Monday 16th September 2019
Nine people were present. Three sent their apologies.
We noted the student strikes to be held in Sheffield (Devonshire Green from 11 am) and Buxton (outside Town Hall from12 noon) on 20th Sept. Students were hoping the older generations would support their strike regarding climate change.
We also commented on the success of the local Buxton demonstration against proroguing parlayed. Ruth George (Lab MP, High Peak) spoke very well at this and is concerned to listen to Leave as well as Remain constituents.
We reflected on Labour’s strategy regarding EU and questioned whether its committed support for Remain really provided a good basis for gaining a good Deal in the event of Leave winning a referendum. While most of us generally support EU membership, we were critical of Liberal party approach to abandon Article 50 and remain in EU, which we saw as opportunistic. We preferred any second referendum to precede an election since any election following a decisive referendum would not then revolve around whether or not we should remain in EU.
We considered why the public appears to tolerate the lying and deception of the rising populist right. Are there others spheres of life in which this was also the case? Sport, which is has become very commercialised, is much more ridden with lies; people have become less trusting of the political accounts that the establishment have given concerning the economy; there is a generalised view that truth is ‘subjective’ and ‘anything goes’; the rise of social media in which true and ‘fake’ news appear to have equal legitimacy. Such lying and deception is often associated with conspiracy theories. MPs were not discouraged from cheating on their expenses by the Tatcher government, rather than raising MP pay rates.
Considering a post Brexit scenario we pondered on the possibility of a Johnston government. He appears to be not narrowly nationalist, and even to support a liberal approach on many issues. But his language and behaviour often appears racist, sexist, etc. Perhaps his only ideological commitment is to his own advancement (q.v. his childhood wish to be ‘king of the world’). What happens after a Brexit would depend upon unpredictable consequences (such as public response to long lorry queues at Dover) and the complexity of sorting out new trade deals. Finally, we thought any future depended upon how Johnston appears in an election campaign, which could expose his failures.
Next meeting: Monday Oct. 21st. Will the future be at all clearer by then?