Vicki Woods writes in the Telegraph of her wish to see that charlatan, Blair, go – sooner rather than later…
For some years now, my first conscious thought on waking has been: is that bloody Blair out of office yet? How I ache to see his fallen head in the back of the armoured limo for the very last time. Haloed by a thousand flashbulbs. Farewelled by a single headline: TONY OUT.
It really is time he upped and went, isn’t it? Politicians are meant to be here-today-gone-tomorrow kinds of creatures, not lifelong, Caesaro-papal, totalitarian autocrats grinning Trust me! and making it pretty damn clear that they don’t trust us.
Indeed; it is the arrogant “I’m right, you’re wrong” attitude that gripes so much with me. The assumption that only he know what is best and that those who dare to heckle or voice dissent are just plain wrong. As the voices grow louder, one wonders when he will get the hint that maybe it isn’t the rest of the world that is out of step…
What I care about is that he is taking away my freedom to be who I am. The ID card lunacy alone should have the free citizens of Britain pouring into the streets àla poll tax riots. The state database is only one of Tony’s assaults on freedom, but it’s the biggest, the stupidest and the most illiberal.
Hm… What about the Civil Contingencies Act (2004)? That makes Hitler’s enabling act look positively reasonable. What about the deleterious Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill currently oozing its way malodorously through parliament? This bill, should it become law, will enable ministers to effectively bypass the parliamentary process. Vicki is certainly right; the ID Cards Act (2006) is, indeed, stupid and illiberal, but the most stupid and illiberal? That’s a moot point…
He – Tony – will never, ever be stopped by some snotty youth 10 days out of Hendon Police College and asked to “identify himself to the authorities”. You and I will.
As someone who doesn’t look “normal” (whatever that is) I am deeply worried by this possibility. When there is a crowd going through customs, it is me, the odd looking one with long hair and slightly foreign looks who gets stopped and asked for further details (papers, please). I’m fully expecting more of this and given my tendency to treat officialdom with well deserved contempt, sooner or later it’s going to get me into trouble, because sooner or later some snotty little official will get treated to the acid edge of my tongue. There’s a kind of dark inevitablity about it – I can remain civil in the face of stupidity for just so long. And boy, does it feel like a long time so far.
That last paragraph really struck a chord in me. I too have never looked ‘normal’ and even when walking along keeping myself to myself, I often get cast unfriendly glares and sideways looks. I spoke to a woman in a new age shop last week who told me that I have an ‘extensive and powerful aura’
I too get stopped when walking through customs on the few times I’ve been anywhere and get stopped all the bloody time by people doing street surveys so can empathise with you in what you’re saying. I believe TB to be a narcissist. Look up Narcissistic Personality Disorder on the ‘net and you’ll see what I mean – the belief that he’s always right; dropping people by the wayside who disagree or who offer up a different vision of him than he believes is so; the messiah complex; the belief he knows best for everyone and everything; the massive ego. It’s all there.
Yeah, I get accosted by those survey people too. 😡
I get fed up because they’re so relentless. One chap a few weeks ago asked me if I would be interested in AA car insurance and I politely said “no thank you as I don’t drive” to which he replied “yeah but it will only take a few minutes of your time” and I said “but I don’t drive.” He then said “look no need to be like that mate, I’m just trying to do my job” and I said “well do it somewhere else then” and walked away in a huff. I was miffed for quite a while after. Prat!
The other thing I hate is that now I know where most of them are positioned in regard to the town centre, I have to plan the route I’m going to take to get where I need to be. I was surprised a while back by turning a corner to find two of the fuckers about 20 yards ahead. They saw me but I pretended that I hadn’t seen them and then made out (by way of looking vague) that I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go and then said out loud “oh yes” before making my way across the street and through an arcade I didn’t want to go down just to get back onto the main drag again. I could have said “no thanks” but then I’d get the hard sell. It’s a fucking pain in the arse, really it is!
I just say “no, thank you” and ignore any further attempts to waylay me.
Being inordinately sensitive to slights, I find it hard to do that because I put myself in their shoes and ask myself “what would I like people to say if it were me?” The fact remains though that a) I wouldn’t be in a situation where I accosted people thus and b) by the time they’ve finished with the persisting I’m about ready to throttle them so it’s swings and roundabouts.
It’s a matter of being polite yet firm and assertive. I am under no obligation to them – they are pressing their unwanted attentions on me not the other way around.
If they approach me, I expect them to respond to my polite refusal in kind. if they do not, then they have slighted me and deserve the subsequent response. To be fair, usually they do respond appropriately when I say “no, thank you”. Refusal is a part of what they must expect – it comes with the territory. If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be doing the job in the first place.
I agree.