Morgan and Farage

Yeah, OK. I should have known. Piers Morgan and Nigel Farage, on screen together for an hour; how can that possibly end well? But I just thought, it might be an interesting take, a different view. Sadly, no. There was a brief moment when they really were at loggerheads, simultaneously shouting at each other with Farage, as ever, relying on bluster to get him through. But Morgan's chosen battleground was "eccentric members of UKIP I have known", which wasn't the point, and which Farage rightly dismissed. the point is the social consequences of Farage's rhetoric, the people who get beaten up, even killed, as a result of promoting "Britain First." We didn't get much about that.

What we did get was Morgan's fantasy, that one day Trump might be in charge of america, Farage in Number Ten, but "Where's my gig in this?"  widespread laughter, and applause. This, after all, is about celebrity vanity, and how good and witty we look. I shan't make the same mistake again. 

Pinching it at the Death

Remember the rugby World Cup? On top, having had the best of the game, and then in the last five minutes a simple defensive miscalculation lets them in, and we've lost, and we're out. and on the basis of that one error England are branded failures and Stuart Lancaster is on his way.

What a difference a change of managers makes. It's Wales v. England again, a tense, tough, bruising match, and with less than five minutes to go Wales are in control. They have the ball, they ought to kick it into touch, but no, they boot it down the pitch. It doesn't immediately look like a massive error. But with superb efficiency Ford catches, sends a huge pass to Farrell, who send a huge pass to Daly, who steams past Cuthbert into the corner to score. It really was as smooth and clinical as that, and talking about it afterwards none of the England team sounded surprised. They're used to winning, and they think very clearly about how that can be done. Treasure Eddie Jones while he's here. England won't get another coach like him, not in my lifetime.  

Reality TV?

One of the gains from Netflix has been House of Cards - the American version, hugely superior to the arch English original. It's fast, complicated and stylish, although at times I worry about the way the appetite for cliff-hangers and sudden reversals simplifies the politics. The devious Underwoods betray their way through Washington, overruling expectations and loyalties, cutting any corners that get in their way. Putin apparently admires the series as a picture of how Washington works, but it can't be as simple as that. Can it?

Apparently it can. Trump foresaw possible delays to his plan to ban any immigration from seven Muslim countries. Some of the departments involved might have raised objections, referred to legal obstacles. so he just does it. doesn't tell them, doesn't actually prepare what needs to happen if the measure is to be effective. Announce it, publicise it, and pick up the bits later. The Underwoods got the Attorney General sacked because she stood in the way of their schemes. Couldn't happen, I thought. Oh yes it can. The Attorney General Trump inherited tells him what he's doing is illegal - so whoosh, she's on her way. Welcome to the new real world.  

The Will of the People ?

You have to feel sorry for Jeremy Corbyn. This is the worst time in the history of the world to be leader of the Labour party. He never wanted to lead anything, and for good reason - he has no sense of organisation, of how things need to be presented to get people working together. He's honest and oozing with integrity, but to me his three line whip on Brexit looks like madness.

There's a kind of noble rationality to it, that you honour the result. Just like you hope the opposition would have honoured the result (although a second's reflection tells you that they wouldn't, ever. The seething hatred would have multiplied). There's a lot of disillusioned ex Labour voters out there, but are they going to be won back by a leader who doesn't seem to mind much either way - but who is passionate that there don't need to be any controls on immigration?I don't think so.

And the counter argument is so strong. The referendum was a huge mistake, badly conceived, and lousily campaigned - on both sides, not to mention endless failings from the media who covered it. As a result of that we're facing an irrevocable change which will cause us damage for years to come - if i'm a Labour MP who believes that, and who knows that most of my constituents believe it, why on earth would I vote in favour? 

Gina Miller

Gina Miller is simply amazing. She has a clear, rational commitment to an ideal, which is impressive enough for a start - and increasingly rare. She's got courage and consistency, and is prepared to back them with her own money. But what's astonishing is the fortitude with which she faces the tide of abuse which greets her efforts. If you wanted a strong argument against Brexit you might well pick the way in which it's lowered the tone of public debate. She has every reason in the world to give up, get angry, be abusive back, but no. It's not about her, it's about the principle, so that's what she concentrates on, regardless of what's thrown at her. Like I say, I'm amazed. But also grateful. We could do with more like her, and soon. 

Priorities

Interesting little story in today's Observer, not given massive prominence, but to me a sign of the times. A new poll finds that 18-34 year olds believe that reducing immigration is the least important issue Theresa May should focus on as she prepares to take the UK out of the EU.

Well, kids. What do they know? It is actually their future that we're fixing, but canny politicians know that more of the fogeys vote than the kids, so it's their choices which actually have clout. From the mess that was the LEAVE campaign, Theresa May has selected "reducing immigration" as the bit that counts (rather than, say, "spending more on the NHS"), but what she's also doing is favouring the preferences of people who won't be around to pick up the pieces. This is, in the words of the poem

"..the little island in the west
where the old outvote the young."  

From this....to this?

