A popinjay is described in the Oxford English Dictionary historically as “a figure of a parrot on a pole as a mark to shoot at” and in modern usage “a conceited person”. Boris Johnson described Sadiq Khan as a pumped up popinjay following the Mayor of London making a great play of his initiative in commissioning a report on the effect of a hard or no deal on Brexit.

This report was written by Cambridge Econometrics, which is run by Richard Murphy, who just happens to be Corbyn’s guru on all matters economic. The report was paid for by the taxpayer. Given that the BBC is overtly left wing it is not surprising that this topic was aired at great length. Mr Khan unfortunately suffers from Blair Syndrome, which is basically withdrawal symptoms if one has spent more than a week without being interviewed. People with this affliction have to be seen on a regular basis not for the benefit of the electorate, but purely for their own desire to further their career in British politics, or in the case of Blair himself, Europe and the wider world.

Last Saturday was a filthy day, so I purchased two newspapers, the Telegraph and the Mail (no hints there as to my political allegiance) and having dissected them at great length I came up with the conclusion that most of the population is not on the breadline. This dawned on me given that in the Telegraph editorial content 80 pages out of 267 were devoted to advertising holidays and in the Mail 74 out of 256. Without doubt a small proportion is genuinely hard up, with many of them in circumstances over which they have no control. Equally, hordes of this section of society endure poverty through self infliction. They are unwilling or too lazy to help themselves. They smoke, cover themselves in tattoos, drink to excess and buy cart loads of prepared food, none of which are inexpensive and all of which are unnecessary. I do not feel sorry for them, but I do feel sorry for their kids, who are going to have little or no chance of bettering themselves.

I play old man’s snooker on a Thursday night with two retired farmers, a retired vet, a retired haulier and an active auctioneer. Having struggled home with my winnings, I am often in time to watch Question Time chaired by one of the Dumblebee’s (another left winger on the BBC pay roll) and was chuffed to see him put to the sword by Piers Morgan. Time after time Dumblebee allowed left wing views to be promoted at great length and repeatedly he cut short the opportunity for anybody on the other side of the political spectrum to question or disagree with the opposition. Dumblebee does not like being challenged.

Politics is now a dirty business with too much time spent by each party trying to knock lumps off the other, rather than trying to knock the country into shape. Is our system of government fit for purpose? Does it even represent the desires and expectations of the electorate? I think not.
I have just got back from Ashford Market in time to listen to the Archers (management is hooked on it). If the Archers represent country life, then I represent calm reasoning and equanimity!

Lastly, having had veganism shoved down our throats during January, I am really looking forward to my regular meat and three veg, beautifully cooked by management, who although she often thinks I am a pain in the backside, still does put proper home prepared food on the table.