Well, Who Is He?! ... And What Is He?

Dear Reader,

Well, there we have it.  The People have spoken and it's had the decided effect of taking us in a specific direction away from where, until now, there has been discord and much of it.

Now, Boris Johnson has had the shackles removed and he has quite a measure of freedom in his parliamentary majority to do all the things that he wants to do.

I have to say, that listening to his victory speech on Friday morning, he displayed a sense of responsibility and - indeed - some humility in acknowledging his debt to the voters who have put him in the position where he is.  Further, on the face of it he seems to recognise that vast amount of work that needs to be done - in schools, health, police, equal opportunities and even local communities, to repair the damage of his own party's failings these last near-10 years.

Significantly, and welcomingly, he seems to want to champion green issues.

Now the important thing is that hardly any of this was spoken of in the Tory Manifesto.  The attitude was simply, "We'll get Brexit done so then we can do other things..."  But now, at his time of victory, he suddenly labels his political party as "The People's Party" and is enthusiastic about getting through a lot of work that is important to the People (as he sees it).

Though there is something vaguely attractive about Mr. Johnson's approach, I remain hugely sceptical.

The whole plan regarding borders for Northern Ireland is an idea that Johnson himself said, a year or so back, was something that no government would tolerate.  But here he's happy to go with it as though it's perfectly OK - despite its unpopularity.

He does seem to have a tendency towards the chameleon. And to what extent environmental issues will get addressed is very much to be seen. Despite his assurances in Friday morning's speech, the detail is very much unknown.  It was to be noted that what seems to be his pet rottweiler, Michael Gove, stood at the podium in advance of Johnson to put the matter in focus. Gove's persona was pumped up - yet controlled - with a "this is our moment" euphoria.

Corbyn was, Gove seemed to infer, the anti-semitic blaggard and someone we should no longer be in fear of ever again. He went on to make it sound as though the saviour was at hand. Tch. Tch.  Only a few minutes before Corbyn had been seen in friendly conversation with a black skull-capped Jewish politician.  I don't believe that Corbyn himself is anti-semitic, but I do think there are elements in this Labour Party that are a questionable lot.

But so too, Mr. Gove, there are elements in this Tory Party that are a questionable lot.

For me, we continue to miss the main issues - and we don't seem to care.  That is concerning the very consciousness (or lack of it) we have about ourselves and our environment. And after thousands of years of building up a United Kingdom from small kingdoms - and the Vikings, and later joined by the Scots - we now seem to see that our future is about dis-unity.

The story is not finished yet, I am sure. Despite what is being said, there is no magical switch over to Brexit with all matters cleared up - that will take (the experts say) years to accomplish.  And can Johnson truly achieve his stated aim of One Nation politics? So, therefore, what will be the result?  More obfuscation I suspect.

Many marriages produce problems that require special attention, and so it is in the outside world too.  By divorcing there is invariably little that is resolved except an attempted removal of 'the problem' - which in fact doesn't get entirely removed as it invariably leaves a trail of poison.  And that contaminates subsequent encounters.

Even Brexit was mostly a reaction to the degree of immigration that had been allowed. And it split the UK - it was not a decisive outcome. So much for democracy. 

I do feel that our educational system needs to be more geared to how to properly discriminate between what is right from wrong in big-life decisions - for when it comes to the really big issues there is a right and a wrong. How else can we correctly choose? In the end, most seem to vote for what suits them, not for the bigger picture and what is better for everyone and everything. Short term-ism never produces answers: there must always be a long-term goal in mind.

Where are the true leaders, for if Johnson and Corbyn were the best we can find we are really in trouble! But I do sense that in the wings there are good people who will soon emerge.

For a world that is crying for unity, we are going the wrong way about achieving it.  It is an alarming picture that will - I am sure - come back to haunt us.  And quite soon, too. 



Thank you for reading this.