If you wanted a dramatic representation of the transition through which the US is about to pass, you could do worse than read the comments on the death of Castro made by Obama and Trump. Obama is thinking about the Cubans, knowing what it means to them. "We know that this moment fills Cubans - in Cuba and the United States - with powerful emotions, recalling the countless ways in which Fidel Castro altered the course of individual lives, families, and of the Cuban nation." There's subtlety in there, a recognition of good and bad, pro and anti, but also some respect for the achievement - removing Batista, medical aid across the world, freedom in Africa.

And Trump? for Trump it's just simple, all too easy. "The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades." Get used to it. There's four more years of this - at least.

Against the Odds

I've said it before, but it's still true. Eddie Jones is something else. Before this weekend's rugby game between England and Argentina, i don't think many fans were expecting drama. England had looked remorseless and clinical, and Argentina had been unlucky underdogs, playing attractive stuff but losing out at the last minute to pragmatic Six Nations rugby. No contest, then? Very definitely a contest. Elliott Daly, keen new recruit to the England side, gets a bit too keen in the first five minutes, tipping over an Argentinian player in the air so that he falls on his head and shoulders. Red card. England play with fourteen men for almost all the game. Then Dan Cole gets a yellow card for some mysterious scrum infringement, and for ten minutes England have thirteen men. They go from 16-0 up to 16-14, conceding a brilliant end-to-end team try. Is this where the dream unravels?

Actually, no. England carry out twice as many tackles as the Argentinians. For a large part of the game they're on the defensive, tackling furiously, keeping their discipline. everyone says afterwards how they've planned this, talked about this, so that when it happens they know what to do, know what to say to each other. Not since 2003 have we had an England team of whom you could say stuff like that. This really is quite special. 

Managing England

Back in the day, when I wrote teaching materials, I used to do stuff for Careers, based on football managers. It's a good way into the business of organising people, of what and how you approach the job, and what seems to work. If I were teaching this year, for instance, there's a fascinating contrast in styles between the big beats we've brought in - Gaurdilola, Klopp, Conte and Mourinho. how do you handle your players, and the press? How do you best create morale? How much difference does tactical intelligence make - if you don't change all the players, does it matter how they're organised? 

There's another tasty little assignment provided this weekend, by the contrast between England's managers for football and rugby. Gareth Southgate, utterly straight and decent, clearly a nice guy but not - on the evidence of his management career - likely to work miracles. And then there's Eddie Jones, the wily, ruthless fanatical Aussie who organises every inch of his players' lives and has them eating out of his hand. The team which comfortably beat South Africa was not that different from the personnel assembled by Stuart Lancaster - but after a mere twelve months the difference in performance and attitude is phenomenal.  

Trump Aftermath

Owen Jones and Naomi Klein are on the same page. No, they really are. In today's Guardian, two of my favourite gurus are piecing themselves together after the result of the US election, and - like they do - looking forwards. Last year in my Christmas circular I picked out their books as highlights of my year's reading - The Establishment, and This Changes Everything, both ambitious, patient, incurably optimistic. So I know what they'll say. They'll say don't despair, that's what the enemy wants you to do. Keep thinking, work together, find issues where there are leverage, and make change - like people do, all the time, sometimes an inch at a time. I know they're right, but God, it's hard. 

Tabloid Technique

Now and again, when the headlines are really juicy, I buy a copy to see what the tabloids are doing. Their recent outrage about judges being "enemies of the people" seemed promising, so I parted with 65p in exchange of a copy of the Mail.

You could not make it up. Or, you make it up and nobody minds. At the bottom of page 6 the headline runs JUDGES' SHAMEFUL SLOW-HANDCLAP FOR GOVE. Paragraph one goes on "all three judges who caused chaos yesterday were among a crowd who slow-handclapped Brexit campaigner Michael Gove earlier this year, it can be revealed. Wow. A shocking revelation of judicial bias and misbehaviour.

But it's nothing of the kind. Paragraph six starts: "However, it is understood none of these three was disrespectful to Mr. Gove." In other words, we lied. We gave you a tasty headline and intro on the assumption you wouldn't get this far, but if you want to take us to court we'll have para. six to get us out of trouble.  

Ireland 40 All Blacks 29

For the past couple of months I've been virtually housebound. I've been really grateful for Netflix, and BT sport. when I signed up to them I wasn't at all sure they'd be worth it, but now there's no doubt. BT sport, rather suprisingly, had the Ireland v. All Blacks game, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Utterly rivetting. Three years ago, Ireland built up a 19-0 lead against the all Blacks, only to be caught at the end. Here they were up by 30-8 when the All Blacks started to haul them in. Three ruthless tries in hardly any time at all, and it looked like the same old story, yet again. But amazingly the Irish had the nerve and stamina to keep attacking, to chase every ball, make every tackle, and ended up scoring a wonderful try - intelligent, courageous, absolutely no doubt about it - and ended up winning by 40 - 29. Watching the highlights is pretty good, but there's nothing to beat seeing a story like that unfold in real time. Thank you BT sport. 

Clear mandate for what, exactly?

Mrs. May is sure there’s a clear mandate for limiting immigration, but it all depends who you voted for.

