Sunday Supplement: Election special, the cynic's guide!

By JD

The Bonzo Dog Band - No Matter Who You Vote For The Government Always Gets In (lyrics)

Monty Python’s Election Night Special

Neil Innes - Lie Down and Be Counted, Innes Book of Records

This is from Neil Oliver's YouTube channel posted earlier this week in which he desribes the slow process of his 'political awakening' from being a trusting and somewhat naive or even gullible citizen and realising that he and we can no longer trust or believe our politicians nor any of our institutions such as the NHS or the Post Office (as we have seen recently) and how those same politicians can only be regarded as our 'enemy' who wish us harm.

Neil Oliver: Buckle up - more psyops are coming your way!

I agree with Neil Oliver but my own awakening began much earlier, more than 50 years ago:

It was in the early Seventies and I was in a small department store in town when another customer came in with what appeared to be his 'entourage' his minions or hangers-on. This new customer had a very loud voice and all I could hear from him was "I thought I came across very well" From this I surmised that he had just come from the BBC studios which were just a short walk away. He was dressed not flamboyantly but, shall we say, unusually. He had a long Crombie style overcoat with a large astrakhan collar and a hat to match. And large bristling unruly sideburns. "I thought I came across very well" he kept on saying as if to reassure himself. I later found out that he was Rhodes Boyson MP My first encounter with a real live politician. I was not impressed.

My second encounter with an MP was many years later. I was coming out of my local newsagent with a clutch of Sunday newspapers and I saw somebody getting out of a taxi by the bus stop and I thought "That looks like our local MP" and indeed it was our MP. He then started walking and I followed on after him, not out of curiosity but because he was heading in the general direction of my house. "I wonder where he is going and why did he not get out of the taxi at his destination?" Very strange behaviour. He proceeded along the main road and followed it round a long bend and then it dawned on me... This was Remembrance Sunday and he was heading for our local British Legion Club. From there he would lead the parade of ex-servicemen, Scouts, Guides etc to the local Church for the service of Remembrance. Seeing such sly behaviour from my local MP I was not impressed. Boyson was Conservative and my local MP, now retired, was Labour.

There have been other more direct encounters with local Labour Councillors in more recent years and they were even less impressive than the aforementioned MPs. In fact it is my opinion they are the most mean-spirited and spiteful characters I have had the misfortune to meet!

Well, that's my opinion. You may agree or disagree as you choose.

"We Are About To Elect A Government Nobody Wants." - Dr David Starkey speaking earlier this month.