Beginning of the week I got this through my door from Sadiq. I don’t find the picture in any way
reassuring.
Later, Ricky Rhythm came round for a safeguarding visit. Ostensibly I’m being safeguarded from going any madder in my hermitage. Functionally I’m safeguarding him, his missus and their neoteen, all working from home in a tiny flat. (actually the lad is on school hol at the mo but it all still applies.)
A typical visit runs as: matters of the day followed by a movie. Something emotionally calming like “Cross of Iron” or intellectually stimulating like “Shaolin Soccer”.
The end of the evening finds us invigorated and ankle deep in crisp crumbs and crown caps.
I showed him the leaflet and he took one look at the pic and said “No !!” Then he started reading bits of it out loud and exclaiming “No!!”. He said, one of the things he’d realised in the seventeen months he’s been locked down was that he never wanted to travel on fucking London Transport ever again. I tried pointing out that it was TfL not fLT but couldn’t logically defend the difference myself.
He was already reaching for the bottle opener as I asked the obv next question “So when are you going back to the office ??”
“Why is everybody asking me that ??!! ”
“Rishi’s latest initiative pal. Haven’t you heard ?? Building on his previous experiment, everyone’s encouraged to return to the workplace.”
“What was his previous experiment ??”
“Eat out to help out.”
“The scheme that put a wave on top of the wave ?? Oh God. Noooooo”
Coupla days later. Picking my way
through the stationary traffic across the Euston Rd, which may have been
converted into a car park for all I can tell, I see a load of placards on a
traffic island.
I made my way over to it to find out WTF.
There were two ladies there, I chatted with one of them as to what they were up to. She said they weren’t part of any organisation, just outraged citizens who wanted to draw attention to what was being steamrollered in. i.e. internal vaccine passports and making things conditional on vaccination.
I was particularly impressed with “Nuremberg 1947. No force or coercion in human experimentation.”
I commended them for their activism and wished them the best of luck with with their demo.
Fri am, making my way back from Poundland (wherein much is more than a pound) with a carrier bag full of crisps in anticipation of the next RR sanctuary bid, the HS2 site is under heavy picket from Unite, the union.
Turns out HS2 are reducing the rights of the workers there, not paying appropriate overtime payments, and not permitting Unite access to its members and non-members on site. All of which, my informant tells me, is in violation of HS2’s agreement with the Govt.
I told him I didn’t think he’d get any support from any of the political parties. Had he seen what Starmer had to say yesterday ?? He hadn’t. The FT (I didn’t mention the paper, I’m not sure if it was diplomacy, shyness or just British reserve) reported him urging activists to embrace Tony Blair’s political legacy and be “very proud” of what was achieved under Blair.
He rolled his eyes.
I said I figured he’d be gone next year. (But then, I think the same about Johnson. Check the bookies for who will quit first :)
I asked him if he had a leaflet, and that cheered him up. Then wished him success with the demo and good health. Like what you do these days.
Then I did wend my way home.
They’re all activists. The most successful one, the Mayor, is pissing into the wind.
The ladies have no one to voice their outrage through so have taken to the streets.
The mega infrastructure projecteers, one of whose justifications was the job creation, are engaged in union busting.
