La La Land

From the topsy-turvy, roller-coaster, fantasy world that is global politics, we bring you Barack Obama’s pronouncement that, during his presidency, he promises “...for the most part, race relations have gotten better.” Ignore the Black Lives Matter outpouring of hatred for anybody white and the spate of cop killings in their name; lest we forget, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, so his word as a saint must be taken as gospel. In other news Cambodia’s Pol Pot and Uganda’s Idi Amin never did get the recognition they richly deserved for their work in ensuring their populations never grew to place too much strain on the infrastructure.

In similar vein, Mussolini made the trains run on time, Martin McGuiness only had killed those who were necessary for peace, Fidel Castro did wonders for Cuban cigar sales and the NHS is an inviolable national treasure which must be worshipped as a deity. Never mind all that ‘populist’ negativity, let’s focus on the good things, ignore what doesn’t work and forget actually getting things done, just sell, sell, sell. Tony Blair’s period in government was a masterclass of smoke and mirrors, as focus groups and statistical conjuring told us the story they decided they wanted us to believe.

This is the kind of governance that leads to enormous numbers of the disenchanted turning away from the path of righteousness and voting with their feet for a world view that resembles, at least in part, what they live every day. Glorious diversity may bring nebulous benefits to the reality-challenged, but it brings chronic misery for entire communities. The imagined and much broadcast ‘net benefit’ of immigration is a mantra chanted by those who are in thrall to the magical realm of beautiful rainbow people who, mounted atop their trusty unicorns, wield the sword of social justice and don the rosy spectacles of blind faith in the inherent goodness of all mankind.

That man stabbing you? He is simply frustrated by climate change. The new weekly stoning spectacle over there on Westminster’s College Green? A vibrant display of multicultural togetherness; see how the men in pyjamas ululate in ecstasy with each fresh wound. And the ‘so-called’ housing crisis? Deliberate propaganda from the dreadful goblins of the far-right, to make it seem as if the cosy, cheek-by-jowl proximity of our ever more diverse population mix is anything other than a marvellous opportunity to comingle and blend and share. Sharing, that’s the key; what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine; extending the concept of forced marriage to society itself.

If everybody gets prizes, nobody wins. And humanity is nothing without its winners. If you don’t have top dogs all you have is a load of dogs. The aspiration of equality, while fluffy and lovely in theory, is unrealistic and can only be achieved in practice by hampering the aspirations of excellence. And like enterprise, human ingenuity and social cohesion all attempts to force it, constrain and control it, tend to do the opposite. In the face of failure, no amount of spin will convince those who see the failure at close quarters. So yes, Barry, you leave the White House imagining you brought peace. I hope you still believe that when you wake up and see what you and your kind really did.