Happy July 4

Happy July 4 to all our American friends, celebrating the fact their ancestors had the good sense to rid themselves of our awful Royal Family. Here in the UK, it’s General Election time again. For some strange reason, it was called for 2024-07-04. Hopefully the results of this election should be cause for celebration here too, as we finally kick the pernicious pervasive stench that is the Conservative Party well-and-truly into the proverbial gutter.

It is ironic to think that Brexit was primarily about papering-over the cracks in the Tory Party. Instead, it created massive fissures across the nation. It also drove deeply damaging wedges between us and our various friends and allies across the Channel, and across the Irish and North Seas. And of course, our enemies, e.g. Mr Putin are now exploiting those cracks.

Meantime, far from healing the Conservative Party, its cracks are growing ever-wider too. I think what we are witnessing now is the nation’s right wing splitting into two, possibly more rival camps, with the euphemistically named “Reform” party taking a significant chunk of far right Tory support. The internecine squabbles on the right, after the election dust has settled, will be something to behold.

Or to put it another way. Over the last century or so, Tories have systematically killed any notion of proportional representation. I suspect that after this election, their views on PR may undergo a very sudden about-face. 

Meantime a few words from Jonathan Pie

The Tories…

Nigel Farage’s so-called “Reform”…

Featured image of Tory leader Rishi Sunak, and supposed “man of the people”, wealthy hedge-fund manager and populist far-right politician Nigel Farage at top of article were produced using Craiyon. Producing ugly pictures of dodgy politicians seems one of the few things that AI image creation can actually do quite well these days.