No. 174 – We Have the Most Incompetent and Nationalistic Government Ever. And We Have Only Ourselves to Blame!

Dear James, 

Self-esteem is a wonderful thing. Of course, for reasons of genetics, psychology or social conditioning, not everyone has it. I’m lucky. I have a not inconsiderable store of self-respect although esteem might be pushing it a bit far. However, compared with Boris Johnson, I am a pauper. Boris is in a league of his own. He was born into the stuff and it seems that nothing can drag him from his bounteous hoard. His irrepressible smirk says it all. He was born to be admired and trusted. Even when he misspeaks or misgoverns, in his own world, Boris can do no wrong. 

He misspoke twice last week. He couldn’t remember the rules for various lockdowns in the North. Last April his high esteem colleague, Matt Hancock, did something similar. He called the Contact Tracing App crucial in the fight against Coronavirus. Then in June he scrapped it. Today it’s October and we still have no effective test and trace system in the UK. What we do have is the highest death rate in Europe and the worst economic slump in the developed world. Incompetence and inefficiency are words that barely scratch the surface of Boris’s government’s dire performance in the pandemic. Yesterday he seemed to admit his responsibility and warned us all about ‘the bumpy road ahead’. But oh boy, that smirk still hovered around his flabby reassurances as if to say, ‘What a prank this life thing is! What fun to be here at the top, no matter what happens to you poor bastards below’. Ruling by the entitled is a tough job but when you have self-esteem like his you can do anything – even break the law.  

But let’s be careful. As we point the finger of blame at Boris and his tawdry crew of sub-standard politicians, always remember the old Arab saying. ‘When you point the finger of blame, remember that there are always three fingers pointing back at you.’ Who is to blame for the fact that about half of our population resents the other half to the extent that they have voted in a group of incompetent, privileged and nationalistic oligarchs who, while pretending concern for the common man, are running a self-serving nationalist agenda expressed as Brexit. And we let it happen. Why? 

Because we too, the so called ‘educated classes’ - and that means anyone with A-levels or who went to university - succumbed to the same temptations as the current oligarchy. We have self-esteem in bucket loads. We achieved success through our own merit, got our A-levels, got into this college or that university. Of course, we feel sorry for those who did not rise but it is their fault. They weren’t clever enough. They do not contribute as much as we do to GDP and therefore they are less deserving than us.  Built into our system is the politics of humiliation. They have become the left behinds because we do not recognize them as worthy of our own success. 

I was born into a lower middle class family. My father was an engineer, a chief inspector at a factory that made parts for aeroplanes. I had a younger brother and while I got into a grammar school he failed the 11-Plus. Notice the words. ‘Failed’ and ’11-Plus’. Subsequently I went on to university, travelled the world and finally set up my own business. Meanwhile my brother struggled at school and became a chef and later a manager at a car dealership. But our CVs are not the point. Underneath all that, despite being civil to my brother, I now know that I always suffered from an innate hubris that has been with me ever since. I ‘love’ my brother in a family sort of way, but I know that I am ‘different’ i.e ‘better’ than him. Even today when he phones me there is a tremor in his voice. It is the tremor of an ancient humiliation. I am ashamed. My brother voted for Brexit even though he now regrets it. My neglect of him and others like him is why our country is now in a mess. 

Michael Young in his famous book, ‘The Rise of the Meritocracy’ warned us of this way back in 1958. He said the winners would consider their success a ‘just reward for their own capacity, for their own efforts, for their undeniable achievement.’ Those who failed would have no one to blame but themselves. 

Brexit teaches us that we have to change all that. We have to rediscover our moral stance. Remember our clapping for the NHS? That was a great beginning. From the ward cleaners to the nurses, to the doctors we said thank you and in so doing gave everyone from top to bottom the affirmation they all deserve. Unless we do that to the rest of society very soon, we will condemn our nation to many more decades of rule by the likes of Boris Johnson. Do we really want that?   

Kind regards, 

BH – Your Concerned Constituent