A lurch to the right

It’s astounding

Time is fleeting

Madness takes its toll

But listen closely

(Not for very much longer)

I’ve got to keep control

So starts the song ‘Let’s do the timewarp again’ from the Rocky Horror Show. Over the last weeks we have been living our own horror show with the over-hyped Tory party leader elections. Why the Tories have been allowed wall to wall party political coverage is beyond me. Where is the balance?

Having said that, apart from the fact that only a small group of people are eligible to vote, the way that the contest has been conducted has been enlightening. So called blue on blue conflict has raged across the airwaves. The two combatants have been at each other’s throats, dissing policies that are still government policy as if somehow they are not implicated in the way this country has been run over the last decade or so. 

A significant difference between the two has come down to tax. Both want to cut taxes, one now and one later. Both claim that their mantra is what Thatcher would have done, yet the truth is that neither is right. There are countries with relatively high taxation that are successful and countries with relatively low taxation that are not and vice versa. Fiscal policy is never that straightforward.

What is worrying though is that the assailants are lurching to the right, trying to outdo each other with evermore outlandish schemes to appease their audience, doubling down on horrendous policies such as exporting asylum seekers to Rwanda or illegal proposals to back out of the oven ready Northern Ireland Protocol. They are being defined by how anti-woke they can be.

Neither of the antagonists can be drawn on the real issues that the country is facing such as climate change or the low wage crisis. If these are the two best candidates to run the country then God help us all.

It’s just a jump to the left

And then a step to the right

With your hands on your hips

You bring your knees in tight

But it’s the pelvic thrust

That really drives you insane

Let’s do the Time Warp again