It’s hard not to agree with Lord Finkelstein who writes in The Times today. The culture emerging seems to be in part “Rules didn’t apply to us” and in part “Keep shtum, nobody needs to know.”. The latter has succeeded as a tactic for eighteen months which raises questions in itself. There were clearly many parties and many attendees but only now has anyone spoken out. So the overriding behaviour has been omertà.

What the sorry story tells us is that Johnson’s behaviour is symbolised by that Party Political broadcast at the time of the 2019 election with him driving a bulldozer labelled “Get Brexit Done” through a wall. To put it politely this was not a cerebral pitch.

History tells us that populist politicians with single minded goals cut corners – and some! The ends justify the means always. As Ministers try to defend Johnson they weakly tell of his “successes” – Brexit and the management of the pandemic. That the former, as it has been imposed on us, has been an unmitigated disaster isn’t mentioned. That the latter has resulted in a staggering number of fatalities neither.

The combination of mendacity, failed governance and incompetence is unprecedented in our modern history. “Partygate” hints at the singular cause – no doubt many were blameworthy but the buck stopped on only one desk.

Back in the 1960s I was an activist on three causes I felt very strongly about – abolishing the Death Penalty, eliminating Apartheid and ending the Vietnam War. They were hard, tangible, definable issues. And they were all binary – there was no middle ground. It really was true on each that if you were not with us you were against us. The Brexit debate is similar, David Cameron made it so. He insisted that we reduce the complex issues of Britain’s participation in a uniting Europe to a binary In/Out choice. In fact it never was and isn’t now. This was political Reductio ad absurdum of a fatal kind. The fatuity of Brexit led to protests of all types amongst which that of campaigner Steve Bray is particularly notable. He may campaign alone but he has the support of millions – including me!

Moving away from the binary protesting against discrimination is much more difficult. We are all (or most of us) against it. But protesting against (says) Racism is difficult because there is no common, agreed definition of what is racist. It’s pretty subjective. Nobody went to jail because some of the “Vote Leave” advocates during the EU referendum campaign dog-whistled about Turkey’s possible accession to the EU. I found their position very Islamaphobic and still believe it was. But (a) the perpetrators got away with it and (b) it worked.

Another tricky area for activists is the “trans issue”. I avoid it because it has got out of hand. Even my mentioning it as an “issue” here might open me to attack as people may assume that I take a different position from them and oppose me based on that assumption. That’s how dangerously daft we’ve got.

There’s an old test about discrimination which is worth remembering. A car splashes you with water from a puddle as it drives by. If you say “Bloody driver should have been more careful” that’s fair comment as a statement of fact. If you say “Bloody black driver should have been more careful” then that is racist. (You can replace “black” with other irrelevant descriptors like “Woman” of course). In this case the subjective opinion becomes objective fact.

The right to protest is a necessary condition for a civilised, democratic society. At its best it’s seen in Steve Bray and his singleminded and eccentric protest is wholly admirable, if you believe in his cause. Even if you don’t surely you can’t avoid having a sneaking admiration for his persistence !

In the coming days and possibly weeks it is likely that the current protests against our dysfunctional and incompetent Prime Minister will intensify as more and more revelations emerge about his grotesque behaviour and political judgment failures. If he attempts once again to lie his way out of the fetid corner in which he squats will we take to the streets to demand his removal from office? We should.

“Don’t take politicians seriously and you may find yourself electing as prime minister a man whom you regard as a bit of a card because he made you laugh when he was on a television panel game.” So writes Emma Duncan in “The Times” today.

But did we ? Our electoral system is such that many more of us voted against Johnson and his Party than voted for him. It can happen elsewhere of course – Trump only made the White House because of the antiquated Electoral College, Clinton won the popular vote comfortably. But in Britain millions are disenfranchised.

More proportional systems guarantee restraint. The checks and balances are inbuilt in coalitions. Yes it can be a pain for leaders to be forced to debate and often compromise within their own administration but wouldn’t we rather have that than the current quasi-dictatorship?

