Politics becomes less palatable? No. Disappointed? Yes!

Brexit with Boris Johnson, or Brexit without Boris Johnson, or no Brexit? It’s becoming seriously difficult to identify which has the best prospects, and for who, with all of the conflicting dialogue, and the petulant parliamentarians acting like juveniles. Honestly, if they behaved like that at their private schools, they would have spent half the day getting the cane, and the other half wearing the hat with a big ‘D’ on it while sitting on the ‘naughty stool’ facing the corner. Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher were no saints, that’s for sure, but they would be turning in their tombs if they were aware of the political shenanigans in the Houses of Parliament, especially from the Speaker of the House, John Bercow, who is meant to be an ‘impartial referee,’ and ensure that dignity is maintained in the proceedings, but also from a number of others, who appear to think that they can have their ’15 minutes of fame’, by defying convention, their constituents, and good sense. And at the same time we have political chaos in the (dis) United States of America, as the civil servants argue incessantly over the legality of an impending impeachment of President Donald Trump. I watched CNN, Fox and ABC over the weekend and couldn’t believe how dismissive the politicians are of what the President is said to have done. Nobody is saying he didn’t conspire with the Ukranians, and that he didn’t involve his personal lawyer in state negotiations etc, but his supporters are belittling both the actions and their effect. That’s possibly the most frustrating element of politics today, in which the news media and social media appear to be much more important to politicians everywhere, than the voters, the people who put them in power. I am firmly of the opinion that social media doesn’t make one accountable, and that’s why the politicians are utilising it so vehemently. They can say white is white today, and black tomorrow, and laugh off any challenge as inconsequential, or ‘fake news’. The list of infamy just gets longer and longer too, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he of the immaculate pedigree, as the son of former prime minister and ministeress Pierre and Margaret Trudeau. The ‘poster boy’, for indigenous rights, who is ‘resolutely’ pro-choice on abortion, favours the legalization of cannabis, and is an advocate of gay rights, yes? Well, it turns out the snowy-headed boy isn’t all he seems, as he ‘blacked-up’ for a party in his teaching days, thus demonstrating a callous disregard for a significant number of his constituents! Indignity and offence now pursue him relentlessly, and he is conspicuous by his absence from the headlines too, just now! Uganda demonstrated too, that they have got lost in the rush as the world continues to embrace diversity, gender issues, by seeking to enact a dormant 2014 Parliamentary Law, through the country’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo, and with the support of President Yoweri Museveni. “Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence,” said Lokodo recently. I honestly don’t see the point of finding yet another form of justification for putting people to death on the African continent, so riven by discontent and hardship, wars, pestilence and famine, to provide yet another nail in an already bloody coffin. Then, to cap it all, in the last week, the Americans moved out of Syria and the Turks moved in with guns blazing, signaling yet more misery for those poor Syrians who must feel that their God has deserted them. Maybe, on this occasion, however much their politicians have let them down; they have also not been well-served by their brotherhood or their faith? petersen_ray@hotmail.com