We should be used by now to the uncoupling of rightwing discourse from fact. See, for example, the Daily Telegraph’s vilification of the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, on the basis that he is refusing to send vehicles discarded under the Ulez scheme to Ukraine, when the power to make this happen rests with government ministers. The US talkshow host Jesse Kelly has taken this tendency to new heights, when he illustrated his belief that European art and architecture “can’t touch ours” with an image of the Statue of Liberty. When it was pointed out on X that the landmark was a gift from France to the United States, designed by a French sculptor and a French engineer, Kelly replied: “I thought @elonmusk taking over would let freedom ring out. Guess I was wrong.” The truth, for people like Kelly, is an affront to their sacred right to be awe-inspiringly dumb.
Lording it in style
One of the obstacles to the desperately needed renovation of the Houses of Parliament is the reluctance of MPs and lords to leave their neo-gothic workplace while the works are carried out. Numerous ideas have come and gone for a temporary home, with no sign of progress. Now Alan Rusbridger, editor of Prospect magazine and former editor of the Guardian, has proposed that they relocate to the under-used and spacious Buckingham Palace, an idea more feasible than, for example, Michael Gove’s notion of moving the House of Lords to Stoke-on-Trent. Politically, it’s brilliant. It would enable King Charles to look magnanimous, if he lent one of his many homes to the service of democracy, and it would enable parliamentarians to work in the sort of splendour to which they have become accustomed.
Pint-sized dividend
My late father, a traditionalist, fought a one-man campaign to preserve the guinea, the historic unit of currency worth one pound and one shilling, or £1.05 today. In pursuit of this aim, he might, for example, present a grandchild with a cheque for £105, or one hundred guineas. He also liked wine. But for all his attachment to old measures and old ways, I never heard him express any desire for one-pint bottles of his favourite drink, or regret that EU regulations made them impossible. Which adds a bit more evidence, if it were needed, of the emptiness of the gimmick that is the government’s announcement that such things will now be permitted, as part of the long-promised Brexit dividend.
Taken to extremes
A new year resolution for anyone who genuinely wants a better world: get rid of the destructive habit, fuelled by social media, of characterising movements with which you disagree by their most toxic and extreme elements. Thus, the millions around the world who protest in support of the Palestinians are told they are Hamas sympathisers and apologists for genocide, and that their demonstrations are “hate marches”. A few nasty statements or placards are used to damn everyone. Even good and smart individuals play this game: “If anyone bothered to ask people chanting ‘Free free Palestine’”, the distinguished historian Simon Schama recently wrote, “whether they imagine such a Palestine existing in place of Israel or alongside it, I’m guessing the vast majority would answer the former. Which presupposes an annihilation of Jews that is never going to happen.”
If Schama himself had bothered to ask this question rather than guessing, he might have found that no, they don’t support such annihilation. As a participant in these marches, I’d say that this assertion is a slander on the overwhelmingly decent people around me, which does nothing to achieve peace and understanding.