Ms Duncan writes that we would never elect a Fascist and I agree that we would laugh at a Roderick Spode type leader and Party rather than elect them. Johnson doesn’t do uniforms and his own predilection for Upper Class scruff isn’t followed by his colleagues. But beware. He may not be a uniformed military style fascist but he is unquestionably the most authoritarian leader in Britain of modern times. And some of his colleagues would not look out of place at a Nuremberg Rally.

We pompously pride ourselves on our status as a nation by flying flags and referencing the past – “Blitz Spirit” etc. Sadly the truth is that 🇬🇧 status has never been lower internationally. And it hurts. The rise of Nazism was in part attributable to Germany’s loss of international respect. The meme of Macron and Merkel laughing at Johnson’s latest absurdity has been well used but it is uncomfortably close to the truth. To be a laughing stock, as for a time in the 1920s Germany was, can have unintended and deadly consequences.

“I repeat my deep apology for mistakes that may’ve been made on my watch”, answers Boris Johnson.

Let’s analyse this from Johnson on Sky News:

“mistakes”. The evidence is strong that the participants and probably Johnson himself broke the law. These are not “mistakes” but criminal acts.

“may’ve been made”. This use of the conditional “may” goes contrary to all the evidence that the events did happen. There is no “may” about it.

“on my watch”. This is an attempt to distance Johnson from what happened. Yes he acknowledges that something may have happened when he was in charge. But the evidence is that he was actualg a participant. That it took place in his home/office and he was there and an active player.

Fever Tree, whose story is described in The Times today, is a classic marketing success story. The reason is that the brand actually stands for a better product. It isn’t all hype. If you’re spending £30 a bottle or more for a premium gin don’t put ordinary tonic in it – or conventional slimline. Ever!

Schweppes became a commodity – ubiquitous, complacent and undistinguished. It’s “Slimline” was disgusting – chemically taste obscuring the gin botanicals. But a G&T is more T than G. Fever Tree recognised this.

Fever Tree rapidly acquired “Lovemark” status, and deserved to. As gins became more varied and subtle consumers didn’t want to splash any old tonic over it. They even have a lower calorie version that uses natural rather than artificial sweetener. Clever, and a winner.

The Holy Grail of branded marketing is added value. Your brand commands a premium price over and above the commodity brand or the supermarket brand. Fever Tree has successfully done this making a product up to a quality not down to a price. Good for them.

The utterly preposterous story of the allocation of the Football World Cup to homophobic Qatar is a parable for our times. That money, and only money, counts in sport – and in particular in the allocation of tournaments to country or cities.

I suspect that I may be unusual in actually having been to an international football tournament in Doha. Back in around 1999 I think when I went to the Gulf Cup and even presented a trophy (don’t ask!). I was doing my job but then, as now, football was no big deal in most Arab countries. You could only play in the winter because of the extreme temperatures between April and September. So obviously the country could not host a tournament that had always been played in the European summer. Obviously.

Not obviously at all. Insanely, corruptly and disgracefully FIFA awarded the Qataris the 2022 World Cup. Don’t worry, they said, we will air-condition the stadiums. Baloney of course. FIFA, instead of saying “We goofed” negotiated an outcome involving shifting the tournament to later in the year and thereby totally disrupting domestic fixtures across Europe for weeks. Money counts.

The construction of stadiums in Qatar has been rushed and deadly with dozens of workers dying because of inadequate HSE. And all for what? A PR exercise for a hydrocarbon rich state with more money than sense or decency. And the governing body of the world’s most popular sports was complicit in this unseemly farrago.

Simplistic and ignorant platitudes from Harrison whose track record over six years is deplorable. His newly found prioritisation of Test cricket ignores the fact that it takes two to play it. The cricket world has succumbed to the virus of T20 and not even the ICC calls the fixture tune any more.

Follow the money. A ten team IPL will be, by far, cricket’s major event. Any other cricket will have to fit around the money rich Indian domestic game. When, as is likely, the ECB decides to sell its “Hundred” franchises to the highest bidder it will be IPL interests who are first in the queue. So that will be high summer permanently handed over to Mickey Mouse cricket.

Well attended Test matches will be a curiosity in this new world of commercial short form cricket hegemony. A few heritage games like The Ashes might struggle on in the calendar but the players will perform having played little or no First Class cricket. The two innings game will generally fade away – uncared for and uncommercial.

