Wednesday 22 September 2021

Living down to the words of Bevan

 

In the past few days, in the wake of problems with energy supplies and food, ministers have been almost falling over themselves to assure us that the lights will not be going out this winter, Christmas will not be cancelled, and that talk of a three day week is ‘alarmist and misguided’. Given their track record to date of predicting the consequences of their actions and delivering on promises made, the safest assumption is probably that all three are near certainties, and that the main question is whether they’ll happen in series or in parallel. One might almost think that they’re going out of their way to live down to the accusation made against them by Nye Bevan all those years ago. Lest anyone jump to the wrong conclusion, I’m not talking about them being lower than vermin (although judging by some of their actions, they could well be going for justifying that one as well). No, the one that I’m referring to here is the accusation that they are organising geniuses, an accusation which, in context, was far from being the compliment which the words suggest it to be.

2 comments:

Gwyn Jones said...

I always think of John Phillpot Curran's quote, "In this administration a place can be found for every bad man", or today, or woman, when thinking of Boris' cabinet.
I also think of Jacob Rees Mogg with another of Curran's quotes. "A smile like the silver plate on a coffin".

Gwyn Jones

dafis said...

These guys and gals have an appetite for being duffers. That they had not picked up on the drift of gas prices or the imminent crisis suggests there is a lack of capacity for understanding information. On the other hand it is perfectly consistent with recent antics to suspect they knew what was coming but hoped it might be diverted before it got bad. Classic piece of wishful thinking by Boris and Co. Just like everything else in their box of tricks.