New Year, same Politics
So, here we are. We made it!
It's 8th January 2022. We're now a week into the new year. Suppose I'd better write something.
I had made the decision to tune out over the festive period, an attempt to make the most of the break, so I'm now refreshed and ready to dive head first into 2022. Though, if I'm honest, since spending most of this morning trying to catch up on everything I'd purposely tried to miss, I feel like I've landed head first on a cold, concrete, empty warehouse floor. Obviously not quite as cold as Priti Patel’s heart and the warehouse is empty because of 'supply chain issues'.
After scrolling through twitter, reading news articles and watching PMQs from this week, I quickly learned that I needn't have bothered catching up at all. The same old depressing recording is playing away. Spinning round and round in circles. Conservatives are still getting away with it, Boris is still lying in the house and I'm still not entirely certain in which direction Keir Starmer wants to take the Labour Party. At the moment, it's like Keir’s politics are on a treadmill, they appear to be moving fast but aren't actually going anywhere. As I said, New Year, same Politics!
In a weird way, it’s sort of both nice and disturbing to know I can stop watching the news for a few weeks and come back to things exactly as I left them. One northern soul I know I can rely on time after time is Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner. She was on fire in the house this week.
PMQs:
Bolting out of the starting gate like an untamed race horse, Angela Rayner began her unapologetic dismantling of our sorry excuse for a PM ‘in October, the Prime Minister said that fears about inflation were unfounded but working people, across the country, are starting the new year facing rising bills and ballooning prices, so how did he get it so wrong?’
His reply, ‘of course I said no such thing because inflation is always something we have to be careful about’
Liar! He lies in the house yet again. The worst thing is, it’s so natural to him, his default setting, I don’t think he even knows he’s doing it. Inflation is up by almost 6%, the highest since the early 90s and bills are rising fast. They could cut VAT to help low income families but they won’t. Poverty is a political choice.
Angela went on to say that Labour are ‘ready to take over and provide Britain with a better future... the Prime Minister promised wage rises would off set inflation, they haven’t and they won’t.’
The Prime Minister couldn’t deny Rayners wrath at the dispatch box, noting her energy compared to that of the Labour leader.
Rayner said ‘I have heard on the grapevine that there might be a vacancy for Prime Minister so maybe I should have aspirations’. But instead of letting the Prime Minister distract everyone from the real issue at hand Angela stood firm ‘can the Prime Minister see what’s happening yet again, working families are picking up the tab for his incompetence’ referring to rising energy bills and much more.
Boris’ priorities, it would seem, are not that of supporting working class families or providing NHS ‘heroes’ with a real terms pay rise. No. He would rather spend time and money redecorating his flat. When some people don’t even have a home he is doing his up!
Hospitals have started declaring critical incidents and although COVID-19 is a factor, it’s clear the virus is only magnifying pre-existing issues with the national health service. If hospitals can’t handle the pressures of winter at the best of times how can we expect it to cope in a global pandemic. Years and years of underfunding with the aim of privatisation, that’s the biggest crippling factor. Not COVID-19!
So the shit show continues and I’m still trying to catch up.
Maxwell found guilty but is Prince Andrew next? A Knighthood for Tony Blair and Pardons for Gay men convicted under historical laws. Excuse me? Pardons for what exactly? As you can see I’ve got some reading to do, more writing will no doubt be coming your way soon. Strap in tight for what will almost certainly be another bumpy year.