Kakistocracy XXXIV:Party Til You Puke.

"We dent, we dope, we choke, we gun, we kill, we stab, we rob, we steal. Party 'til you puke, party 'til you puke" - Party 'Til You Puke, Andrew WK

When Sue Gray's report was finally released, the one that all the loyal Johnsonites said we needed to wait for, it was pretty damning. Events where people, like Andrew WK, literally partied until they puked, rudeness (unsurprisingly) to cleaning and security staff, more parties and fines than any other address in the entire country, and some people (though not Johnson himself - despite being photographed at several events) receiving multiple fines. Eighty three Downing Street staff in total were fined over partying during lockdown. Some of them up to five times.

It was pretty damning. But it wasn't damning enough. Nothing ever is for Johnson. Him and his band of loyalists (you know the ones, the ones who would never reach a such a high position under any other half-decent leader - Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps) showed absolutely no serious contrition whatsoever and Johnson went as far as to say he'd do it all over again.

The only action that seems to have been taken is Johnson overseeing the rewriting of the ministerial code. In preparation - most likely - for further egregious behaviour. The people letting him get away with his crimes and pushing the UK ever closer to a dictatorship appeared on television to proudly boast how amazing he is for getting away with it.

But they're the ones letting him get away with it. At least enough letters went in to Graham Brady to trigger a vote of confidence on Johnson's leadership but, of course, too many Tory MPs were too cowardly to get rid of a leader they know is dragging the country down. 148 voted against Johnson but 211 voted for him. 

211 absolute bastards and if any of them should be your MP please do the country a favour and make sure you vote them out at the next election. Weakened, some say he's a dead man walking - and let's hope he is, Johnson limps on into the next crisis and fills the gaps, the ever shortening gaps, between disasters with stupid culture war distractions like saying we should go back to imperial measures.

Which we already use in many cases (we drink pints of beer - not litres, our road signs are in miles) but that doesn't mean Johnson won't suggest that somehow they were banned under the EU. There's a genuine cost of living crisis happening now and it's growing all the time fuelled by the twin disasters of Brexit and Putin's war in Ukraine and that doesn't seem to be being addressed at all.

No wonder people booed Johnson at the jubilee celebrations and it's no wonder that polls are showing an almost certain loss in the upcoming Wakefield by-election (caused by the Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan having to stand down after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15 year old boy) and a likely loss in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election. Itself caused by another Tory MP, Neil Parish, resigning as an MP after being found to have watched pornography in the House of Commons.

Jeez. What a fucking lot. It shames the country that they remain in power and our international standing is now understandably laughable. Luckily, there are good things going on here too - and none of them concern the shower of shit that calls itself our government. 

I've been going to art exhibitions (Alice Theobald at the South London Gallery, Raphael at the National, and a visit to the Museum of Neoliberalism in Lee), attending Skeptics and Fortean talks (Margery Jourdemayne, the nature of delusion, and satirical cartoons), saw To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre, and have chatted on the phone with both Michelle and Vicki.

Luckily, I've seen friends in real life. Annasivia was over from Los Angeles so me and Gareth caught up with her for drinks in Peckham, I went to a great Parquet Courts gig with Pam and Stu at Brixton Academy last Thursday, I had my works leaving do (yes, my contract ended) at The Cosy Club in Basingstoke (and it was great, such nice people), and the next day caught some lunch with my parents in the Hatch pub in Basing.

I even joined Pam, Neil, Bee, Catherine, and Colin for the Wide Awake festival in Brixton, did another leg of the Thames Path (Hammersmith-Teddington), and ventured out to Southend (from Benfleet) with TADS quite recently. You can read about all those events by simply clicking on the hyperlinks but you knew that. You know how the internet works.

And, by know, you should know how the government works too. Or doesn't work. It doesn't work to serve the people and it doesn't work to serve the country. It works to serve itself. As it long has done (think how many events in recent decades, from general elections to Brexit, stemmed from a desire to stop infighting within the Tory party and yet only made it worse). But now, with the party in the grip of Johnson cultists who despite being Conservatives conserve nothing and destroy everything, working to serve the party means working to serve Johnson.

The UK has got itself into such a sorry state that the entire country is now being run for one reason and one reason only. To keep Boris Johnson in power. That's not a dictatorship. Not yet. But when we do finally rid ourselves of this narcissistic sociopath we will have a lot of healing to do. It'd help if we stopped wounding ourselves so regularly. It's not the parties that make me puke. It's the government.