob Downing
Bob Downing
9 months ago
Reply to  David McKee

Whilst agreeing almost totally, no, politics will not be “interesting”, or at least not in its outcomes. Our District Council now has not a single Tory councillor, but the triumphant Greens ditched the LibDems as coalition partners, so we’re left with an even more dysfunctional authority than before. Ditto the Town Council, and the County is – like most – too impoverished to function. So Uxbridge is likely to be repeated nationally, and that isn’t going to produce anything beneficial. It really doesn’t matter, because there’s no sign of any determined political group with a remotely credible manifesto or who any sane person would actually trust.The latest report on drinking, bullying and harassment at Westminster proves that “they” have learned nothing – except perhaps that we’re all fools for having elected them, so they may as well make merry as the boat sinks.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Bob Downing

In a democracy people get the politicians they deserve.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
Bob Downing
Bob Downing
9 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

I’ve never believed that, probably because I’ve never been convinced that I (or anyone else) has ever lived in what is commonly (without the erudite commentaries) believed to be a democracy. Certainly neither I nor those living around me, have ever “deserved” the succession of politicians we’ve ended up with! OK – so we don’t have democracy. QED?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Bob Downing

If you are right (UK is not a democracy) …well you deserve it. Revolt or stop bi***ing!

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Bob Downing

If you are right (UK is not a democracy) …well you deserve it. Revolt or stop bi***ing!

Bob Downing
Bob Downing
9 months ago
Reply to  Jeremy Smith

I’ve never believed that, probably because I’ve never been convinced that I (or anyone else) has ever lived in what is commonly (without the erudite commentaries) believed to be a democracy. Certainly neither I nor those living around me, have ever “deserved” the succession of politicians we’ve ended up with! OK – so we don’t have democracy. QED?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Bob Downing

In a democracy people get the politicians they deserve.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
J Bryant
J Bryant
9 months ago
Reply to  David McKee

A good, evocative piece from Tanya.
I agree. I’m an American and this piece is too deep into UK local politics for me, but her writing is engaging. Click on her picture and you’ll see all her Unherd articles. I’d recommend her “Life on the Cornish Breadline” piece. It’s about two years old but has stayed with me. Great writing.
She should lobby Unherd for an expenses-paid trip to San Francisco and give us her take on that city.

Last edited 9 months ago by J Bryant
Ben Jones
Ben Jones
9 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

I’ll save you the trouble – “It’s all Boris Johnson’s fault”

polidori redux
polidori redux
9 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

She comes across as a snob. As an American you cannot smell it, but as an Englishman I can.

Last edited 9 months ago by polidori redux
michael harris
michael harris
9 months ago
Reply to  polidori redux

Indeed it’s never easy to sense the caste lines in other cultures. They are pre-verbal, almost baked in at birth.

James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  polidori redux

I’m an Englishman and I don’t find her snobbish. I think you find what you look for.

michael harris
michael harris
9 months ago
Reply to  polidori redux

Indeed it’s never easy to sense the caste lines in other cultures. They are pre-verbal, almost baked in at birth.

James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  polidori redux

I’m an Englishman and I don’t find her snobbish. I think you find what you look for.

Ben Jones
Ben Jones
9 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

I’ll save you the trouble – “It’s all Boris Johnson’s fault”

polidori redux
polidori redux
9 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

She comes across as a snob. As an American you cannot smell it, but as an Englishman I can.

Last edited 9 months ago by polidori redux
Bob Downing
Bob Downing
9 months ago
Reply to  David McKee

Whilst agreeing almost totally, no, politics will not be “interesting”, or at least not in its outcomes. Our District Council now has not a single Tory councillor, but the triumphant Greens ditched the LibDems as coalition partners, so we’re left with an even more dysfunctional authority than before. Ditto the Town Council, and the County is – like most – too impoverished to function. So Uxbridge is likely to be repeated nationally, and that isn’t going to produce anything beneficial. It really doesn’t matter, because there’s no sign of any determined political group with a remotely credible manifesto or who any sane person would actually trust.The latest report on drinking, bullying and harassment at Westminster proves that “they” have learned nothing – except perhaps that we’re all fools for having elected them, so they may as well make merry as the boat sinks.

