The Self-Awareness Has Gone

Think I might start posting daily again ( ..well, daily the days I'm not at work anyway). We'll see how it goes. I'm in quite a bad mood about Boris being forced to resign this week. I won't go over the ins and outs, but the spectre of another Tory leadership race made me revisit some of the posts I wrote back in 2019. Back then I was posting daily, and it was quite a useful endeavour. It's also provided quite a handy reference to look back on. To see where my thoughts were then and where they are now. So it might be good to begin again.

One of the disappointing things about Boris leaving for me is that I think he's actually much more intelligent than most of the other people in politics. I read a book about John Lennon a few months back and there was a quote from the singer Billy Joel, who said he'd been inspired when younger by seeing Lennon on the Ed Sullivan show - "He's standing there, looking around him as if to say, "Is all this corny or what?"

It's a self-awareness thing. Most people who want to be famous and on TV take these things very seriously - as they take themselves very seriously, but though willingly part of it Lennon was always aware how ridiculous it all was. Meaning that though he took part in the showbiz-ness he viewed it as somewhat beneath him at the same time.

I think it's similar with Boris. People mock the "clownish-ness" of his public persona, but the reality is he can't help but be aware of how ridiculous it all is, meaning he can't take the performative aspect of it seriously. Hence the smirk that's nearly always on his face. The other politicians take themselves seriously and lack the self-awareness to see how pompous they are. Whereas Boris is too smart. He knows it's bullshit and sees that it's beneath him to put his soul fully into it. That's not to say he doesn't take the actual politics seriously though.

I read Boris's book about Churchill during the corona panic. It was great, and it was fascinating reading a book about a former leader, by someone who was now a leader during a difficult period. There's a self-awareness and an awareness of history with him. He's a very intelligent guy.

It's a shame what's happened this week. I could rant on about all the back-stabbing that's went on, but it's probably not helpful. I need to calm down and be a bit more forgiving going forward. It's not the end of the world, it's just a bit of summer madness. It is a bit of a mess though. The country was united. Not anymore.