Boris Johnson and the erosion of the rule of law
Annette Dittert
London Correspondent
ARD Television (Germany)
10 July 2021
This is a piece which originally appeared in German in Blätter and can now be read in English in the New Statesman
Annette is one of our speakers at the Oxford For Europe / Grassroots for Europe meeting on 15th July. Details here
Please also keep an eye out for our regular series of meetings: The last one feature Annette Dittert and Alex Andreou. The next, on 27th July, features Lord Adonis. We have had many other brilliant speakers, and the videos are still available. Details here.
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Excellent summary for anyone trying to grasp the larger picture. Many thanks to the author and the translator.
Excellent article, but I sense a feeling that things were somehow better in the past. They may have been, but not much. ‘British democracy’, like ‘British socialism’ has been a convenient fiction for some considerable time, possibly forever. It ‘s as true in the past as now that the rich and powerful have the only meaningful votes, and likewise are the main beneficiaries of any government-enabled redistribution of wealth. Change will come, if at all, in consequence of another disaster on the scale of WWII. Climate change may well do the trick, if it doesn’t destroy us entirely.
I am long retired and in good health, and have been a determined Remain campaigner. Like most of us I made it my business to be well-informed about the EU and Brexit related politics. But the division in the country made some of us wonder if we were too passionate about the whole business. We have had both rude and polite advice telling us it is over and to move on. It seems the Labour party thinks that too.
I like a nice garden but have zero interest in the technicalities. If someone I thought was a gardening expert told me something untrue I would believe him. So we must both forgive and worry about the non-expert public who believe the untruths they have been told about the EU.
The relevance of this to Annette Dittert’s excellent article is that it is not written, (I believe) for us. It is reporting to the Germans what is going on here. She has no agenda, as far as I can see, except to inform. And she says, in a very lucid and thorough way what we know to be true. We are not Remaniacs; we are right to insist that truthfulness is essential, whatever our ideology. And we are on a journey in a very dangerous direction.
It’s all about “immigration” in the minds of the great unwashed and uneducated.
Such an excellent and damning analysis fully supported – dare I say it – by facts. In many cases, the words “Britain” and “Johnson” could be substituted with “America” and “Trump” and the truth of things would remain the same. We in the States have, at least for now, somewhat escaped. But the tenuous hold of the Democrats on Congress, our 78 year old President and the continuing spectres of 70 million Trump, Q-Anon and white supremacy supporters don’t allow for any degree of real comfort that the bad old days remain lurking right around the corner ready to pounce and finish their dirty job at first opportunity.