Kierkegaard's Lunch

Nesrine Malik in The Guardian today is right [ The Democrats are in deep trouble in the US – and Labour is on the way to joining them] Starmer is the UK's Biden; a brief reactive intermission in the grotesque far right takeover of society. His fate is sealed because he believes in nothing and has left the stage completely open for those who do believe in things - like nationalism, prejudice, hate and xenophobia. The day after Starmer won the election, he addressed the nation from Downing Street. He said the following words: “ From now on, you have a government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by a determination to serve your interests. ” Though it got little attention, as a trans woman trying to survive in a country that was already hurtling towards bigotry and discrimination at a speed no-one could have predicted a few years before, I found it a deeply chilling remark. I wrote on this blog about it at the time. It was said by him, I imagine, because he judged the country to b...

Back at the beginning of February this year I wrote on this blog that I could foresee Keir Starmer throwing the British trans community under the oncoming bus that was Donald Trump and his deranged transphobic obsessions. I speculated that in the coming months, Trump would prove incredibly difficult to deal with and that Starmer - understanding just how appallingly weak the United Kingdom is now (entirely reliant on the US for its nuclear deterrent, with an armed forces that have dwindled to shockingly small proportions and now cut off from the trading power of the EU that might have some sway with the authoritarian American President) would be forced into a dual strategy of supplication, flattery and concession to keep him onside. I predicted a scenario of Trump being invited for a State visit to the UK, with Starmer keen to offer something to keep the President sweet and to demonstrate his commitment to some of the ghastly culture war punishments that Trump enjoys inflicting on his...