Politics

We had an election and the Tories are out at last.

I used to wake up to Today on Radio 4 every morning, it was sometimes a bit annoying and had some stupid things to laugh at. Thought for the Day was always ridiculous, the religious person would mention something in the news and then "in a way, isn't this a bit like Jesus" and you'd be thinking "no, it really isn't" but they've said their bit now and are presumably happy with it.

Then the tories got in, and the mood darkened. The news was about things being done and said in our name that were even worse than the things we complained about under Blair. It was pre-culture-wars stuff, but felt as toxic as anything now. So I stopped listening to the Today programme.

I eventually stopped watching all TV news. Some news I got from Twitter before Musk screwed it over. I subscribed to the Guardian. The BBC News site got more and more toryfied. I was trying to stay informed while protecting my mental health, but it still affected me badly. Instagram for a while was a refuge, but that didn't last.

Some images linger. Cameron's pink pig-flesh face announcing he was fucking off after the referendum he fucked up. Priti Patel's smirk as she removed our rights as European citizens. Johnson with his easy lies and studied buffoonery. Gove. Cummings in the rose garden. May laughing like a cat about to vomit. Truss and her mad stare of bewildered incompetence. Sunak pretending to care. The whole lot of them shitting on everything that was good.

And now, we have what looks like the grown-ups again. People who appear sensible and decent. After the last 14 years it's hard to accept that they actually might be sensible and decent. Is it just an act like with the rest of them when they wanted to give a good impression? It's hard feeling hopeful again.

But, there is hope. So, we shall see.