Andy Richardson: 'When people oppose someone who is AGAINST racism we are in trouble'
They’ve lost the dressing room.
It happened when Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson told the nation to do as they said, not as Dom did. Now parents refuse to send their children to school and campaigners refuse to social distance on anti-racism protests. Lockdown is all but over.
‘The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of Government.’ Those words are enshrined in the United Nations 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. In Britain, the will is not to use their common sense, which is what Boris Johnson asked – though the result is a refusal to follow the rules.
An 80-seat majority is with Boris, but his unpopular re-opening of schools lies in tatters, with only one in four children returning. People believe it’s more important to take to the streets to protest than observe the hypocrisy of leaders who stick up for their mates rather than being in it together.
Losing the dressing room happened to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and Real Madrid, Ruud Gullit at Newcastle, Brian Clough at Leeds United and John Barnes at Celtic. Now it’s happened to Johnson over Covid-19 and slavers.
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Boris’s five-minute video encouraging peaceful protest drew derision. He was, after all, the man who cited watermelon smiles, compared women wearing the burka to letterboxes and worse. They listen, however, to the father of Stephen Lawrence, Neville, who says black people are still second-class citizens in Britain.
The row over slavery has prompted a boycott of Sainsburys. Protestors are furious that Lord Sainsbury backs the removal of slaver statues. When people oppose someone who is AGAINST inequality, injustice, racism and oppression we are in trouble. In Bristol, meanwhile, a councillor has described slave trader Edward Colston as a hero. The same councillor was in trouble in 2001 for using a golliwog doll as a mascot and urging the council to hire ‘more attractive lesbians.’ There are no words.
Arguably the most hapless Government official is Care Minister Helen Whately, whose department has witnessed deaths in care homes. In an interview with Kay Burley, she was told ‘you can’t stick this on the scientists.’ To Burley’s incredulity, Whately replied: ‘I can.’ Government ministers are making increasingly infrequent appearances with tough interviewers, perhaps because of the errors of Whately and co. It won’t be long until they’ll only agree to be interviewed by Mr Tumble.
