Nigel Farage is complaining again. Complaining about Britain being a nation of complainers – and specifically he’s complaining that people keep complaining about him
Nigel Farage is complaining again. Complaining about Britain being a nation of complainers – and specifically he’s complaining that people keep complaining about him.
What he really means by that is that he’s bored of having to play by the rules that everyone else has to abide by.
This should come as no surprise – Farage’s entire career has been built on grievance. When he first slithered onto the political stage he moaned that Europe was out to get him. Today, his tormentors are closer to home, but the song is the same. “Poor me, the whole world’s agin’ me, it’s all terribly unfair.”
But none of it is unfair. We should expect our politicians – particularly those who have their sights set on Number 10 – to be transparent and open to scrutiny. He wants to run the country – to be in charge of decisions that affect the lives of millions of people – and absolutely nobody is forcing him into it.
Farage argues the deck is stacked against parties who want to do politics differently. But in reality, he seems to think Reform UK should be allowed to play politics on easy mode simply because they’ve never held power before.
Football would be a lot easier if the referee just let you pick up the ball and run between the goalposts. But the rules are there for a reason.
Farage needs to decide if he wants to stop moaning and accept the ref’s decision, or if he wants to pick up his ball and go home.
Burnham has wasted no time tackling migrant crossings
Andy Burnham has wasted no time getting stuck into the thorny issue of migrant crossings.
Despite progress in reducing boat crossings under Keir Starmer, the number of people making the perilous journey on overcrowded dinghies remains too high.
And the more people they try to cram onto each boat, the more people will perish making the journey.
The latest plans cooked up with Emmanuel Macron will see French police surge on ruthless gang leaders as they prepare to set sail from Calais.
The Labour government’s success in reducing boat crossings will be hard for Burnham’s Tory and Reform detractors to swallow – especially since the new initiative is the result of close cooperation with France.
John becomes a grandpa
Congratulations to Sean Ono Lennon – the son of John and Yoko Ono – and Charlotte Kemp Muhl on the birth of their son, The Beatles legend’s first grandchild. They’ve named him Aurelius – presumably after Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Which is a bit of a swerve from the names suggested by bandmate Paul in ‘When I’m 64’: “Vera, Chuck and Dave.” We wish the whole family well.