It's Panto time!

It’s panto time

Amidst the gravity of the five day Brexit debate the House of Commons got into the Christmas spirit by staging another Westminster pantomime.  After her distinctly unamusing prologue the Prime Minster invited cabinet members to explore their political futures by making a pitch for her job.  Gove, Raab, Javid – and a few ex-Ministers like Johnson – in effect asked ‘where’s my political career’, to be greeted by catcalls from around the House of ‘It’s behind you’.  Then as the debate proper got underway, MPs from across the House rose to declare ‘We’re leaving the EU.’  At which point another Honourable Member would rise to respond ‘Oh no we’re not.’  I’m tempted to record the appearance of Mesdames Leadsom and McVey as the Ugly Sisters but that’s not acceptable in this day and age.  So perhaps there is a role in Vaudeville for Gove and Johnson…

Like many I have been puzzled by the exact meaning of this year’s May trope, replacing last year’s ‘strong and stable’: the new one is ‘very clear’, or some variant thereon.  Then I realised it’s actually a synonym for ‘mendacious’.  Listen to any of her recent speeches and you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve finished the last two years’ Christmas posts with the hope that the next will be an improvement, but it hasn’t worked, so let’s try: hoping that next year is even shittier. You never know, it might work.