In this new world very different domestic cricket models will emerge, all of them driven by earning potential. The best hope for County cricket is that it will be absorbed by the recreational game and become a semi-professional shadow of its former self. The short form franchise teams will attract the best young cricketers – there won’t be career opportunities in “Red Ball” cricket and it will become a part time pastime. That’s the dystopian future for cricket I’m very much afraid.

James Forsyth in The Times today ruminates on the latest threats to the Prime Minister. But Keir Starmer doesn’t get a mention . He should. Had he, as many in Labour wished he had, taken even a mildly anti Brexit line then Johnson would be safe. He could ride a white horse naked down Whitehall, stop to pee on the Cenotaph, and ride on certain that the Brexiteers would still cheer him on. But shrewdly Sir Keir has done no such thing. Give him power, he says, and he’ll “Make Brexit Work” – and given that it certainly isn’t working under Boris that’s a powerful pitch.

Nobody seriously suggests that it was Johnson’s deep understanding of complex political issues that got him the job. He’s a populist who wins elections and hitherto his buffoonery has almost given him “National Treasure” status. He’s not the deep thinking and experienced Gordon Brown type we really need to manage today’s threats. He parades his ignorance daily in shallow posturing, the opposite of a serious focused politician.

What next ? Search me. Maybe from somewhere a white knight will emerge to rescue us but there’s no real process available to facilitate that. Those in the line to replace Johnson when he goes hardly inspire confidence. Maybe cometh the hour cometh the man (or woman) but who ?

Danny Finklestein is of course right. Partygate is mind-blowingly stupid and the people responsible for it were unbelievably arrogant. But it’s it’s quite a long time ago now isn’t it? And quite a few people were involved including, it appears, one or two whose job it was to tell us what’s going on.

Those with the “tell the story” brief are called journalists. And yet we’ve had to wait until now to find out about it. Why did none of the partygoers blow the whistle – and much, much earlier? Why did none of the hacks see that they had a story? Was there some sort of omertà applying?

The answer to my last question is obviously yes there was a conspiracy of silence. And it held. Why was that ? People mostly act rationally especially in the golden halls of the rich and famous. The fingers tap the noses. Nudge, nudge wink wink. Don’t say anything old boy – mum’s the word.

And my doesn’t the Johnson Establishment look after him and themselves? They know he’s a fraud – how could they not know? But they also know he has patronage – a peerage in one pocket a well paid sinecure in some bogus public service job in the other.

Finally and perhaps most culpably they neither know nor care about the “little people”. The people with a much loved relative dying in a care home they can’t visit. Those of us who obey the law however uncomfortable for us it might be…

WE ARE THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND AND IT’S TIME TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

The chickens are gathering in the trees in the garden of Number 10. It was always obvious that once the effects of Brexit began to kick in the Economy would head south. The final nail in the coffin came on 1st January. We are now truly on our own.

Trade has been in the eye of the storm as the Government tries impotently to claim that bilateral negotiations with trading partners will be better than the deals we enjoyed as members of the EU. It’s nonsense of course – but that doesn’t stop them peddling the myth.

International investors looking at locations for a significant presence often put London high on their list. The City’s role as a European financial capital was genuine and something to be proud of. If you were a company seeking to enter or expand in Europe now would you choose Britain? Of course not.

London especially benefited from the liberal Freedom of Movement EU membership gave. Young Europeans flooded to the city contributing at all levels. Yes the waiters came to improve themselves, but so did the young graduates of INSEAD. We were the winners. No more.

Ten years ago as a Gamesmaker at London2012 I engaged with athletes and others from around the world. Without exception they praised everything about those Games. One famous French athelete told me that London was “truly the Capital of Europe”. No more again. 😢

If you are searching for a “dividend” from Brexit just remember this. Those claimed to be coming by supporters of a “Leave” vote back in 2016 have been proved to be a chimera. And in over five years since the vote the Government has totally failed to ameliorate the disastrous consequences of Brexit in any way. Every indicator shows Britain in decline. It was a false not glorious dawn.