“The polls suggest he’s about as popular as a razor-sharp candiru parasite travelling down one’s urethra.” As someone who comes from the land of candirus (Brazil), I very much appreciate the representation in your figurative urethra!
Also, welcome back! Your wit is always a ray of sunshine in an otherwise grim reading of the Zeitgeist.
I’m optimistic that we are at the inflection point of the low ebb of cherishing mediocrity. There’s a rumble - your essay and comments as evidence. In the US, biggest challenge is teachers unions, in my opinion. But interestingly, the young parents I know are serious about educating, not indoctrinating, their children. Transparency is working!
I'm generally pro-union, but teaching unions here tend to err on the side of mediocrity. Everyone else suffers. We have many, many bad schools here, especially in poor areas. A bad school should invite the same scandal as bad surgeon. They're far more damaging.
I am pro-worker and union-agnostic. No problem with collective bargaining, but lots of personal experience with national unions being a huge disservice to local workers. Maybe a future essay in that!
Sure. In both America and Britain, the union-business relationship is antagonistic. It works better in Germany and across Scandinavia: bosses and unions work together. It's collaborative. Everyone does well. (A notion far too moderate for our national psyches!)
Strange that electorates in recent times always seem to be offered the choice of 2 hugely unpalatable candidates. UK, US and France are startling examples. Strange too, that if all else fails, the candidate is installed by a 'soft' coup: witness 'Dave' Cameron and 'Richie' Sunak.
I know next to nothing about British politics. I understand your parliament system. We studied it in high school. Of course that was in the 1970s.
Now American politics I do understand. I believe we have two parties, the evil leftist democrats and the mostly cowardly Republicans. There are a handful of constitutional conservatives in the house and senate.
As for Trump, he is the epitome of the cowardly republican. He never vetoed one bill in 4 years. He drove up our debt by 8 trillion in 4 years.
Wow. Really? I'm a traditional liberal, but I hoped Trump would reset the system. But he wanted to be liked. A fatal flaw. Then again, Trump changed the norm on trade, China, cheap-labour immigration, foreign interventions, and 'free-market' corporate pieties. Nobody with a hope of winning would dare resurrect the tired old Jeb/Hillary consensus. So, there's that. Even Republicans these days pretend to care about the ordinary working man and woman.
As Gore Vidal said, America has one corporate party with two wings--Republicans and Democrats.
If you could nominate a president, whose your pick?
If I could pick, Gov DeSantis of Florida. He governs as a conservative in the best sense of the word. He is running, but Iowa will tell us if it's all smoke and mirrors.
Oh how I wish we had Thatcher and Reagan type people. I didn't always agree with them, but they stood on principle and were real leaders.
They were, yes. Tony Benn was the other end of the scale, but an intensely bright and learned man. Politicians used to be accomplished people, and not just salesmen. The calibre of politicians today is little more than that of failed celebrities.
DeSantis is bad on TV. That's usually fatal for American politics. Crazy, really. If muscular conservatism is your thing, then DeSantis should have walked the nomination.
It isn't over yet. I have faith in DeSantis, but as you say, our politicians have become salesmen, and we the people are responsible for that. I am reminded of the scene in Gladiator, "are you not entertained?"
In my dreams this election year will be the one in which the British electorate finally wises up to the BBC/ITV /C4 election time, party-political psychodrama - and sees it for the reality-tv show (and journo job-creation scheme) that it has long since been. And then cottons on to the fact that the British "Government" is now basically the British Civil Service (university-sheep-dipped to a 'person') garnished with a few pop-up 'politician' figures to make it look like a Democracy.
True. The problem is... we have wised up. But there's no real way to express that. The Boris landslide was a wising up, as was the UKIP moment. Alas, we got what we were given--Sunak and Hunt.
It's a longshot, but hopefully chaos reigns. They adopt PR. And we boot these mediocrities into the long grass for a generation. I wonder what that would look like... Surely, Labour would split. The hard left would get... 10%? Any party with Farage at the helm would do well, too. In summary, it would be the end of the Robert Peston-ocracy. Better yet, the Pestons of the world want PR. They don't realise it would end their grubby little morality play.
For me the UK political class is just a bad joke but the more serious toxin in our governance is the Blob (the UK Civil Service in other words). Because it is this vast permanent bureaucracy that truly now governs us no matter who gets elected. I don't think the public has wised up to this.
No, but they know instinctively, hence why they don't bother voting. What's the point? Boris won a landslide, then gets bounced for that bullshit Partygate saga. If that were a Labour government, the media wouldn't have bothered.
Good to have you back.....I don't make NY resolutions, I'm perfect, obvs, and I'm drinking prosecco weekly (cheaper than beer at the moment)....I'd rather Sunak than Smarmer. Please, not Smarmer. What's a woman, Keiff? Well....it's someone with a penis or not? For the love of God, I just want to stick pins in my eyes every time I hear that nasal whine...."I'm a man of many principles, which ones would you like?"
