Stick 'Em in the Army....

Another bank holiday.  I spent part of this one on the sofa eating peanuts and watching John Wayne in Chisum (1970).  One of his late period westerns - for which I have a strange affection: I liked the way Wayne embraced his increasing years in these films, playing older, more reflective characters.  Even though I'm no longer part of the rat race of full time employment, so bank holiday weekends don't seem quite as vital to me, I still feel that I should break the routine in some way.  Hence my predilection for spending bank holiday weekends watching old movies.  But not everyone, it seems, was taking it easy this long weekend, as the general election campaign continued unabated.  There's a terrible fascination about watching the Tories' campaign - you'd have thought that Liz Truss' brief reign of madness would have exhausted them of batshit crazy ideas that nobody in their right mind would campaign on.  But no, they just keep coming out with them.  Bringing back conscription for eighteen year olds is the latest.  Because, yeah, that's really what is going to get older voters on side.  I mean, only the other day, as I was shouting 'you can't stand there' and 'get your hair cut' at random teenagers in my local shopping centre, I was thinking, 'yeah, that's what the youth of today need - compulsory military service.  Being shouted at and brutalised by ruddy faced NCOs - that'll give them a much needed dose of discipline.  I'd vote for anyone who suggested that.'  The worst thing about this abomination of a 'policy initiative' was that they immediately had to start walking it back, as it became clear that most people thought it utterly bonkers - 'national service' didn't necessarily mean military service, people could volunteer for weekend public service.  But they wouldn't be paid for it, although they would if they chose military service.  It would be compulsory, but nobody would go to prison or even be prosecuted if they refused to participate.  An utter mess and a stark warning of the perils of coming up with 'policy' off the cuff.

It was gratifying to see that even the right-wing press had reservations about this policy - apparently even younger members of the Royal Family would be subjected to compulsory public service!  God forbid!  Except, of course, they always get stuck in uniform, anyway, rushed through Dartmouth/Cranwell/Sandhurst, given a chest full of medals and promoted to Field Marshall/Admiral of the Feet/Marshall of the RAF by the age of twenty five without ever seeing action before being retired from military service before a war can break out.  Hot on the heels of this embarrassment, the Tories have apparently now taken a leaf out of the Trump playbook and are trying to make the label 'Sleepy Keir' stick to Keir Starmer on account of his advanced age of, um, sixty one.  According to them, that makes him decrepit and means that he won't have the energy and dynamism to carry out the duties of Prime Minister.  Jesus, where do I start with this?  As I now find myself a member of the older generation (although still younger than Starmer), this is incredibly offensive - I probably have more energy and stamina now than I've had in years.  Moreover, let's not forget that some of these idiots are still going into bat for Boris Johnson to return as Tory leader - he's older than Starmer, not to mention grossly overweight.  Speaking of the fat boy, I've noticed various right-wing outlets trumpeting Boris Johnson as some kind of 'secret weapon' to be deployed by the Tories.  Apparently, he's going to inyervene in the campaign with a 'sustained attack' on Starmer which will decisively derail the Labour campaign.  When will these clowns get it through their thick skulls that a) Johnson is utterly incompetent and a buffoon, b) he was consistently bested by Starmer in the Commons and c) is deeply unpopular after his lockdown antics became public - he's one of the main contributing factor's to the government's current unpopularity?  But hey, we've still got a long way to go in this election campaign, so I'm sure there'll be more idiocy along the way.