I get your exasperation, and it’s only on this thread that the dialogue between us disintegrates.
I genuinely hope it works, but have absolutely no confidence that it will. It’s fine to call for unity and positivity, and if we had that people would definitely have something to feel better about, but it has to be accompanied by actions which most of the electorate will benefit from. What he is saying now will appeal to people who basically agree with him already, and even to them he has to deliver, but further alienate the many who don’t. You don’t get unity like that, just by repeating ‘be positive’ endlessly like some kind of crap management guru (they are all crap).
Johnson certainly isn’t stupid, but he is weird, it’s really hard to tell what he stands for, and my conclusion is that he stands for nothing but himself. He did two terms as a mayor of London, the most left wing city in the country, and you don’t get that with a hard right economic and social agenda. I am pretty sure he is socially quite liberal and a far right free marketer economically, but would dump both to be popular. Now he is in the process of appointing the most economically and socially right wing cabinet this country has ever had, much more than under Thatcher who always had a few ‘wets’ on her team. Good move having Gove, an odious but capable man, as his fixer though.
Really weird times. As a country fixated on ****ing Love Island fully deserves.
In better news my wife has just complimented Laura Keunssberg, not for her searing political insight but for the fact that’s she’s not wearing tights in this heat but also hasn’t bothered with fake tan. She has also noted that Katya Adler has been reporting on EU developments from Bavaria, where nothing political is happening, and deduced that she is on holiday there but still working. It’s great living here, I learn stuff every day.