There are certainly countries in the world even more divided than the UK. But there is no country more dazed and confused.
To move in the past 15 years from the certainty and
solidity of the Blair premiership to the sorry state of affairs that passes for
government today is an almost unimaginable decline. This is a country
particularly badly hit by the financial crisis, demoralised by years of
austerity and seemingly unable to prevent every administration we elect being
significantly worse than the one that preceded it.
We’ve witnessed a growth of nationalism which culminated in
the murder of a British MP shortly before the tragic decision to leave the EU.
We endured the years of torment and torpor that followed,
when Brexit was the only endless topic of conversation.
We saw the major opposition party taken over by a leftist
sect, while the governing Tories drifted ever further to the right.
And now, as a corollary of all the above – or perhaps as a
punishment for it – we have the most incompetent government in living memory presiding
over the coronavirus crisis.
Just as shellshocked veterans emerged from the carnage of
the First World War to be confronted with the Spanish Flu in 1918 and 1919, there
is a sense in which Covid has caught the UK at its absolute lowest ebb one hundred
years later.
With Trump single-handling trying to destroy American
democracy, China achieving ever greater economic, military and cultural dominance,
and the UK detaching itself from the EU, there is nothing on the horizon other
than isolation and decline.
When we British take our post-Brexit begging bowl to the
rich man’s table, we might find a few crumbs proffered – the 0.07% of GDP granted by Japan, for instance. But realistically, we know that our only chance
of being fed lies now in the servants’ quarters below stairs. Or through our own toil
in the ill-kept allotment out back.
Of course, Boris Johnson’s bluster and bullshit over
Covid-19 has led to a decline in Tory fortunes since the election at the end of
last year. Yet still a good proportion of the British public – 40% by most
reputable polls – places its trust in this government of mixed messages, testing
fiascos, tardy apps and crony contracts.
I guess confused and frightened people often don’t know where
to turn.
As we head deeper into the autumn period, the one thing we do know is that nothing good lies ahead and that further confusion will reign.
Infections
will rise and youngsters will party. University lecturers will teach students
100 metres away over Zoom. Hospitalisation will increase and people will drive
100 miles as the corona flies to get a test. And those testing centres
will be turned into Brexit car parks.
We'll tell ourselves it will all be over by Christmas. Although we won't be sure who's going to be able to join us for the turkey and trimmings.
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