It's a terrible choice. Liberal Democrats? Ha. Even more demented. I was leaning toward Starmer, despite his flaws and general supine nature. Apparently, Tony Blair is pulling his strings. Nope. That leaves me with... the SDP. They're sensible but there's little point. They'd clean up with PR. Or a joke vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party. Their best policy: socks to be sold in threes. Finally, something to vote for!
The SDP? They're still a thing? Blimey.....Labour don't even field a candidate where I live, there's no point. It's a true blue heartland although for a while was libdem coward yellow 😂 I think Ed Davey has done much to completely demolish any whisper of a chance they had anywhere with his dreadful response to his part in the Post Office scandal. He made a heroic effort to cover his arse (he thought)......it doesn't surprise me that evil warmonger Blair is meddling behind the scenes. Apparently he is considering a job as peace envoy in Gaza.....let him go, I say, the sooner the better but without his taxpayer funded protection detail....harsh but fair, harsh but fair.
My first editor once remarked, "Isn't it a good thing we don't have a _real_ meritocracy?" He meant, of course, that if we had an honest-to-goodness meritocracy, most of the so-called elite would be consigned to mediocrity. He also meant the opportunity existed for mediocrities to shine now and again. You take the good, you take the bad, as the sages say.
Perhaps the rub is that merit was once defined as Doing Things, which got one the most toys. Now it's defined as Having the Most Toys. And financial fiddles pay much, much better than Doing Things.
I'm all for meritocracy, mate. But this stage is clearly post-merit. Perhaps it's turning, though. Claudine Gay got dropped. Kamala is off the radar. What do you think?
Our two party system is a choice between Syphilis and Herpes.
Yes, that sounds about right.
Brilliant, as always. Good to have you back, Mr. Gage.
Glad to be back.
Irons!
I love it. Crème de la crème. It takes a trained eye to spot gold. That’s why most the stuff we love the authors dead.
Almost always. Lexi Freiman is a great modern satirist. Worth a look!
Wow, I think you made some good points here. And I like the description of R vs D as syphilis vs herpes.
“The polls suggest he’s about as popular as a razor-sharp candiru parasite travelling down one’s urethra.” As someone who comes from the land of candirus (Brazil), I very much appreciate the representation in your figurative urethra!
Also, welcome back! Your wit is always a ray of sunshine in an otherwise grim reading of the Zeitgeist.
Thank you, Gabi. Happy to finally use that reference. Ha!
Welcome back. Mr Gage! I missed the snark!
I’m optimistic that we are at the inflection point of the low ebb of cherishing mediocrity. There’s a rumble - your essay and comments as evidence. In the US, biggest challenge is teachers unions, in my opinion. But interestingly, the young parents I know are serious about educating, not indoctrinating, their children. Transparency is working!
Hello, friend.
I'm generally pro-union, but teaching unions here tend to err on the side of mediocrity. Everyone else suffers. We have many, many bad schools here, especially in poor areas. A bad school should invite the same scandal as bad surgeon. They're far more damaging.
I am pro-worker and union-agnostic. No problem with collective bargaining, but lots of personal experience with national unions being a huge disservice to local workers. Maybe a future essay in that!
Sure. In both America and Britain, the union-business relationship is antagonistic. It works better in Germany and across Scandinavia: bosses and unions work together. It's collaborative. Everyone does well. (A notion far too moderate for our national psyches!)
Strange that electorates in recent times always seem to be offered the choice of 2 hugely unpalatable candidates. UK, US and France are startling examples. Strange too, that if all else fails, the candidate is installed by a 'soft' coup: witness 'Dave' Cameron and 'Richie' Sunak.
Yes. The meritocrats cannot fathom any other way. They're brighter than the rest, you see. (Don't let their awful record tell you any different!)
Mr. Gage, welcome back. I hope you are well.
I know next to nothing about British politics. I understand your parliament system. We studied it in high school. Of course that was in the 1970s.
Now American politics I do understand. I believe we have two parties, the evil leftist democrats and the mostly cowardly Republicans. There are a handful of constitutional conservatives in the house and senate.
As for Trump, he is the epitome of the cowardly republican. He never vetoed one bill in 4 years. He drove up our debt by 8 trillion in 4 years.
His only lasting achievement?
Using the federalist societies list of judges.
So, no, Trump is no better than Biden.
Thank you, my friend.
Wow. Really? I'm a traditional liberal, but I hoped Trump would reset the system. But he wanted to be liked. A fatal flaw. Then again, Trump changed the norm on trade, China, cheap-labour immigration, foreign interventions, and 'free-market' corporate pieties. Nobody with a hope of winning would dare resurrect the tired old Jeb/Hillary consensus. So, there's that. Even Republicans these days pretend to care about the ordinary working man and woman.
As Gore Vidal said, America has one corporate party with two wings--Republicans and Democrats.
