…even though they have not really gone away.
The red post box
No-one sends letters any more?
Well yes, they do of course. You can see old red postboxes, but they are getting fewer.
So many in London are doubles, like the one above. You can tell the age from the front. This one says EIIR for Queen Elizabeth the second, so, since the mid-1950s.
Modern ones have no character, but there are some very old ones about. We remember Hampstead and Windsor.
A friend asked me a question about the election results. She wanted to know why there was such a big difference between the share of votes and the number of seats won. She sent this picture:
There’s not a huge difference in the share of the votes between Conservative and Labour, but there is a huge difference in the seats. Actually, the Labour vote is much the same as it was in the last election, but the number of seats is hugely increased.
I answered her question. I wanted to say it was a good question, but it wasn’t. The media and the minor parties have been banging on about the same thing, but it’s fake news.
Let’s explain why.
There were predictions that Labour would get 410 seats. In the end, they exceeded that. The votes did not increase, but the seats did.
In truth, people just wanted rid of the Conservatives. People feel let down for many reasons.
There are many who believe that the Tory party is not tough enough on immigration, legal or illegal, that they are not racist enough, if you like.
There are many who believe that the Brexit promises, that the UK would become a land of paradise after we left the EU, have not been met. Brexit is responsible for empty shops, high prices, long lines at customs and immigration and stricter rules when travelling to Europe. A benefit of Brexit? Er… blue passports?
Many are fed up with all the COVID shenanigans, partygate, friends of the Tory politicians getting rich, the waste. We have long memories.
There are families struggling to put food on the table. They know the government did not care for them, until it was too late to get their vote. They saw politicians getting rich, advancing their careers, getting almost cult followings. It was about the MPs and not about serving the people.
Sunak had a terrible campaign. If there was any chance at all that he could even save face, he lost it by skipping the D Day celebrations. Then multiple Conservative MPs were caught betting on election dates. Had Sunak tipped them off? Well, he chose the date…
There’s a long list.
Gone are so many of the corrupt ministers. Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Lord Snooty (sorry, Rees-Mogg), Gillian Keegan… but still so many of the really nasty ones still around, including James (shithole) Cleverly, Suella (homelessness is a lifestyle choice) Braverman and Kemi (let’s cure the gays) Badenoch.
We hope that the new government will bring back a sense of duty and responsibility. Time will tell…