Johnson disagreed that the Brexit vote was mainly about immigration; Farage thought we were at breaking point, which Gove strongly disputed; Hannan told Newsnight that LEAVE had never promised numbers would go down; and Cummings offered voters the chance to take back a control they never had.

How come May decides that Farage is the one who matters?

HyoperNormalisation

Not the snappiest title in the world, but it's worth remembering. It's the latest documentary from Adam Curtis, and I'm a fan. some love him, some hate him, because he has a very distinctive style, but he does make you think and he's not dull. HyperNormalisation comes in at a snappy two and three-quarter hours, and is only available on iplayer. and that's right. You don't want to take it in all at once, and this way you can go back to it, check over things that might have seemed preposterous or confusing, and generally do the kind of clear independent thinking which Curtis - and some of the rest of us - favour. 

what's it about? Oh, all sorts. Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran. the US and Russia. the history of suicide bombing. How news is presented to discourage us from thinking, Facebook stuff like that. Nobody else does quite what he does. Some of the links seem outrageous, and I don't agree with everything i hear, but I do feel a lot wiser and more energised for having watched it.

(If you want to catch it, it may be easier to type in 'Adam Curtis' - I got the title right, but still couldn't trace it first time round.)

"Brexit means Brexit" - but which one?

I thought May was the best available choice to lead the Tories, and in the early days I was impressed, but now she seems to be making it up as she goes along. Yes, 52-48 on a huge turnout is a win, but a win for what? As I remember that squalid and confused campaign, the two main planks of LEAVE were (1) control immigration (2) spend more on the NHS. As of this weekend, May is emphatic that we shall control immigration - in the crudest, most destructive way possible, if the Tory Party conference is any guide - and definite that there's no more money for the NHS. So if you voted LEAVE because that was on the bus, forget it. It's not what Theresa has in mind.

Also this weekend, reviews of Craig Oliver's book about the campaign, including Cameron's response to the Brexit result - dry, relaxed, self-deprecating, but apparently oblivious to the extensive damage into which casual confidence has launched us all. that he could have gone so lightly into something with such massive repercussions ought to be unbelievable - but sadly, it rings all too true. 

Constructive Conservative

No, really. Yesterday's Guardian has a terrific article about Brexit, but a Tory MP. Didn't expect to be saying that. Though I'd heard Stephen Phillips on the radio, so I was prepared. Phillips is a LEAVE supporter who had nothing to do with the campaign, because he was disgusted by it. He's sceptical about Brussels, passionate about the UK's Parliamentary sovereignty, and having voted on that basis he's spitting blood that the current plan is to deprive Parliament of any meaningful say about the terms on which we leave the EU. To put it mildly, he has a case.

What a difference a year makes...

I subscribe to London Review of Books, but don't always manage to keep up to date in my reading of it. Which explains why, having read the latest edition, I'm also catching up with one from June 2015. In that, there's a survey of the various Republican contenders for president. The writer is not impressed with any of them, but ends up with the consolation that Donald Trump may finally put his hat in the ring - and he can make anybody look good. 

Not so funny now. Michael White, veteran Guardian commentator and analyst, seriously thinks that Trump might win. We are living in horrendous times. 

The End of Austerity

So it's (almost) official - "No more welfare cuts, says cabinet minister." Which is good news for those on the receiving end, and for those of us who've been trying to protest about this over the past four years. Even the condemnation of the UN seemed to make no difference, so tightly were we installed in our little bubble of Westminster calculation. Must be galling, though, if you're a Blairite, having gone out on a limb to insist that the only route to power is through 'realism' - "we'll make cuts, but smaller, friendlier cuts". and all of a sudden Osborne's gone, May pulls the rug, and the overpowering argument that benefits are far too high vanishes in a puff of smoke. 

Telling the voters what to do

Sadiq Khan 's in today's paper, telling Labour supporters that Corbyn can't win an election, so they need to vote for Owen Smith. According to Khan, one of Corbyn's crimes is that he didn't tell Labour voters to vote remain, and that's why the referendum was lost. 

I think he's missing the point. The big Brexit message - among all the other murkier smaller messages - is that people don't like being told what to do. They may be bolshie or irrational, but they're certainly not docile, so although Khan is entitled to his point of view, he shouldn't assume that just because he puts it in the paper, we're going to do it. How will people vote? If Corbyn wins will he approach the MPs any differently - and vice versa? Who knows? It's all up in the air, and the certainties have gone.  

Calais will be written on whose heart?

The Cameron government was never keen to get involved in the migrant crisis. Having finally been shamed by the Dubs amendment, to recognise the urgent need of unaccompanied kids in refugee camps, we did make a commitment, to accept 20,000 Syrian refugess by 2020. Progress so far? Pathetic. We've taken in 20 children in the last three months while, as Amelia Gentleman's Guardian article makes powerfully clear, the crisis I urgent - young kids, vulnerable and terrified, are in need of immediate rescue. But from here on, any politician who wants to drag their feet over immigration issues, can point at the Brexit result, and say there's a mandate for raising two fingers to the rest of the world. Put Britain first. Take back control. It's going to take a lot to get over this.