In the Court of the Brexit King
- March 21, 2021
- by
- Matt
If there’s one important lesson about politics that tends too often to go unlearned, it’s this: You don’t need to be a genius or a titan to take power and use that power for malign purposes. In Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi – a surreal parody of Macbeth – the foulmouthed, halfwitted childlike slob Pere Ubu massacres the King of Poland and his family and reduces Poland to servitude under his tyrannical and arbitrary rule. The murdered Polish king’s son Bougrelas laments the destruction of his family and his kingdom by ‘vulgar Pere Ubu, an adventurer...
Ursula in Blunderland
- January 31, 2021
- by
- Matt
At first sight, the government of a country that has just reached the grim figure of 100,000 covid-related deaths and the third highest per capita covid death rate in the world shouldn’t have much to celebrate. Yet a poll this week suggests that Johnson and his cabinet-of-the-damned have gained four points, bringing its potential vote...
The Lie Machine
- January 23, 2021
- by
- Matt
Political lying is not a new phenomenon, but there are many different kinds of political lies. There are lies that governments tell their populations in order to achieve specific objectives in war and diplomacy. There are up-front, out-loud lies based on the invention of facts, and lies that are achieved through the concealment and obfuscation...
On the Tenth Day of Brexit, My True Love Gave to Me
- January 10, 2021
- by
- Matt
It’s less than two weeks since the Supreme Leader Comrade John-Son-Un signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement the day before the transition period for leaving the EU expired. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be a Brexiter was very heaven. John-Son-Un himself, never one to hide his light under...
Why I’m Not ‘Moving On’
- January 03, 2021
- by
- Matt
Many years ago back in 2003, the Dixie Chicks played in London on the eve of the Iraq War, and their vocalist Natalie Maines had the temerity to criticise the war, and George Bush, while introducing one of their finest songs Travellin’ Soldier. This statement dragged the group into a political storm. The Chicks, as...
2020: The Year that Wasn’t
- December 31, 2020
- by
- Matt
Of all the things I expected from 2020 last New Year’s Eve, I have to say I did not expect to be living under actual or semi quarantine for nine months in the middle of a pandemic. My wife was more prescient. As far back as last December she expressed concern that the virus in...
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