Chaos Creation
A fairly average fortnight in this crisis-ridden land
In case you were not paying close attention, the supposedly agenda-setting ‘Queen’s Speech’ last week had little to say about the Climate Crisis — but any concern around that omission was displaced by dismay at the lack of action on the Cost of Living Crisis which, in turn, was conflated with the Ukraine Crisis before attention turned to Threadneedle Street and the Bank Governor’s comments on the Food Crisis and the Energy Crisis which, in a new spin around the Circular Economy, was momentarily transformed into ‘The Cost of Leaving Crisis’. But that in turn was merely a backdrop to the Democratic Unionists never-ending Identity Crisis. The analysis showing the economic benefits to NI of our only open border to the EU failed to disturb their naysaying never-never land.
The circus act of spinning plates is not an exact parallel.
Great effort is (supposedly) invested in trying to remove plates (“we are doing all we can”) but darn it, another plate, another byelection, another arrest, another distraction, another fine, another crackpot proposal falls out of ministerial mouths and spins into motion to keep the whirlwind at the top of the twitter rankings. And then Johnson senior celebrates his newly acquired French citizenship, restoring his personal right to roam. But such tiny spinning saucers do not really enhance the show.
The perpetual politics of crisis creation contrasts with less adversarial administrations. It would be nice to imagine that the current cabal might soon exhaust all plate-spinning opportunities but, alas, they can still wreck umpteen staples of imagined stability. No doubt the prized metric for these free-market fundamentalists is some measure of economic maelstrom intensity — the chaotic transformation of everyone into financialised units of profit for extraction with the efficiency of another oil well until all resources are sucked dry and the only remaining crisis is the existential. Perfidious Albion reincarnated, as if the Gods had not already sent warnings enough.
But meanwhile a few brave people (and yes, I’m looking at you, Hickel and Jackson) are daring to share their disquiet at the decay of democracy, the downward spiral of civilisation. Even the forces of law and order are gently resisting the idea that they should be re-trained as ‘Thought Police’. But in desperate times, desperate measures are surely needed.
№11 has now stepped in to scramble the minds of the faithful whilst not openly admitting that Modern Monetary Theory (hitherto knee-jerkishly derided as the magic money tree) demolishes their flawed foundations but may perhaps save №10’s bacon, despite that being long past its sell-by date. Special financial operations are, apparently, levies and not taxes in much the same way as Russia is not invading Ukraine.
The capacity to spin on two and half new pence is now relegating the plate-spinning act to the back of the ring. Next up will be gravity-defying acrobats and the grand finale — a grand procession of almost extinct species. So long, farewell . . .
No wonder our ring-master now opines that working more is key to keeping this circus on the road. Crack on, chaps and do please pay attention — gotta keep those plates spinning.
The maintenance of power (or showmanship) seems now to demand sustained growth of energy-sapping chaos. All this chaotic creativity might perhaps encourage people to start paying attention before it all kicks off, but the establishment is betting that creeping complacency will reign, and England will mutter a collective sigh of ‘mustn’t grumble’ even as Putin’s bombs start falling from the sky. Oh, do keep up.
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Listed as part of the Groupe Intellex series on Governance — an occasional and totally uncalled-for but life-enhancing pressure release valve.
