HP Source: The blame game begins….

 

‘Callin’ from the fun house with my song

 

We been separated, baby, far too long

Callin’ all you whoop-dee

Pretty things..’

 

My aunt was one of the care home residents who died of the virus.

 

I visited the home for the first time since her demise a few days ago to collect her belongings, and was horrified and stunned when they told me that out of a headcount of 42, 16, or 38%, had died.

I cannot for one moment believe this is an isolated example. Whilst there is rarely ever one event or person to blame for such circumstances, the government’s decision to discharge 25,000 people from hospitals into care homes without coronavirus testing, could perhaps be the exception to this rule.

Compounding the felony this week, Johnson in true populist style, said, ‘too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have’.

I can only quote what another commentator wrote; ‘You could say that care home residents are still living with the consequences of that decision, w
ere it not for the fact that so many of them ended up dying from it.’

 

‘out of a headcount of 42, 16, or 38%, had died’

 

By way of a response, the chief executive of leading social care charity Community Integrated Care, Mark Adams, said: ‘We’re almost entering an … alternative reality where the government set the rules, we follow them and they don’t like the results and they then deny setting the rules and blame the people that were trying to do their best.’

Number 10 has neither retracted, or apologised for this crass statement, but tried to explain it away by saying that Johnson didn’t mean what people are saying he meant, even though those were literally the words he said.

The reality of his words is rather more stark; it has already been announced that there is to be a public enquiry regarding the death toll in care homes, this is the government getting their retaliation in first, sowing the seeds in people’s minds that the government isn’t to blame.

This is, even by Johnson’s standard, a new low.

How many more times will this charlatan be allowed to blame others for his governments’ stupidity? This is a government not fit for purpose, one that should be voted out-of-office at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

‘Someday they won’t let you, so now you must agree

 

The times they are a-telling, and the changing isn’t free..’

 

And, as I speculated last week, we can add ‘Independence Day’ to the ever growing list of fatal errors, drunk revelers proved incapable of social distancing,

The result, unsurprisingly, is that no sooner have the pubs opened than the first few are forced to close again, after punters tested positive for coronavirus, and the pubs are now beginning the process of contacting people who spent ‘Independence Day’ with them.

And finally on this week’s cock-up front we have the decision to end free hospital parking for NHS staff in England in all but ‘certain circumstances’ once the coronavirus pandemic begins to ease; expect another U-turn at some point.

Hospital parking charges are scandalously high. I know from personal experience that £5 per hour is low, given that the people using them either require or are providing care, or visiting sick people, this is rather a sick situation.

It wouldn’t be so bad if these fees were reflected in better hospitals and staff wages, but that isn’t the case. It simply disappears into a blackhole, except for the outsourced providers that run the parking facilities.

There is no doubt that the public are waking up to Johnson’s failings, as the world beating death rate has increased his popularity has decreased. His approval ratings fell from +40% in April to minus figures in June.

The percentage of people who felt his government had done a good job fell even more sharply, from +51% to -15% between March and the end of May.

Personally, the fact that the government has had a ‘bad crisis’ come as no surprise. His politics, and de facto that of his government, are shallow. He is a populist who latched onto the resentment of those who were feeling ‘forgotten’, creating a divisive narrative whereby ‘the people’ were abandoned and betrayed by ‘the liberal elite’.

 

‘quite how he persuaded people he wasn’t part of that elite mystifies me’

 

For someone who is about as establishment as it is possible to get, quite how he persuaded people he wasn’t part of that elite mystifies me. It was based on simple narratives, such as ‘taking back control’, though quite how the masses thought this included them is another mystery!

However, I must provide a fair commentary; the one member who shines out as a beacon of competence is Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor.

Yesterday’s stimulus package was another example of effective action, a combination of pragmatism and considered measures to address the pandemic’s economic damage and deliver the necessary stimulus required to weather the virus.

However, it might be said that not all his measures hit the desired targets, or perhaps they did?

The cut in stamp duty to zero for transaction under £500,000 will help to boost transaction flow and confidence, in a sector seen by many as an indicator of the country’s economic wellbeing.

It can also be said that the property sector highlights the disparity between young and old, an issue that is getting worse not better.

 

‘the property sector highlights the disparity between young and old, an issue that is getting worse not better’

 

UK housing is expensive; large numbers of Millennials and Gen Zs are being forced to rent because they can’t get on the housing ladder.

Conversely, rentiers, the older generation, use the housing market to boost the yield on the savings by becoming landlords.

The pandemic has led to many tenants getting into arrears with their rent which will lead to a wave of evictions when the current ban is lifted next month.

Many of the rentiers will have been almost entirely insulated from the effects of the crisis, enabling them to take advantage of falling prices and the stamp-duty holiday to buy up more properties, leaving even more people stuck in the private rented sector.

If property of this type is such a good investment, should it be for the benefit of the country not the rentier minority?

For example, the government could use falling prices to bring land and property into local public ownership, providing genuinely affordable housing and rejuvenating struggling high streets.

