This country has been badly battered:
1. Covid. OK a once-in-a-lifetime event, probably. But the consequences can scarcely be exaggerated. For a start, it ballooned the National Debt. Nor was it particularly well-managed. The contracts for mates were an absolute scandal. But, in fairness, it was an unprecedented situation. It's gone now, and we hope it will not recur. The melody lingers on, however.
2. War in Ukraine. This will probably end in the next year or so. To quote Emperor Hirohito, 'Not necessarily to our advantage.' But it has cost us a mint and the damage to European stability is considerable. We shall probably start spending more on defence because of a sense of insecurity. On the precedent of the 1930s, this might boost our economy; the difference is we don't have a pool of unemployed so it could also boost wage inflation.
3. Brexit. The gift that keeps on giving. Everyone agrees, pretty much, we got a shit deal. But any attempt to improve it provokes shrieks of 'betrayal' from the terminally stupid. (Who, by the way, have no alternative to offer outside the realms of fantasy.) The damage to trade is costing our economy a fortune and it's hard to see how this can be sorted by any practical means. Maybe in 20 years when people have grown up and more of the fossils are dead.
So what's our response? Well, from a diabolical field of political wankers, we chose a classic centrist. Someone who is a small 'c' conservative. Someone who wants not to scare the horses. Someone who is in the hands of the right-wing Labour clique, one of the least imaginative cohorts of people in the country.
Did people really expect Camelot? Did they expect it overnight?
I expected slow progress at best. And I was, and am still, prepared to cut this government a lot of slack, because the country's economic situation is fucking dire, and any government that works within the concept of 'balancing the books' is going to have to make difficult and unpopular decisions.
And what, pray are the alternatives?
Ed Davey's Lib Dems? I'd give them a chance, but most people won't as it's not clear what they stand for and they have no presence in much of the country.
Badenoch's Tories? I'd say she's the worst Tory leader, bar Truss, in my lifetime and the Tories still haven't accepted that Brexit is a total, embarrassing failure. All they have to offer is the last 14 years on steroids. Unaffordable tax cuts and endless damage to public services. Culture wars and petty (British) nationalism.
Farage? Sorry, but a clearer example of a snake-oil salesman I have never seen. How people can be taken in by this charlatan I do not know.
The bottom line is this country is fucked and there's no easy way out. Anyone who thinks there is is deluding themselves and dooming themselves to disappointment. It's a long-term job.
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