Kakistocracy XXV:Peppa Pigs Might Fly.

"I love muddy puddles" - Peppa Pig

That's something Peppa has in common with Boris Johnson except when Johnson jumps in a muddy puddle the whole country gets splattered and he, somehow - remarkably, stays in power. Though the excruciatingly embarrassing Peppa Pig speech to an aghast audience at a Confederation of British Industry in South Shields (one in which Johnson lied about the BBC, impersonated a racing car, and stumbled several times while asking "forgive me" (no fucking chance)) may have been the most cringe inducing moment of his leadership of the country, it was far from his most venal.

We know only to expect lies, scapegoating, and division from Johnson and, of course, we've had that in spades since I last wrote. We have recently discovered that, last Christmas (one in which Boris Johnson resolutely did not give us his heart) - at a time when government advice was to avoid all unnecessary travel and social mixing, Johnson hosted a party at Number Ten Downing Street.

The rest of London had been told, several times, by Johnson and disgraced former Health Secretary Matt Hancock that they should avoid going out for anything but essential reasons. The Downing Street party contradicted, clearly, their own advice - advice given only hours before it took place, and broke the law.   

Who's even surprised when this government breaks the law now? Laws are for small people. As is morality. George Freeman, the Tory MP for mid-Norfolk, said when asked if a party at Downing Street had taken place:- "I've no idea. I wasn't there. But I'm told by those who were that all the guidance was observed".

It's incredible they should take us for such fools - and it's even more incredible we should accept it. Geoffrey Cox, Tory MP for Torridge and West Devon, has been discovered to have, in recent years, earned over £6,000,000 for what tends to be called 'second' jobs (when they pay you that much, they're your first job). Cox, in 2015, put a claim in for 49p for a bottle of milk.

The twenty seven migrants that tragically died in the Channel recently (and have been so demonised under this government, particularly by Priti Patel)? Would they, does anybody seriously believe, have taken as much out of the UK as Cox does? Does anyone think they'd have set up offshore accounts so they can squirrel away their huge 'earnings' while paying either no tax or next to nothing?

When the likes of Cox and Johnson are bleeding Britain dry, it makes sense for them to point to the already marginalised and others who seek only a better lives for themselves and their family as a distraction. Johnson's not completely against people taking prolonged stays, possibly even permanent residence, in far off lands though. Take the ongoing case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

She's still under house arrest in Iran and unable to see her husband and her seven year old daughter. Husband Richard recently went on a hunger strike regarding her detainment and the placard he held at the time pointed out that under Theresa May, five different ministers visited Iran to try and negotiate her release but since Johnson has come to power, despite many vague promises, not a single person has made that trip.

That would be bad enough but when you consider that it was Johnson's lying that got her locked up in the first place, it becomes morally indefensible. As with much of Johnson's behaviour. Even those who voted for him are now getting shafted by a man incapable of keeping a promise, incapable of telling the truth, and utterly incapable of governing a village fete, let alone a nation.

One of the reasons, it is believed, that Johnson's party won so many 'red wall' seats was the promise of 'levelling up' in which HS2 was a major part. Much of that has now been pulled. Johnson's got the votes of the stupid northerners and now they can go fuck themselves. That's not my mindset. That's his. 

Northerners shouldn't take it personally that the cosplay construction conman Johnson has treated them like gullible idiots. He treats everyone like a gullible idiot and many, from north, south, and elsewhere just suck it up. Until, like his wives and children, he gets bored with them and follows whatever whim, or piece of arse - a part of the body so regularly slapped by his father Stanley, he fancies next.

Where has this government by chaos got us? It's brought us division, a disastrous Brexit, supply chain shortages, and the normalisation of lying. It's also brought us a Covid death toll of 145,414. That's the seventh highest in the world. Behind USA, Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia, and Peru. We've actually moved back up the list by overtaking Indonesia, a nation with roughly four times as many people as the UK.

As the omicron variant (which, to me, sounds like Mars Volta album) reaches our shores people are, again - sensibly, being told to mask up on public transport and in shops (although Johnson, on many occasions, has been seen not to bother because rules, as we have established, are for the little people) but only time will tell if that means we'll have to cancel, or postpone - again, our Christmas parties. Which is a pity because I have both a works one and a friends one I'm looking forward to.

If they do get cancelled/postponed, I'll understand but if Downing Street hosts one while the rest of us can't (as we now know they did last year while many of the rest of simply cancelled Christmas) that'll be a little harder to take.

Despite this government cynicism, there is still joy to be had in life and it has come from the usual places. I've been, as always, up and down but I've enjoyed chatting with Adam, with my parents, and with Michelle and Evie on the phone. It was Evie's sixth birthday and watching her joyful face as she opened her presents was an amazing tonic.

It was good, if possibly unwise, to go on the lash with Ian (first in Bermondsey and then again, a fortnight later, in Elephant And Castle). I, quite rightly, enjoyed the Joy exhibition, and a nice veggie meal of mercimek kofte in Mildred's after with Darren and a brief catch up with Matt and Nat in Shoreditch after seeing the film Natural Light at the Curzon Hoxton. As for putting myself forwards as a director for my housing block, that was a reluctant move in which I was somehow simultaneously pleased and disappointed to be accepted as one of the three to take the position.

We'll see how that pans out. Other cultural expeditions have included an online Skeptics talk about Wikipedia, Annicka Yi at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern, Keith Boshier at the Gazelli Art House, and Mixing It Up at the Hayward Gallery. But, most exciting of all, I've got my booster jab down at the Tessa Jowell Health Centre in East Dulwich this afternoon. Hopefully I won't get a sore arm or feel sick. Hopefully it'll be a boost to me. But nowhere near as big a boost as the day British politics slams the door firmly shut in the face of Boris Johnson, his lying, his corruption, and his criminality.