It is time for quiet, serene reflection
We cannot ignore the presence of the 'Pandemic Factor' in the politics not only of the United Kingdom but of nations around the world and where a government - and in particular its leader - is believed to have performed well that can produce an electoral reward and the polls in Britain on 06 May 2021 may have proved the point
It could be argued that Coronavirus has placed the politics of the United Kingdom in a form of cryostasis and the general opinion is that Boris Johnson has done largely a good job in difficult circumstances and people are not motivated to vote against the Conservative Party
Inverting the normal mode of politics, the Pandemic has forced the Conservative Party to adopt measures it would not have considered implementing at the time of its General Election victory of 2019 and it has been necessary for Sir Keir Starmer to support the government and Labour and its leader failed to define a distinctive approach
Believing that there is a malaise being experienced amongst the range of liberal colours of the political spectrum is not entirely accurate but there are questions of relevance and identity and also in a very novel sense of appeal and adherence
Referring to the victory of Joe Biden to become the President of the United States as he led the Democratic Party to a temporary political dominance controlling the Executive and Legislative branches of government there were different sets of coalitions supporting his candidacy and that of the incumbent Donald Trump and the Republicans are acting wherever possible to alter systems in their favour in electoral contests in future years
It was not difficult to understand the nature of liberal politics around the world - it believed in acting in a collectivist, internationalist and universalist manner to defend equality, justice and democracy and the dignity of people
We have witnessed during the period of the past forty years the evolution of society around the world and established certainties were not any longer set as firm as they had been in historic terms when communities were based on similarities of occupation and income and behaviour and consequent shared beliefs that formed an ethos and on a local or national basis it enabled Parties to hold a monopoly of power and thus in the context of the United Kingdom it was possible for Labour to use its base in industrial urban areas in Scotland, Wales and the North of England to be able also to form governments
It was the disintegration of much of the structure of organisation of society that enabled a range of pagan particularisms to become more prominent and thus national, racial, ethnic, religious, caste or clan association replaced any sense of common effort
It revealed a division in many nations that was going inevitably to arise as increased prosperity, time for leisure and desire for self-advancement combined with the greater availability of education - the emergence of an intellectual hierarchy which required then that people who could not belong to such a group would resort to concepts such as patriotism or piety to demonstrate that they were members of society and should be valued
It has become a matter of the reality of ideas of equality and dignity and a sense of power
Is a young woman in Hartlepool who reads only Magazines featuring celebrity gossip and cannot qualify for a place to train as a beautician the equal of a middle-aged female scientist who came to Britain from Portugal or Finland or Slovenia in 2005 and whose research at the University of Oxford was instrumental in enabling the creation of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine?
India is suffering a human tragedy and experiencing simultaneously a political catastrophe because so many of its people could not give a majority in Parliament to an incumbent Prime Minister of impeccable personal credentials - a graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge at Ph.D. level in the 1960s - but preferred a religious nationalist with whom so much of the population identified but managing the Covid-19 Pandemic has proved beyond the capabilities of a former railway-station tea-seller whose academic qualifications may have come from noble institutions but it would be enlightening to know the details of the awarding process
Brazil is suffering a human tragedy and experiencing a political catastrophe because so many of its people believed that they should support an individual who articulated and endorsed their prejudices and challenged an urban intellectual elite which held globalist opinions that were suspiciously 'anti-patriotic' to such as an extent that he praised the person who had tortured a woman of dignity and courage who had resisted military rule and become the first female leader of her nation
It is interesting that people are aroused to action - some of it not to be regarded as appropriate - if patronage by a multi-millionaire distorts Association Football but not if the ceiling of a bedroom in 11 Downing Street resembles now the Sistine Chapel
Scotland and Wales have distinct histories, traditions and cultures which ought to be recognised and allowed to flourish but is the notion of independent nationhood viable in either case?
Scotland was an independent nation 500 years ago and then the world did not come to Edinburgh and so it shall not in future years and on how many occasions on motorways in England are we in a queue behind an articulated lorry festooned with telephone numbers relating to a base in the Republic of Ireland?
It is a curious fact of life that after a Century of independence a major entrepot for exports of goods from the Republic of Ireland is not Cork or Galway or Dublin but it remains Dover and it necessitated specific negotiations regarding arrangements for continued trade following the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union
It is the case that many of the residents of Hartlepool are the people who did not possess the acumen or aptitude or qualities to leave the town and it shall probably transpire that the 'Northern Powerhouse' will prove to be as enormous a 'white elephant' as HS2
It is necessary for the liberal tendency in politics to recall that it is based on principles of equality, democracy and justice and it should be proud of its collectivist, internationalist and universalist attitudes which will ensure and enshrine the dignity of people whereas that cannot happen if governance is entrusted to our current 'ideological' opponent which we have to identify by its name