No. 115 - Something Strange Just Happened.

Dear James,

Something strange just happened. Something that was brewing up to be one of the great ‘Fake News’ stories of all times has suddenly been turned on its head and become one of the great ‘Truth Stories’ of all times. The Iranians have just admitted publically that they shot down, by mistake, the Ukrainian airliner on Wednesday. While we may say it was forced upon them by the avalanche of incontrovertible facts, it could also be seen as an act of supreme political courage which holds for everyone a great message. Fake News collapses when exposed to the cleansing winds of honesty and openness. In the face of the data coming out of US and Canadian Intelligence Agencies and the several videos of the last moments of those poor people, the Iranians could no longer sustain their fake news and have held up their hands. This is massive. It could even be some kind of tipping point. Especially when compared with the Russian handling of MH17 in 2014 which stimulated one of the greatest ‘Fake News’ events of all time and one which that sad nation still attempts to uphold.

But why do I bring this up with you, my MP? What has it got to do with British politics and our own behaviours in the last three years? Because fake news has been a major tool of our political dialogue since 2015 and particularly so on the side of the Brexiteers and your party. Now I am not for one moment suggesting that there was not a huge appetite for the revenge visited upon our elites and traditional politics in the recent election. What I am saying is that the way to tip that balance, to get your party over the winning line was the abuse of our system through the use of fake news. All parties were involved but none as much as the Leave campaign and its successors. One remembers Boris’s allusion to Turkey being about to join the EU and bring in an extra 76m Muslims. Or his claim, ridiculed by the UK Statistics Authority as “a clear misuse of official statistics”, that “roughly £350m a week” would be ploughed back into the NHS on leaving the EU. Lies, lies, lies. Most thinking people are fed up with them and that is why today’s news is so significant. 

As already said, the Iranians realised that they could not keep up the pretence. But, unlike the Russians, they have not gone to incredible lengths to attempt to whitewash this awful tragedy. And they will get a huge amount of credit for that in the ‘free world’. Lies are resorted to by people who cannot support their arguments through the laws of evidence and the impartial scrutiny of that evidence. That was the key to the Leavers’ campaign. It was also the key to Boris’s behaviour in the recent election except that by then you realised that the election was not about the evidence that we are all going to be poorer by leaving the EU, but that it was a about cultural identity. Huge numbers of people in the North and Midlands were convinced that it was the EU that caused their pain rather than any internal UK factors. It made them feel better to ‘kick out’ the foreigners.

What I am talking about is the need for transparency and a reconciliation with one of the great cornerstones of our nation, the truth. Boris is seriously handicapped in this area as many of my previous letters have complained but now, with his large majority, perhaps is his opportunity to ‘do an Iran’? You are part of his regime James and, so far, have been complicit in this poisoned atmosphere of fake news.  In your silence you have acquiesced in this conspiracy of half truths, distractions and downright lies. How about coming out and saying we got it wrong on evidence, but got it right on culture?

It would clear the air just like the Iranians have cleared the air today. We can all bear a little ‘spin’ but there is a big difference between that and fake news. So here’s a challenge for you James. Why not set a new career aim of becoming one of those rarest of people - an honest politician! After all, there is nothing to be afraid of in the search for truth. You might even get the credit that Iran is going get over the next few days.

Worth a try?

Kind regards,

BH - Your Concerned Constituent