J Bryant
J Bryant
9 months ago
Reply to  David McKee

A good, evocative piece from Tanya.
I agree. I’m an American and this piece is too deep into UK local politics for me, but her writing is engaging. Click on her picture and you’ll see all her Unherd articles. I’d recommend her “Life on the Cornish Breadline” piece. It’s about two years old but has stayed with me. Great writing.
She should lobby Unherd for an expenses-paid trip to San Francisco and give us her take on that city.

Last edited 9 months ago by J Bryant
David McKee
David McKee
9 months ago

A good, evocative piece from Tanya.

Ennui is right. People think it doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing will change.

I can’t think of any government in power during the pandemic which is popular enough to win an election, and ours is no different. Does Kier ‘lockdown’ Starmer have any better ideas? Nope, and it will take the voters six months of a Labour government to rumble him.

Politics will be interesting for the rest of this decade.

JR Stoker
JR Stoker
9 months ago

Johnson may be a coward and a fool”. C’mon Tanya, that’s just sloppy. He shows little sign of cowardice – sticking his journalistic and political neck out many times – and he is mostly certainly not a fool. There are many things that can be said about him, some very derogatory and true – he is not as honest as he should be, and not a great communicator with colleagues, and not clubbable, and a big projects/big spender type. He is hopeless at organising things but so are many politicians who usually know it and surround themselves with gifted people, as did Johnson when Mayor.
Indeed the mystery is how he has fallen apart since his electoral triumph and remarriage. Maybe he is not fit for the top job but who the hell is, in modern politics?

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  JR Stoker

” he is not as honest as he should be”
The man has been described as a pathological/serial liar by the people that know him best (Max Hastings, Simon Heffer, etc).
His own children believe is an a**hole!

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  JR Stoker

Johnson’s entire career was one big act of cowardice. As Foreign Secretary he was notorious for basically running away when the going got tough.
The man was in the public sphere for two decades and I’m still not sure what he actually believed, other than he should be in power, get all the glory and farm out the hard work to others. He was vacant, undisciplined, and entitled. He was basically David Cameron but with a better media performance.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  JR Stoker

” he is not as honest as he should be”
The man has been described as a pathological/serial liar by the people that know him best (Max Hastings, Simon Heffer, etc).
His own children believe is an a**hole!

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
James 0
James 0
9 months ago
Reply to  JR Stoker

Johnson’s entire career was one big act of cowardice. As Foreign Secretary he was notorious for basically running away when the going got tough.
The man was in the public sphere for two decades and I’m still not sure what he actually believed, other than he should be in power, get all the glory and farm out the hard work to others. He was vacant, undisciplined, and entitled. He was basically David Cameron but with a better media performance.

JR Stoker
JR Stoker
9 months ago

Johnson may be a coward and a fool”. C’mon Tanya, that’s just sloppy. He shows little sign of cowardice – sticking his journalistic and political neck out many times – and he is mostly certainly not a fool. There are many things that can be said about him, some very derogatory and true – he is not as honest as he should be, and not a great communicator with colleagues, and not clubbable, and a big projects/big spender type. He is hopeless at organising things but so are many politicians who usually know it and surround themselves with gifted people, as did Johnson when Mayor.
Indeed the mystery is how he has fallen apart since his electoral triumph and remarriage. Maybe he is not fit for the top job but who the hell is, in modern politics?

Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
9 months ago

It may be just me, but…was this written by Rick of the Young Ones?
The language selection is always revealing. “Hate!” “Coward!” “Fool!” Tories exploiting “anger” against “ULEZ”.
“Brexit Voters”. I got caught up in the narrative, and me and my whole family voted to leave the EU,” says one man, “in hindsight, a terrible mistake.”
Tanya accepts their repentance and forgives them their sins of voting the wrong way. Straight out of the Alastair Campbell lexicon of left-wing offence and silencing of any murmur of opposition.
Repent and convert, or be forever branded racist or like Hitler.

Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Dustin Needle

She is reporting on what someone said.
Either it is true or she is lying.
His feelings are just as legitimate as yours.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
Jeremy Smith
9 months ago
Reply to  Dustin Needle

She is reporting on what someone said.
Either it is true or she is lying.
His feelings are just as legitimate as yours.

Last edited 9 months ago by Jeremy Smith
Dustin Needle
Dustin Needle
9 months ago

It may be just me, but…was this written by Rick of the Young Ones?
The language selection is always revealing. “Hate!” “Coward!” “Fool!” Tories exploiting “anger” against “ULEZ”.
“Brexit Voters”. I got caught up in the narrative, and me and my whole family voted to leave the EU,” says one man, “in hindsight, a terrible mistake.”
Tanya accepts their repentance and forgives them their sins of voting the wrong way. Straight out of the Alastair Campbell lexicon of left-wing offence and silencing of any murmur of opposition.
Repent and convert, or be forever branded racist or like Hitler.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
9 months ago

Surely the late Sir John Betjeman would have been a better choice for ‘Metroland’than E.M.Forster, OM,CH?

Otherwise a pithy appraisal of the state of British politics, thank you.

eg: “Gaily* into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s
Daintily alights Elaine…..”

(*For modern readers “old’ English usage, which does NOT mean that train was packed with homosexuals, as some may think.)

Last edited 9 months ago by Charles Stanhope
Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
9 months ago

as per Betjeman, it always fascinated that so many of the ” Ooh what will the neighbours think” Pooter petit Bourgeois who call traffic jams ” traffic preserves” use ” toilet stationary” call shampoo ” fauxstool” and have ” french fries” rather than chips on their shoulders about Etonians, ever liked, let alone worshipped KS scoundrel Boris?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
9 months ago

It was a mirage, but he certainly seemed an improvement on May, Gove or Cameron.
However that wouldn’t be very hard would it?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
9 months ago

It was a mirage, but he certainly seemed an improvement on May, Gove or Cameron.
However that wouldn’t be very hard would it?

Nicky Samengo-Turner
Nicky Samengo-Turner
9 months ago

as per Betjeman, it always fascinated that so many of the ” Ooh what will the neighbours think” Pooter petit Bourgeois who call traffic jams ” traffic preserves” use ” toilet stationary” call shampoo ” fauxstool” and have ” french fries” rather than chips on their shoulders about Etonians, ever liked, let alone worshipped KS scoundrel Boris?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
9 months ago

Surely the late Sir John Betjeman would have been a better choice for ‘Metroland’than E.M.Forster, OM,CH?

Otherwise a pithy appraisal of the state of British politics, thank you.

eg: “Gaily* into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s
Daintily alights Elaine…..”

(*For modern readers “old’ English usage, which does NOT mean that train was packed with homosexuals, as some may think.)

Last edited 9 months ago by Charles Stanhope
Roland Jeffery
Roland Jeffery
9 months ago

A brisk and drole piece of writing. But I am not clear that there is a political take-away beyond “anything can happen” – which doesnt get us very far, in Uxbridge or wider debates.

Roland Jeffery
Roland Jeffery
9 months ago

A brisk and drole piece of writing. But I am not clear that there is a political take-away beyond “anything can happen” – which doesnt get us very far, in Uxbridge or wider debates.

Douglas H
Douglas H
9 months ago

“Johnson doesn’t bother to bury the bodies”.
Wonderful. Classic quote!
Thanks, Tanya.

Douglas H
Douglas H
9 months ago

“Johnson doesn’t bother to bury the bodies”.
Wonderful. Classic quote!
Thanks, Tanya.