An Embarrassment

Time for a confession as to how I filled the hours in hospital and convalescing at home since I wasn't applying myself to the finer aspects of reading and film so readily available to me. I'm afraid I spent far too much time idly browsing stuff online through my phone. My rather pathetic excuse for this, which has some relevance to when I was in hospital, is that in my weakened state it was easier to hold the phone than a book and the habit sort of stuck.

When I finally awoke from my delirium the first news I took in concerned the death of Queen Elizabeth. To be honest, I didn't quite believe it at first, but then realised that Mei, who first told me about it, was being perfectly serious. She then confirmed for me that Liz Truss was the current PM of the UK, which was no surprise. For some reason the latter point sparked in me a minor obsession regarding following the progress of the UK government through the news online and this fed into my use of the phone.

I was reminded of the feeling of incredulous horror I felt in the early days of the Trump presidency. How could a serious nation be led by a woman without any notable qualities? The puzzle has remained, if anything growing in intensity as I have become more familiar with the lady in question, and the ministers she has surrounded herself with. Time was when even if I detested a particular government (the Thatcher regime springs to mind) the essential competence of the politicos in charge wasn't in any real doubt. But this government are so obviously incapable of running a country it's painfully embarrassing to watch and read about.

One simple example. Surely the giving of speeches is central to what politicians do? Now I don't expect every party leader to be a brilliantly charismatic speaker, but it's reasonable to expect then to sound fluent and relaxed. So far I haven't heard a single public utterance from the current PM that hasn't sounded stilted and clumsy in the way of very average students who just don't seem to 'get' the basics of public speaking.

But the folly is mine for bothering to spend so much time following this stuff and the intemperate commentary that follows it. One of the good things about getting back to work has been the way I've managed to distance myself from it.