Alice? Alice?

We really have moved solidly into an era of the politics of petulance and impatience. Here in the UK we used to at least give a government the chance of serving the four-year term out [barring wars or some other major factor] before deciding which way to vote the next time. Now it seems that waiting that long is just too much for the playground politicking that now prevails in this fragile archipelago's febrile atmosphere. Being invited to join political petitions these days is as routine as opening one's emails or making the morning tea. Most are unremarkable and for the most part worthy of at least some attention. But being asked to lobby for a general election just four months into the new government is surely political short-termism of the basest kind and which stretches the credibility of this [rapidly becoming populist] democratic service to its very limits. But here we are. There's one out there and it's caught fire.

The fact that as I write this, some 2.8 million signatures have been added to the thing further emphasises how far and how fast we are falling down this particular rabbit-hole. The government is [rightly] bound by the rules of petitions to government to debate this in the House at the earliest convenience, now that the threshold has been surpassed, but I hope this fatuous attempt to destabilise a new administration will be treated with the incredulity and contempt it deserves. Looking at the figures behind this petition on the voting density map [download the JSON-formatted data from the petition page if you will - you will get more detail] and you will see that the vast majority - though not admittedly exclusively - of the votes emanate from Tory & Remain constituencies. As someone pointed out in some chat stream, all the very places that voted for Brexit and were the first to carp at the Remain voters that 'Leave means Leave'. Now the boot's on the other foot, they don't like it that the government was given a mandate by UK voters.

The pub landlord that brought this petition stated that he posted it because '...I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election...' Considering that the government in waiting was at pains to point out that the first budget would be painful - putting no-one under any illusions about it or making false promises that the land of milk and honey was just around the corner as soon as they convened at Number Ten for the first time [how very Tory that would have been] - this call for an election at this juncture has to be a political stunt dreamt up in the minds of some, either very politically immature or very politically canny, people indeed. Reversing the damage wrought on our society by fourteen years of Tory chaos and inaction is going to take at least the full four years of this Parliament. To suggest after just four months that it's time for a change [to what for Chrissakes?] is pushing at the very boundaries of sanity itself. Naïveté? Bar-room politics? Maybe, but I smell Farage and his troupe of spoilers all over this.

One other thing of note. This is an official government petition site, for the sole use of British citizens or UK residents. Admittedly not a remotely large or even vaguely influential number in itself, but when I checked the voting figures this morning, around 63,000 signatures came from outside the United Kingdom. Admittedly, many of these will be non-dom Brits, those working abroad or on holiday, or even people here in the UK using VPN. But some locations are worthy of note. Particularly, The Occupied Palestinian Territories (1), Vatican City (6), British Antarctic Territory (9), and Western Sahara (6!). It just makes me wonder sometimes, is all...