This might also rebalance the burden of the crisis between landlords and tenants (including small businesses) as per the example set by Spain, which has forced big landlords to either write off half their tenants’ rent debt or restructure it over three years.

From rentiers to developers.

The promised changes to planning rules will be of benefit to party supporters such as Richard Desmond helping them make another quick buck, but it will do nothing for ordinary people stuck in expensive, poor quality housing.

 

‘many can’t afford to feed themselves let alone go to restaurants’

 

The lockdown has highlighted the gap in the quality of life between those with a decent home and garden, and those without.

A good example, of well-intentioned but mis-guided policy is the reduction of VAT on eating-out, purported to cost C.£4bn.

As Mr Rashford highlighted, many can’t afford to feed themselves let alone go to restaurants, so much more could be done with £4bn

This is an anti-elitist government pandering to the elite; rentiers don’t create wealth they take it from others. The real wealth creators are the essential workers, most of whom are not even paid enough to keep up with their bills.

 

‘What goes on in your mind?

I think that I am falling down.

What goes on in your mind?

I think that I am upside down..’

 

I read an article this week where the writer stated that Johnson’s brilliance lay in his performance as the non-political politician. His appearance and gaffes forswore the traditional politician’s dignity and confirmed his anti-political identity in the eyes of the marginalised.

I disagree with this. Johnson, like all populists is a chancer grasping the moment.

He latched onto the ‘Leave’ bus and was the beneficiary of an extremely skilled ‘Leave’ campaign which maximised the potential of social media.

His hard-line on Brexit made him the ‘darling’ of the few that are members of the Tory party who view him as their ‘standard bearer’.

He then benefitted from the stupidity of the opposition, primarily Jo Swinton, who forsook the control they had in parliament and allowed him to call an election.

His electoral success was another carefully choreographed campaign in which he was the victor despite himself rather than because of. He is a shallow, callous, opportunists.
 

‘another carefully choreographed campaign in which he was the victor despite himself rather than because of’

 

Whereas Trump, his contemporary in the US, is just despicable.

Trump’s Independence Day speech was the usual tirade, laden with false and misleading claims as he attempts to play down the coronavirus pandemic, supported by the ongoing warning that China will be ‘held accountable’.

Independence Day is now a flag-waving ‘Salute to America’ jamboree, with flyovers by military jets, parachute jumps and patriotic songs. Under Trump the day has become more militaristic and nationalist, with tanks and other military hardware at the Lincoln Memorial.

Even though coronavirus has infected 2.8m Americans and killed over 130,000, there was little effort among guests to physical distance or wear face masks. The president refused to let the pandemic or his dismal poll figures ‘spoil’ the opportunity as he walked the south lawn to ripples of applause and a cry of: ‘Four more years!’

There was the usual uneducated cheers as he claimed; ‘We got hit by the virus that came from China. We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in another area. But we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned how to put out the flame.’

With the number of infections now regularly over 50,000 per day, higher than in April when the US was in the first grip of infections, this is a remarkable claim. Especially, when Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, warned this week: ‘I think it’s pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction.’
 

‘I think it’s pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction.’

 

Trump continued with his now familiar claim that America has a high caseload because it performs more tests. ‘Now we have tested almost 40m people. By so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless.

Results that no other country can show because no other country has the testing that we have, not in terms of the numbers or in terms of quality.’

He also returned to his criticisms of the source of the coronavirus. ‘China’s secrecy, deceptions and cover up allowed it to spread all over the world.

One hundred and eighty-nine countries and China must be held fully accountable.’

And contradicting Fauci and other public health experts, the president offered a wildly optimistic prediction: ‘We’ll likely have a therapeutic and/or vaccine solution long before the end of the year.’

After the stupidity came the nasty part as he continued to stoke a culture war and pour salt on America’s racial wounds instead of a unifying message.
 

• ‘We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing,’ he said.
• ‘We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children or trample on our freedoms … We will teach our children to cherish and adore our country so they can build its future. Together, we will fight for the American dream.’
• ‘Our way of life’ began in 1492 ‘when Columbus discovered America’. Statues of Christopher Columbus have been toppled along with those of Confederate generals during several weeks of protest against racial injustice following the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man, in Minneapolis.
• ‘In every age, there have always been those who lie about the past in order to gain power in the present … Their goal is demolition. Our goal is not to destroy the greatest structure on earth, what we have built, the United States of America.’
• ‘We will not throw away our heroes. We will honour them and we will prove worthy of their sacrifice … The patriots who built our country were not villains. They were heroes.’

 

‘He’ll build a glass asylum

With just a hint of mayhem

He’ll build a better whirlpool

We’ll be living from sin, then we can really begin..’

 

This bilge brings me rather neatly to Fascism. Readers will know that I have long feared the social injustices exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis would see a return to the conditions that led to the rise of fascism.

To date, especially in the US, I see nothing to make me change my mind, or prove me wrong.

