Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

The curious case of the dog wagging the tail

Ray Petersen
Ray Petersen
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There’s no doubt about it, is there? It is a funny old world that we live in, so full of contradictions and implausibility’s that you couldn’t make it up!


Probably top of the list is the Brexit fiasco. The United Kingdom very much disunited at the moment because, guess what, democracy has proved to be a fallacy once again. First of all, yes I do have an opinion. I am a ‘remainer,’ so now you know that, you can factor it into your assessment of my thoughts.


Though it seems decades ago, it was only in 2016 that a referendum delivered a result of 51.9 per cent of the electorate voting to leave the European Union, and a mere 48.1 per cent voting to stay. I mean, it was hardly a clear mandate in the first place was it?


But anyway, the result was declared, the Prime Minister of the time, David Cameron, threw his toys out of the cot and left the job to Theresa May, who it must be said was probably delivered a poisoned chalice, and has appeared so much more and more out of her depth every day, that I genuinely do feel sorry for her.


So, Brexit was on!


Only it’s not. Well it’s on the table, but it’s not going anywhere.


And why not you ask? Because the politicians, who were voted into their parliament by the same voters who voted for Brexit, have decided that they don’t really want to Brexit after all! Confused? Is this a case of the tail wagging the dog? Yes it truly is, because those same politicians who were voted into power to implement the wishes of their electorates, are now saying (effectively), “We know better than you, and we don’t agree with Brexit as it has been presented to us. Trust us we know what’s best for you!”


Hmmmm. So we, the ordinary blokes (and blokesses), ‘don’t’ know what’s good for us. Now I’m no rocket scientist, but I thought the whole crux of democracy was that I/we would elect you because I/we think you are the best person to represent me/us in Parliament. No? In fact, I even looked it up in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries to make sure I hadn’t been living under an illusion all these years.


Represent/verb/to act or speak in the place of someone else; to be the representative of a group; to be present officially for a person or group.


Now as far as I remember from my old school days, that’s pretty clear. If you represent the vegetarian group, you don’t vote for burgers and KFC in the canteen, and if you’re representing the carnivore cabal, you don’t vote for salads!


But no, the ‘polys’ have revolted! They say, reassuringly, “You don’t know. You just don’t realise the implications of what you wanted to do, but we know, so don’t worry, we’ll get rid of the nasty gnome Theresa, and get someone you can trust like Boris Johnson, or Jacob Rees-Mogg, now there’s a prime ministerial name for you. You can always trust someone with a hyphenated name don’t you know? Now that’s a good chap, trot along to your modestly paid job while we, the elite, ‘sort things out here!”


And then there’s the other team, led by the unkempt Jeremy Corbyn, who looks like he hasn’t got two bob to rub together, but has a reported net worth in excess of three million quid, and a 1.4 million quid salary. Not too bad for a socialist ay? Anyway, he can’t become the PM coz he gets in too much controversy what with allegations of anti-semetism


and links to... oh let’s not go there ay? And three times wed... hardly a recipe for reliability is it?


Just to recap. I can’t, personally understand why the UK needs to get out of Europe. It was, and seems still to be, a good deal for everyone, but I do wonder how some of those politicians will ever, ever, see themselves as ‘representatives of the people,’ ever again. Food for thought don’t you think?


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