Where we are - here in the UK, Europe, The States and the World - three years ago when Terresa May was still Prime Minister - no one could have believed this. And so much of what we are having to cope with today was avoidable - and it is upon us because of a lack of solid leadership.
Few, if any, of our present-day leaders appear to be listening to their people or to have learnt any lessons from the past. History and common sense have been utterly ignored, and the progress of civilisation has been cast aside; at least, that is what it feels like.
Not only that, we have now thrown out so many babies with our bathwater and are still doing so, all in the name of modernism - that we will end up so feckless, weak and arrogant that we will destroy ourselves or be destroyed and rightly so if we chose to go on down this path.
We have a Prime Minister who may have taken some good decisions vis-a-vie Ukraine but is also morally bankrupt and utterly unfit for the high office he occupies. Most of those who put him there are weak-minded, self-indulgent and too fearful for their own positions to call a halt to this Conservative car crash of a Government. And frighteningly, it is a car-crash on many different levels. Even more frighteningly, we appear to have no natural and viable alternatives in opposition parties.
We have developed political correctness to the extent that we are becoming such pathetically fragile, thin-skinned morons who are so quick to take offence at anything, even if any insult is far removed or remote or unintended. And if we can sue someone or somebody or an organisation or punish them in some way, we do.
Our health and safety laws have gone from the extreme to ridiculous, ignoring common sense entirely and taking all responsibility from individuals so stupidity, lack of care or just an accident can be blamed on someone else.
We even have a lady called Nimco Ali, an independent government advisor, who I am sure is delightful, suggesting that if you look at someone in the wrong way or stare, it is the same as sexual violence. Ms Nimco Ali is supported by Detective Superintendent Sarah White of British Transport Police, who says; We want to know about that staring because that is the behaviour that suggests to me that someone is thinking about sexual behaviour. The "Thought Police" have arrived.
Then we have the apologists, the people who think they deserve an apology for centuries of history. Everyone, or at least I would hope, most understand that terrible atrocities have been inflicted on various populations throughout history. But should we demand an apology from Italy for the Romans invading Britain or the French for the Normans doing the same? Perhaps the United States of America should leave and return North America to the Native Americans, or Australians depart back to where their ancestors ceded from and return Australia and New Zealand back to the Aboriginal and Maori tribes? History is history, and civilisation is the gap between history and now. And our present-day indolence, woke-ness and desire to correct all past wrongs with a constant flow of apologies and compensation is money-grabbing opportunism and will lead us nowhere we want to go.
We don't study history in order to white-wash it - we study history to learn past mistakes - and that is what is supposed to nudge civilisation forward.
Not all socialist ideas are bad ones, not by any means - but most of them are. Socialism removes personal responsibility from the individual. Previous Socialist administrations have unaccountably wasted colossal amounts of taxpayers' money. To be even-handed - so have right-leaning governments, but the left-leaning governments are by far the most wasteful.
Of course, we should be and develop a compassionate society and help those who cannot help themselves but paying able-bodied people to stay at home and do nothing is unfair and disrespectful to those who work hard to achieve.
If we are to survive and thrive, we need a re-balancing of our society. Nothing is for nothing, and everything has a cost. Subsidising those who have found themselves in unfortunate situations is commendable, but not indefinitely. Too many young today have not learned any kind of work-ethic. That is both a failure of parenting and schooling and Government policies. Every citizen should contribute to our society in some way, and for those who are unable, we should agree we look after them. And broadly - during the last fifty years or so, that is how it has been, but as science and technology have progressed, we have now bred a population that feels more entitled and less obliged to contribute. Luxuries have become "entitled rights", and expectations have too often become unrealistic.
Wherever we look, we have shockingly poor examples of leadership - be they democracies or Autocracies. From recent tragic news of yet another devastating school shooting nightmare in Texas to Sue Gray's report on Borris Johnson's lack of leadership in Number 10, to what is taking place under Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China. These people's behaviour is beyond comprehension and unacceptable. The only person who really stands out as exemplifying the qualities of leadership right now is President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
We have Republicans in the US standing on their dogma of the right to bear arms even if it results in so many unnecessary deaths in the USA every year, in particular, children in a school, yet repealing Roe V Wade and illegalising abortions, thus caring more about a fertilised egg than an eight-year-old human being.
We have the Prime Minister of the UK being found guilty, in both the legal sense and morally, yet refusing to resign or admit his endless and repeated shortcomings, including lying and obfuscating the truth. He now leads a morally bankrupt government. So much so that he has moved the goalposts yet again and lowered the bar of acceptable behaviour for Ministers. His supporters should be ashamed of themselves - by supporting Borris Johnson, they have disinherited themselves of integrity and most likely dealt a devastating blow to the Conservative Party in the medium to long term.
If the conservative parliamentarians allow Borris Johnson to get away with his despicable behaviour - they deserve nothing but our condemnation and to be cast out of office at the earliest opportunity. With very few exceptions - they are an utter disgrace to so much of what previous generations have fought for - British Justice, Behavior and integrity. Johnson, his behaviour and his shambolic government, bring shame to us all.
This is undoubtedly a "rant" - sorry - but why are we allowing this behaviour from our leaders? We are electing the wrong people to power - to rule over us.
Rikki - Suffolk - UK - 29th May 2022
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