Thursday 14 July 2016

You really couldn't make it up...

Yesterday, I watched Theresa May making her first speech as Britain's new prime minister. What she said was unexpected: she talked about unity - about bringing people together and healing divisions. It all sounded rather good, and for the first time since the referendum result three weeks ago, I allowed myself to feel a little bit of hope that perhaps there might be just a tiny glimmer of light on the horizon.

And then, an hour or so later, she appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister. Here he is.



And here's a link to some of the reactions to this news.

This is the man who employed his considerable gifts of persuasion to persuade the British people into voting to leave the European Union - in, it would appear, a cynical attempt to further his own career. This is the man who walked away when, against his expectation, he succeeded, and it all started to look a bit too difficult. This is the man who has unforgivably insulted world leaders, including Barack Obama, and who has never run a Government department.

So that's it. I've had it. Life in Britain has become so much stranger - and not in a good way - than fiction, that if a talking animal or boy wizard walked in through the door right now, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Back to books it is.

8 comments:

  1. Bizarre to say the least! Urk! Is it just me or does the man look uncannily like Donald Trump?

    As for the speech by your new PM, it sounds rather like the victory speech by Jeff Kennett, the Premier of Victoria back in the 1990s, just before he closed down schools, sold everything not nailed down and threw so many people out of work that his name became a verb - to be "Jeffed" meant you'd lost your job because of him.

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  2. Hi to Sue P and Sue B!
    Sue P, your reactions exactly mirror mine. When May became PM I thought, well, if you have to have a Tory in charge, she's perhaps not the worst one. Then she appointed Johnson and I thought: 'WHAT? - What does he have on her?' I think the American who said, 'Are the Brits having a laugh?' was about right.

    And Sue B, since my basic approach to Tories is to trust them as adders fanged I thought exactly the same as you about May's speech. When Tories talk about healing divisions, it's usually the divisions between multi-milliionaires and poor little hard-done by millionaires.

    The creep Johnson does look uncannily like the creep Trump and there isn't a good word to be said about either of them.

    But oh! The part of May's speech that really had me in stitches was where she said 'In David Cameron I follow in the steps of a great modern prime minister.' WHAT? - Was her tongue so far into her cheek, it hurt? - Or does she have a great sense of humour?

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  3. My heart still sinks when I wake up in the mornings. And strange how people who will admit to voting leave seem rarer than hens teeth in everyday conversation. We truly are a laughing stock and that man's appointment is nothing short of bizarre.

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  4. Well, we'll see. At least we've got a credible opposition. Oh - wait...

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  5. Words and concepts fail me at the moment. And reality. Yes, bring on the choirs of singing unicorns.

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  6. Oh lord, yes, the People's Front of Judea...

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  7. Hey Sue. I am an Indian PhD student at a UK uni and I came across your blog while doing online research on Camilleri and Montalbano who I adore absolutely!!! Talk about a kindred spirit. All the more interesting when I saw this one about Johnson and May... Been strange and depressing being here during the entire Brexit furore. There is also a petition online against May for trying to clamp down on reports of harassment in detention camps for immigrants, like Yarlwood... I didn't know much about it so looking things up now. But yeah books any day are a much more sane and calming influence than most things in the real world.

    PS: I also love Dame Dorothy Sayer's Whimsey novels :)

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    1. I like the Peter Whimsey novels too. But Montalbano and Colin Cotterill's Doctor Siri are my favourite detectives! Thanks for commenting, Reva.

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