Well, we didn’t see that coming, did we?
I am sure you have all followed the UK election results as closely as we have and, undoubtedly, were as delighted as we were that Mrs May’s decision to hold an early election (in spite of having said she would not do so on half a dozen occasions previously) backfired spectacularly. At the time she called the election the Conservatives had something approaching a 20 point lead in the polls; the result was a Conservative loss of thirteen seats and the evaporation of their overall Commons majority. Splendid.
Most of the papers and television and radio commentators are summarising the election as an humiliation for Mrs May, which is probably fair. She called the election to “strengthen” her position in negotiations with the EU, due to start this month, over Britain’s withdrawal. Oops!
But, of course, it’s all about expectations. This was meant to be a Tory landslide with a 100+ majority and the demolition of Labour. Instead, Labour did better than expected and the Tories considerably worse. However, Labour did no better than they did when Gordon Brown lost in 2010 and left us with a coalition government, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. This time though nearly every party had previously ruled out a coalition with the Tories so Theresa May’s government is going to be propped up by the ten seats held by the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, the party which is perhaps the most Trump-like in British politics – climate change deniers, anti-women’s rights and opposed to marriage rights equality. (This is a bit challenging as the leader of the Conservative party in Scotland is gay and is about to marry her partner. Hmm, there could be some interesting discussions around the cabinet table).
And, an election that was intended to strengthen her hand in the upcoming Brexit negotiations has left her looking distinctly weak and wobbly.
Indeed, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the vote had plunged the talks into further uncertainty.
One year after their referendum, we still don’t know the British position in the negotiations on Brexit and it seems difficult to predict when we will.
So, no change there then and what was always going to be a sh*tstorm has now morphed into a full-fledged f**kfest. Hey ho.
If any of you are remotely interested, there are a couple of good articles summarising the election and Mrs May’s difficulties. John Crace in his column on Friday had a cute piece on Mrs May being trapped on the first phase of election defeat – denial. As always, his stuff is pretty good. And then this morning Andrew Rawnsley’s piece in the Guardian described her as a member of the living dead, walking in Downing Street.
And finally, on the election at least, this is one of the better summaries I ran across.
Not much else to tell you about this week. We did have a lovely outing on Thursday to some gardens which were open in Kingsbridge, Buckinghamshire, about fifteen miles or so from here. These gardens are open only occasionally for special purposes and this time the opening was in aid of Fight for Sight and had been organised largely by a couple of folks from our village who are involved with the charity and who know the owners.
It’s a lovely old house with gardens stretching to 6 acres which the current owners, who have been there thirty-some years, have developed essentially from scratch. The National Open Garden Scheme describes it:
This stunning established 6 acre garden is the product of 26 years of care and dedication by the current owners. The main lawn is enclosed by softly curving herbaceous borders leading on past clipped yews, a semicircle of pleached hornbeam and out across the haha to the countryside beyond. The garden is interestingly planted throughout with winding paths which pass a gazebo, rose arbour, shrubs and roses. A natural stream containing many bog plants and nesting kingfishers, meanders through woodland gardens with many walks and a choice of bridges to cross.
As if the lovely gardens weren’t enough, there was also a massive tea provided with more cakes and buns than I could possibly get through in one sitting. Dinner on Thursday evening was salad!
And finally, I followed this van into town the other day and as we stopped at a traffic light I took the following photo.
I guess we’ve all seen the stickers on the backs of vans and buses about how they are doing something to “protect” the environment. Many proudly announce that their vehicle is limited to 55 mph which actually does help the environment, I understand. For those of you who don’t know, however, the top allowable speed in the UK is 70 mph on motorways. So, the sticker on the back of this van ought to read something like, “Speed limited to 70 mph to obey the law” instead of the nonsensical reference to the environment. Nevermind, I guess. Presumably their intention was to pretend to be doing something positive for the environment and many folks, I guess, will simply see the notice and not really take it in.
Love to you all,
Greg