So, I finished writing the last blog post, settled down to my History of the Conservative party and then the phone rang…..
And rang……
And rang……for about an hour…..
I ignored it and then found my fan page bristling with life.
“Why are you hating on Boris? You always liked Boris. I remember you hotly defending Boris twenty years ago when blah blah blah blah blah……”
You get the picture. My lovely ex cannot apparently read any more. This is a guy who used to know more about the Rothschilds and the Classics than most postgraduate specialists, and now he cannot read. I used to get a kick out of the Glasgow hardman/advanced reader combination.
For the benefit of people who think they read this blog and do not apparently understand it, I will go through this again. You will find it under politics and economics, you will find it in Unpopular Blogging,
you will find it in any rudimentary Social Science education programme if you cannot manage to figure it out by looking at those things we used to call books.
Communism, Conservatism, Socialism, Fascism, Liberalism are Debating positions.
They are not intended to be correct, they are intended to reflect points of view, and they have labels for the convenience of humans. It is not gang warfare, it is not something that is supposed to run in families, and it is not meant to be used for killing people. It is, like most academia, a labelling system.
The positions in use reflect philosophy. What we witness as theatrical posturing and drama, is the reenactment of arguments that have gone on for centuries. They are in use to enable us to move towards an honest discussion of day to day issues from the standpoint of centuries of thought.
To say that you “hate Theresa May for fucking up Brexit” is completely stupid. You can hate Theresa May for having no charisma, or for allowing poor decision making because she lacks leadership skills, but to say that you would not sit down to dinner with her and have a perfectly civil conversation because she is probably reasonably good company when she is off script (whenever that is) is a bit silly because she is adopting a debating position.
To say that I am hating on Boris, because I object to elements of Conservatism is equally ridiculous. As you well know, I have always had a soft spot for Boris, because I hear entirely different parts of what Boris has to say than you do, and because I have had a very well rounded life and have direct experience from which to draw which allows me to agree with or understand much of what he stands for.
I may not agree with Conservatism, I may not agree with everything he has to say. He can still be the best person for the job at hand. He can still be the best prospect of having adequate leadership to allow a change of course which means the UK survives.
Likewise, I can make this determination alongside my views on independence, because we do not have independence and our prospects of getting it are dwindling by the day.
I can object to the idea of living in a miserable clannish republic rather than a monarchy, and I can object to the idea of having a limitless stream of people taking jobs when there are so few suitable ones in Scotland.
I have in the past worked on a project where the employees are determined by an English agency, and despite the plethora of perfectly qualified Scottish candidates, only forty percent of the employees in Scotland actually lived here. The people were perfectly pleasant, but as you can see we have a problem.
So, alongside my British tendencies, I am well aware that we are at economic war with our neighbours.
Having said that, we are significantly outnumbered. It is not helpful to get annoyed about it.
Therefore, our best prospect as individuals, is to make the correct decisions based upon the situation in which we find ourselves.
My situation is coloured by my recent experience, in which I have had cause to witness the failings of the NHS, Social Services and the Conservative Party in relation to the public.
This, in combination with my objection to corporatism has led me to believe that a little activism is in order. This has nothing to do with Scotland, and everything to do with public welfare. Boris is merely a rather lovely cherry on top whom I would like to help with the benefit of my critical thinking skills on the way to solving this particular set of problems.
I do hope that makes things clearer for you, and I do not otherwise wish to see any more manga pictures, hear any more conspiracist drivel, or boring, boring stories about how miserably helpless and tedious you are. Please go and relearn how to read. I am BUSY working on the future of the conservative party with a view to reducing the number of people ACTUALLY BEING KILLED! Preferably in a pretty, surreal, cute, romantic and entertaining way alongside the actual academic slog.
Boohiss, poppet. I wouldn’t dream of dissing Boris.