To prove my point the following tries to defined Fascism, to show why I believe Trump is a fascist.

Fascism is a complex, and somewhat nebulous ideology. There are many definitions of fascism; some people describe it as a type or set of political actions, a political philosophy, or a mass movement. Most definitions agree that fascism is authoritarian and promotes nationalism at all costs, but its basic characteristics are a matter of debate.

The most considered definition I found was by Robert Paxton, a professor emeritus of social science at Columbia University in New York who is widely considered the father of fascism studies. Paxton defined fascism as:
 

• A form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques for an anti-liberal, anti-socialist, violently exclusionary, expansionist nationalist agenda.
• Fascism requires some basic allegiances, such as to the nation, to national grandeur, and to a master race or group.
• These regimes excel at propaganda and make use of grand gestures, such as parades and leaders’ dramatic entrances.
• Fascists scapegoat and demonize other groups, though those groups differ by country and time

 

The core principle — what Paxton defined as fascism’s only definition of morality — is to make the nation stronger, more powerful, larger, and more successful.

Since fascists see national strength as the only thing that makes a nation ‘good,’ fascists will use any means necessary to achieve that goal.

I readily accept that I am now on dangerous ground, as this is a very emotive subject.

Taking Trump first, when you read the above, he ticks the boxes, he is a fascist.
 

‘a deep sense of disenchantment on the part of many of our citizens with a political system they feel has failed them’

 

With Johnson it isn’t so clear cut, whilst I have no love for him or his politics, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Whilst he is undoubtedly to the right of traditional Toryism, I don’t believe he is a fascist.

However, I may not be so charitable about members of the non-parliamentary Conservative party

Is this really what the ‘forgotten’ voted for?

Johnson continues to make speeches about economic policy in which he cites the people ‘left behind’, ‘neglected’ and ‘unloved’.

Michael Gove recently delivered a much-discussed paper in which he spoke of ‘a deep sense of disenchantment on the part of many of our citizens with a political system they feel has failed them’.

The sentiment is fine, laudable even, but it’s been repeated so often that is become a cliché, one that has won them the ‘Leave’ vote and a general election.

Soon he must deliver what he talks about or he will exacerbate further the very dejection and disconnection that bought him to power.

These hollow words could sound worse still if a ‘second wave’ of the pandemic hits us; high streets will once again be empty, unemployment will be rising fast, and the country’s sense of powerlessness and frustration may well reach breaking point.

He will likely deliver on the promise to ‘take back control’, but the so-called ‘elite’ in Brussels will only be replaced by another elite, one heavily in thrall to a fascist in the White House.
 

‘Jenny said when she was just five years old

There was nothing happening at all

Every time she puts on a radio

There was a nothin’ goin’ down at all, not at all

Then one fine mornin’ she puts on a New York station

You know, she couldn’t believe what she heard at all

She started shakin’ to that fine fine music

You know her life was saved by rock ‘n’ roll…’

 

If you can find an article with a more powerful opening line, I’d like to see it; Philip has been touched in a way that unfortunately way too many people in this country will recognise.

What has really gone on in the care homes will surely come to light, and despite the government ‘getting it’s retaliation in first’ by launching an inquiry, the results, or those that are released honestly are likely to be shameful. However misunderstood the spin machine would have it, Boris’ weasel words do not paint an attractive picture.

Never mind, at least we can now see the old sticks off in style with a good old fashioned p*ss up; and then look totally dumbstruck when the second spike arrives. If you hit yourself really hard on the thumb with a hammer, surely you take a good deal more care next time around?

Boris’ ‘approval rating’ or lack thereof may have explained his petulant preening as the new Tory poster boy Rishi Sunak flung out yet more cash; but just how unpopular must he be with the grandees as effectively a socialist chancellor doling out helicopter money?

Trump was never going to receive a fluffy review from Philip, but here he revisits a theme that he has alluded to in the past – the danger of the resurgence/rise of Fascism –  and doesn’t pull any punches. The Donald is well and truly fingered, and the supporting evidence is pretty compelling.

Lyrically, we’ve gone back to some real stalwarts; some of these tracks are fifty years old, yet deliver a powerful and pertinent message; an egalitarian scoring method this week, possibly in the absence of a gimmie – three for each artist, five for each song. Electronic claims only again this week, with the Duckworth Lewis rules in play.

First up –  ‘at the height of their addictions showing that rock music doesn’t have to be pretentious and ponderous’ – yep, Iggy and the Stooges and ‘Fun House’; next, ‘a dystopian vision that is our government’ Bowie with ‘1984’.

Thirdly, ‘This song asks the questions we should be asking’ and the answer is Velvet Underground and ‘What Goes On?’; next its the Thin White Duke again with ‘Big Brother’

Last but not least ‘Can rock and roll be our saviour as it was for Jenny?’ Velvet Underground and ‘Rock and Roll’. Enjoy, but enjoy safely – just because we’re ‘kick starting the economy’ we’ve not drop kicked the virus.

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

&nbps;

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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