Update 19

I suppose I’m experiencing the headaches every day now. I take Paracetamol during the day and a 5 mg of slow release Morphine when I go to bed; that usually sees me sleep through ‘til the first light of dawn. The second course of Fluconazole failed to impact the oral Thrush so this morning my GP has prescribed something called Ketoconazole which has been known to work when Fluconazole has not, so fingers crossed.

I’m missing eating out and my glass of 6pm wine but while my taste system is malfunctioning there’s no point in wasting good food and wine. At least I’m sleeping well and the Conservative party continues to provide my daytime ( and sometimes evening) entertainment. I can’t really write about that because the situation is changing literally, by the hour. 

I will however allow just a moment for consideration of the possibility that Boris Johnson may be about to attempt a return to number 10. If on Monday, in spite of his appalling record as the most dishonest PM ever, 100 or more Conservative MPs are willing to nominate him, then I suggest that the break up of their party is even closer than I predicted in an earlier edition of these Updates.

My attention was drawn this week to the way in which right wing organisations and individuals (Libertarians) have subtly but effectively taken over the country. I suppose their first big success was forcing the referendum upon us, though they had been active for many years before that. Essentially their objective has consistently been to eliminate any controls or regulations (especially if devised by the EU)  that limited their ability to make money. They believe in the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest and the minimalisation of central government generally. They are exemplified by the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, John Redwood or Daniel (Lord) Hannan. I tend to see them as crackpots, pretty much disconnected from any known reality.

Here in the UK, Nigel Farage was their most successful stooge. A man who played the populist tune so well, and infiltrated the thinking of the Tory party so effectively that David Cameron felt pressured into holding a referendum on something about which most folks hadn’t given a damn. The rest is history, and we are now embroiled in the most appalling economic mess as a direct result of the lies told by the various leave campaigns they funded.

These right wingers also operate through a range of organisations including several so-called “think tanks” such as ‘The Institute for Economic Affairs’ or ‘The Centre for Policy Studies’. Many of these groups are based in or around 55 Tufton Street in Westminster, an oft quoted location. Within Parliament they promote the ‘European Research Group (ERG). These folk are secretive about where their funding comes from or who pulls the strings, but enough journalists have lifted the relevant stones so that we now know a lot of such funding has come from right wing groups in the USA as well as from organisations and individuals with strong links to Russia.

The interesting question is whether, having finally got one of their own (Liz Truss) in position as PM and having witnessed her failure, and that of the budget she tried to introduce, the libertarians may now have to rethink their strategy entirely?

I’m sending this on Saturday morning so let me wish you a very happy weekend in the hope that Monday afternoon brings news that is not totally catastrophic.