Let people have nice things.

'She's fine. She looks great.'

Text from my brother, complete with photos. This is his particular gift, being able to rally the family with cheer. Mum did meet him, she didn't drive everyone mad, it was all right in the end, I could collapse/relax for a while.

And relax I did, at the local Procession and Gala Day; this one has its controversy. It was once also called the 'John Newland' day; Newland was a slaver as well as an investor in the area. The former has sunk out the latter in terms of local respect, which I find a relief though some threatened to boycott the whole thing if his name was removed. There was much dramatic flouncing and door-slamming, and a friend of mine somehow ended up as chairperson of the renamed community festival. She should be proud, it's been absolutely cracking without a whiff of Mr Newland.

This area was once part of the dowry given by Robert the Bruce in the wedding of his daughter Princess Marjorie to Walter, High Steward of Scotland, all played out and fully celebrated here every year, with a ceremony followed by a procession followed by a fiesta. I helped build the music stage the day before, and after that did nothing but wander round enjoying the events and getting sunburn.

There were dinosaurs.


There were osses and vintage cars, pipers and wrestling;




And the Bruce presided over everything.


Little was seen or said about the Queen's Jubilee. While I am sure the beacons alight across England must have been a stirring sight, the veneration of this half doll all rubberstamp has not enchanted Scotland with anything like the cult-like fervour prevalent down south. But this is how you build it, I observed, this is how you teach children to wave flags and love without thought. Give folk days off and parties, encourage them to invoke celebration alongside blind devotion and see how they join in! And by the time the argument arises, you have whole populations of people who believe her maj works hard because they want to feel justified in adoring her. Ask them what she's actually done, what she actually does every day. They have no idea. They worship because that's what they were taught to do, by imitation and habit down through generations. It is the very antithesis of justice or meritocracy. The nonce prince could not attend because of covid at its most convenient; after all, who wants to think about the £12 million the queen shelled out for her son's lawyers to avoid all that stuff about underage shagging? Come to think of it, who wants to really think about the basis of all that money, all that land, and all that prestige still venerated because of an ancestor committing one of the world's most rewarded acts of genocide? Wave that flag, wave that flag.

And speaking of nice things, a joy it was to watch coverage of the Vote of No Confidence. A third eh? And that's with all the sweeties and bribes he'll have promised, that's something like 75% of his back benchers. The trouble with our parliamentary system is that it really is based on an underlying belief in the good will of participants. That's why so many are saying that the result means he will have to leave; they are expecting a sense of duty, of shame even, which would lead most to resign; but Johnson lacks such nuanced feelings. He won't go and must be pushed.

There's the human and then there's the purely political. From the human point of view, BJ has no gift for governance, and the country is impoverished by his lack of interest, plus the insecurity which means he dare not employ able ministers who might disagree with him, or rivals who might actually be good at their jobs lest they outshine him. He needs patsies, not prodigies, and our most vulnerable will suffer for it.

From the political point of view, as far as other parties are concerned, the longer he stays the more scandals come to light, the worst it gets for the tories. Right now, if they got rid of Boris, they could cite the old 'new broom clean sweep' adage. Opponents need Boris Johnson to limp on, ever more tarnished, until voters are ashamed to say they gave him their trust, and show their anger at the ballot box.

And me? I am OK, tired and hassled but better.