Dominic Raab has every right and should always have the right to say that he will only kneel for the Queen, and his wife but he is a complete fool for then saying taking the knee is somehow related to the Game of Thrones!
What planet was he on when he came out with that rubbish? With this one missed shot he changed the whole direction of play of the way the debate went for the rest of the day.
He gave the clear impression that he was another member of the Government who was out of touch with what has been going on these past few weeks.
Whether you agree with taking the knee or not, and for the record I wouldn’t do it, you should know the origins of the act and respect and recognise that after the racist murder of George Floyd there are a lot of angry people in the UK and their concerns need addressing.
World Beating Crap
Meanwhile over in ‘Appy Valley’, Matt Hancock was holding a press conference and telling the nation that his ‘world beating’ tracking app was actually CRAP!
How the hell have the government got themselves into a position where they bragged that they knew better than Apple or Google on how to track us?
It was clear from the beginning that this was like a pub football team deluding themselves that they could beat Klopp’s Liverpool!
Now we are told that the app won’t be ready until winter.
So, it’s back to the Game of Thrones theme then! Winter is coming and probably a second wave of Covid-19 with a healthy dose of flu too!
Here’s the question: do you trust Hancock to marshal our team’s defence?
Hancock has been useless in this pandemic and has the Midas touch in reverse as everything he touches turns to a crock of the proverbial.
He started off by telling us, with his earnest rabbit in the headlights stare, that face masks weren’t necessary and wouldn’t protect us but now says that they are compulsory.
He’s one of the team who said we didn’t need to shut down our defence’s back door, i.e. the airports but is now shoring up our defences with a ridiculous unworkable 14-day quarantine after we’ve let in over 20 million people.
Then of course he gave the virus a clear run at our goal by allowing Cheltenham and other mass gatherings to go ahead.
He told us summer was cancelled but yesterday he said that perhaps we might be able to stay over at relatives’ homes within weeks?
Like King Canute he thinks he can hold back the tide when it is clear that people are ignoring the lockdown and are already heading to the ‘beach’ in waves.
He is simply hopeless, hapless and now app-less to stop this.
Yesterday Hancock, like a wayward football star, decided to ignore his own tactics and entered the commons completely ignoring his own repeated mantra on social distancing and put his arm around a colleague whilst he waited to be seated. I give up!
However, there’s no chance of Boris giving him the red card as who would he replace with him amongst his existing team of political journeymen?
The other absolute truth is that we can’t change the whole team, as just imagine where we would be if Corbyn had been in charge during this pandemic?
Get Back Into the Real Game
Meanwhile, Boris is obviously channelling his inner Roy of the Rovers with his ridiculous lockdown locks!
However, what we really need is his inspirational wizardry on the field pronto.
He should change the tactics and ditch the 2-metre rule immediately and get our pubs, theatres and restaurants open.
We have all played along with Boris and his team but we all now know the risks. He must allow us to express ourselves and get back into the game.
We also want to play abroad so Boris needs to drop the quarantine rules and allow us to travel to compete with the Germans for those sunbeds on the beaches of Benidorm. If I’m still allowed to say that!
Talking of football, I am afraid to say that the return of the premier games was dreadful.
I could do with a lot less virtue signalling and a lot more crowds and chanting please.
Once again, the games proved to me that football is not football without the fans and the clubs and the broadcasters need to realise this. They could make a start by slashing the price of tickets when the real football starts again and perhaps Marcus Rashford, fresh from his triumph on free school meals, could lead the charge to return the game to the real fans and away from the prawn sandwich, Johnny come lately Corporate mob.
Look Forward not Backwards
Meanwhile, I see that there is now pressure growing on the English RFU to ban the singing of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot because of the song’s slave origins.
I do hope that Boris listens to people like England star, Maro Itojo who said “I don't think anyone at Twickenham is singing it with malicious intent, but the background of that song is complicated.”
Maro is correct, as with all of this ‘cultural revisionism’ it should all be about intent not just the desire to immediately take offence.
What needs to happen is considered debate with opinions from all sides listened to and then decisions taken. That would be fair play rather than hammering people into submission.
Black Lives Do Matter but Boris was correct to say we cannot and should not photo-shop our history.
What we need to do is debate, educate and democratically decide our future tactics and then get on with looking forward rather than backwards.
We need to keep our eyes firmly on the prize of creating a post lockdown UK that is tolerant, fair and gives all citizens a level playing field to compete on.
We can only do that by talking and not fighting.