If you could nominate a president, whose your pick?
If I could pick, Gov DeSantis of Florida. He governs as a conservative in the best sense of the word. He is running, but Iowa will tell us if it's all smoke and mirrors.
Oh how I wish we had Thatcher and Reagan type people. I didn't always agree with them, but they stood on principle and were real leaders.
They were, yes. Tony Benn was the other end of the scale, but an intensely bright and learned man. Politicians used to be accomplished people, and not just salesmen. The calibre of politicians today is little more than that of failed celebrities.
DeSantis is bad on TV. That's usually fatal for American politics. Crazy, really. If muscular conservatism is your thing, then DeSantis should have walked the nomination.
It isn't over yet. I have faith in DeSantis, but as you say, our politicians have become salesmen, and we the people are responsible for that. I am reminded of the scene in Gladiator, "are you not entertained?"
In my dreams this election year will be the one in which the British electorate finally wises up to the BBC/ITV /C4 election time, party-political psychodrama - and sees it for the reality-tv show (and journo job-creation scheme) that it has long since been. And then cottons on to the fact that the British "Government" is now basically the British Civil Service (university-sheep-dipped to a 'person') garnished with a few pop-up 'politician' figures to make it look like a Democracy.
True. The problem is... we have wised up. But there's no real way to express that. The Boris landslide was a wising up, as was the UKIP moment. Alas, we got what we were given--Sunak and Hunt.
It's a longshot, but hopefully chaos reigns. They adopt PR. And we boot these mediocrities into the long grass for a generation. I wonder what that would look like... Surely, Labour would split. The hard left would get... 10%? Any party with Farage at the helm would do well, too. In summary, it would be the end of the Robert Peston-ocracy. Better yet, the Pestons of the world want PR. They don't realise it would end their grubby little morality play.
For me the UK political class is just a bad joke but the more serious toxin in our governance is the Blob (the UK Civil Service in other words). Because it is this vast permanent bureaucracy that truly now governs us no matter who gets elected. I don't think the public has wised up to this.
No, but they know instinctively, hence why they don't bother voting. What's the point? Boris won a landslide, then gets bounced for that bullshit Partygate saga. If that were a Labour government, the media wouldn't have bothered.
You're back in the game, from the first paragraph on. Welcome!
Glad to be back. Thanks, mate. More to come!
Good to have you back.....I don't make NY resolutions, I'm perfect, obvs, and I'm drinking prosecco weekly (cheaper than beer at the moment)....I'd rather Sunak than Smarmer. Please, not Smarmer. What's a woman, Keiff? Well....it's someone with a penis or not? For the love of God, I just want to stick pins in my eyes every time I hear that nasal whine...."I'm a man of many principles, which ones would you like?"
And you, friend. Happy new year.
It's a terrible choice. Liberal Democrats? Ha. Even more demented. I was leaning toward Starmer, despite his flaws and general supine nature. Apparently, Tony Blair is pulling his strings. Nope. That leaves me with... the SDP. They're sensible but there's little point. They'd clean up with PR. Or a joke vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party. Their best policy: socks to be sold in threes. Finally, something to vote for!
“Socks to be sold in threes” - that made me howl with laughter. Many thanks.
The SDP? They're still a thing? Blimey.....Labour don't even field a candidate where I live, there's no point. It's a true blue heartland although for a while was libdem coward yellow 😂 I think Ed Davey has done much to completely demolish any whisper of a chance they had anywhere with his dreadful response to his part in the Post Office scandal. He made a heroic effort to cover his arse (he thought)......it doesn't surprise me that evil warmonger Blair is meddling behind the scenes. Apparently he is considering a job as peace envoy in Gaza.....let him go, I say, the sooner the better but without his taxpayer funded protection detail....harsh but fair, harsh but fair.
Yes! They're culturally conservative/economically sane. With PR, they'd be a force.
Lib Dems are weird. I voted Clegg for my first ever vote. They were at least somewhat noticeable then. No idea what they're about now.
Hahahaha. The author of most of today's many problems. The bloke's a narcissist.
The SDP is worth a look. Rod Liddle is a member, plus some other sensible sane types: https://sdp.org.uk/
My first editor once remarked, "Isn't it a good thing we don't have a _real_ meritocracy?" He meant, of course, that if we had an honest-to-goodness meritocracy, most of the so-called elite would be consigned to mediocrity. He also meant the opportunity existed for mediocrities to shine now and again. You take the good, you take the bad, as the sages say.
It's the only justifiable system I can think of. But it needs a reboot every generation or so. No doubt we are at the sclerotic stage of the cycle!
Perhaps the rub is that merit was once defined as Doing Things, which got one the most toys. Now it's defined as Having the Most Toys. And financial fiddles pay much, much better than Doing Things.
I'm all for meritocracy, mate. But this stage is clearly post-merit. Perhaps it's turning, though. Claudine Gay got dropped. Kamala is off the radar. What do you think?