They are no longer governing but smashing up the system – Cummings Johson and Gove

There has been so much material to write about over the last two weeks that I have had the opposite of writers block – writers overload. Instead of finding time to keep up and dig a little deeper into what has been happening under the cover of the Covid crisis I have resorted to quick comments and retweets of the material on twitter over @andyjreed_obe

I have been keeping quick notes of the issues I wanted to write about but the list just keeps getting longer! I do fear that under the cover of the Covid crisis deep damage is being done by the small coterie of advisors around Cummings and the other Vote Leave staff brought into No10. The constant day to day failure of Johnson is of no consequence to them. They are dismantling the state in front of our eyes for their own narrow ends.

I had always intended this blog to be fairly positive – a place to develop ideas and policies that unite communities around a shared vision for the future – and how you therefore are able to win middle england seats like Loughborough. And over time I will have had deep ideological differences with my political opponents on the Right and far left. But the feeling of anger generated by what Cummings is doing to this country has hightened a level of anger and incredulity I have not felt since the Thatcher era.

So where do we start? Well this time I am going to cheat by highlighting the headlines and linking to plenty of good articles that do justice to the issues that are angering me.

New Deal – This was of course nothing like the real New Deal... hiding behind the rhetoric of a grand plan did nothing to hide the fact that this was a very small £5bn programme of already annnouced cash. At £5bn it is a miniscule pinprick on the economic challenges ahead of us. I have volunteered my time on the LLEP and subsequently the Loughborough Town Deal. The amounts we have been allocated do virtually nothing to tackle the local economy.

Disaster of the Covid Handling – We need to review now before the second wave hits us. I have covered Covid before but now as the government wants to give the appearance of returning to normal we need to see just how badly this government has handled the crisis and how we can’t le their incompetence kill thousands in a second wave.

Breaking up and politicising the Civil Service. For many this story is certainly just ‘process’ and Wetsminster bubble gossip. That’s exactly what Cummings knows. Red Wall seat voters don’t really care about the career prospects of a top civil servant. But the effective sacking of Sedwell and the promotion of the unqualified David Frost into a position as National Security Advisor is something that should worry us all.

Rushi Sunak and his sticking plaster statement. Like all Budgets it is best not to rush to praise on the day! As the detail emerges the spin unravels. It seems that the ‘package’ announced last week will do very little to get our ecconomy back on track. I fear for my own retirement and for the future prospects of a son graduating and seekign work this summer. The details of the package do nothing to convince me the Tories know how to take on the size of this challenge. Look at the packages being introduced by similar economies across europe. I fear for where we are heading.

The Green Housing revoltion is anything but…. once again the rhetoric outstrips the reality. The figures announced are another sticking plaster on the environmantal impact of our homes and real opportunity to put in place something significant. My main worry is that much of this will be siphoned off by dodgy companies making a fortune out of the government and taxpayer.

Cummings Dodgy Deals .Just taking the mickey. Not just incompetent but verging on corruption. These people don’t think the rules apply to them. Dodgy Deals with his mates. Cummings is just laughing at us all.

And all of this before I get onto Brexit and the break up of the UK that is heading down the tracks fast! But each of these does deserve a full blown blog.

Conclusion.

These are only some of the headlines. Each one of these deserves more time and analysis. They are all of course interrealated. But they are coming thick and fast which I assume is the intention. Our country is being dismantled in front of our eyes. The future once again looks very bleak. And I am angry.