Just Like Alice

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Untitled - Kel Harvey



Dateline: September 15th 2020: 07:00
Location: Rachub, North Wales, UK: 53°11'27" North -4°3'29" East
Altitude: 705 feet
Air Temperature: 17°Celsius

The figures jar. This time of year, the temperature here at this time in the morning should be around 7° or even less. This is by no means a unique event; we have had extended Indian Summers in the past, but following the past few years turbulent, inverted weather patterns it is difficult not to notice a rather more persistent change in our weathers instability. Worrying, as are:

The west coast of America is on fire and the leader of the Free World™ insists it's all down to poor forest management. Also, our own NonGovernment® has just got its Internal Market Bill through to the next stage by a considerable margin, despite dire warnings from all sides not only about the illegality of the instrument, but also of its potential for catastrophic knock-on effects for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - the only Celtic support coming from the DUP, but no surprises there.

As for Wales and Scotland, the Bill has a couple of clauses which threaten continued devolved powers and weakening home rule. The Good Friday agreement could also unravel as a consequence of its enactment, bringing the spectre of the Troubles back into view. None of this is good for any of us, except for Johnson's cohort.

He had the effrontery to claim at the start of the debate that this piece of legislation would serve to protect and strengthen the Union, despite evidence to the contrary suggesting that Scotland is edging further and further towards secession as this NonGovernment® entrenches itself ever deeper into the pit of rabid nationalism. Coupled with the economic fallout from the inevitable hard brexit this Bill presages, Wales might join Scotland in the dash for the fire exit, although the situation here is much more polarised than north of the border.

But the simple fact remains: the NonGovernment® is intent on passing a piece of legislation which if enacted places the UK in breach of international law. The implications of this are immense. It effectively tears up the rulebook and sets a precedent that would give carte blanche to any tinpot tyrant to do, say or act as they want, with tacit approval. It effectively gives that approbation to current rogue states that hitherto have been met with a collective opprobrium from the rest of the world. We now have to consider the US and the UK in the same light as these rogue states.

In his piece yesterday [Guardian Journal], John Harris quotes Jean Baudrillard from 1981: "We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning". Sums it up, really. Anyone watching yesterdays debate could be forgiven for thinking that the arguments against the further progress of this Bill and the superior quality on every level of those arguments, would have swung the vote against it. But no; the NonGovernment® won through by 340 votes to 263. We started falling down the rabbit hole a little over four years ago. We're now plummeting down a vertical mineshaft of make-believe.

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