It’s funny how things seem to come in threes. Last month I quipped that trying to eradicate mice from our house and the Conservatives from government was about banishing evil entities before they do irreparable damage, so what happens in June? I get Covid as well! Typical.
Thankfully there has been success on all three fronts. Our mouse problem is being dealt with effectively, so I’m just looking for a builder to do some repairs that will stop them getting back in. Covid affected Mum and I in a similar way to the only other time we had it in January last year, with Mum’s body effectively shutting down for a day to fight it, whilst I wasn’t that bad but still felt quite drained for a few days, not helped by it being the hottest and most humid week of the year so far. We’re both fully recovered anyway, and Mum having her booster jab a couple of months ago helped I’m sure. And now of course we have the sheer relief of the Tories being booted out in the General Election, after 14 years of chaos and one of the worst election campaigns in history.
I’m also glad that I was able to go out quite a bit during the first part of the month before Covid struck, by enjoying a sensory garden tour, exploring a new exhibition, having walks by the Thames and taking a day trip to the seaside. I met up with my aunt for a couple of those outings too, which was lovely – it’s just a shame we had to drop other things we had planned, as we had been trying to make the most of some time I had off work, and I had to miss a theatre show as well, but not to worry.
So there’s quite a bit to mention in this month’s post and video as usual, including things I’ve been watching and listening to as well as those outings, none of which is sponsored or gifted as usual. And I’ve also included my thoughts about the election campaign and results at the end. So I hope you enjoy!
Contents
Natural World
Birds: Brilliant & Bizarre Exhibition
My first outing this month was a visit to the Natural History Museum to see their new exhibition about birds, which opened on 24 May and runs until 5 January.
It’s a fascinating look at how birds evolved from the few survivors of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, resulting in a huge array of different species with their own unique appearances, incredible abilities and varied behaviours. It explores their many different ways of attracting mates, raising their young and migrating, and also explains why many of the world’s current species are under threat from humans and climate change, with advice on how we can reverse that trend to enable them to thrive.
There are lots of exhibits from the museum’s taxidermy archive on display, which look really nice, along with skeletons, fossil casts, eggs, and so on. You can see even more stuffed animals in their permanent Birds gallery of course, and it’s in that room where the entrance to this new special exhibition is located.
There are quite a few things you can touch as well, including models of different shaped beaks and the ability to feel a hummingbird’s heartbeat in its active and resting states. Plus there are interactive screens including a test to see if you can distinguish between the mimicking sounds of a lyrebird and other noises (it’s trickier than you think!), and a game to help a jay hide some acorns and then find them again (which I couldn’t see well enough to play, but I wasn’t bothered about that). And there are even a couple of things you can smell too. So it’s pretty interactive in that regard, which is good.
There was also a large print guide that the man at the entrance gave me, which was very useful, although it was hard to find good spots to read it in sometimes. Even though the exhibits are lit up, the rest of the room is much dimmer in comparison, and when standing by the display cases it was often difficult to find a position where I could get enough illumination on the book. And even if there was a spotlight overhead, it would cause me to cast a shadow over the book if I wasn’t standing at the right angle. The introductory panels at the entrance of each section seemed to be the best spots for lighting in that regard.
Luckily I had also downloaded the digital version of the large print guide on to my phone as well, in case I couldn’t get hold of a book, so I could zoom in to read it there when necessary. But my phone screen is still much smaller than the actual book of course, and it is a bit fiddly to zoom in on each page and scroll back and forth to read each line. So I preferred to use the physical book when I could, as the text was nice and big in there. As is typical with large print guides in galleries, occasionally I had to hunt around for the item I wanted to read about next, as it wasn’t always clear what order things were in, and the text on the object panels was quite small, making it difficult to compare them with the book. But overall I didn’t have too much trouble finding the items the book was referring to, and sometimes it was very obvious. The lighting was the main issue.
Another issue, however, was the fact that there were some small video screens placed in viewfinders that you had to look through. So because of their size and the fact I couldn’t get close to them, I couldn’t clearly see what was happening unless I used my monocular (my pocket telescope), which was difficult given their low angle so I quickly gave up on trying to do that.
On the other hand, there were also some big vertical screens in the exhibition showing some cool footage that were much easier to see, and there’s a large display covering a couple of walls at the end that shows how birds could be a much bigger and welcome part of the landscape by 2050 with our help (granted, I still had to use my monocular to see the birds in the latter case, but it was much easier in that instance). So I don’t know why some of the other screens had to be so small and placed at a distance, instead of just using regular screens like they had for the interactive games, which would have been ideal.
So accessibility for visually impaired people like myself could be better. But I still managed to spend a good couple of hours in the exhibition, where I admired a lot of the items even if I couldn’t always read about them easily, and it was all really interesting. I was also able to read more of the large print guide on my computer after I got home, and look at many of the exhibits more closely when looking through my photos. So it was worth the visit overall.
Kew Gardens: Sensory Tour
It’s been rather a long time since I last visited Kew Gardens, which was 7 years ago when I popped along to their Handmade At Kew event. The cushions we bought back then lasted a good few years, but we did replace them in the end.
For this visit, as well as spending some time exploring on my own, I had also booked on to one of their Sensory Tours, which are held roughly once a month on a Sunday, as it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. And I really enjoyed it. It also meant I was able to enter the gardens for free as a visually impaired person, as part of their wide-ranging accessibility support, which was an added bonus.
We were taken around by Ben, the Discovery & Access Learning Coordinator, who was very friendly and knowledgeable, along with a couple of his colleagues. And there were around 10 of us on the tour altogether, some of whom have done it before. They have some regular participants on these tours because they’re different each time, given that the gardens change throughout the seasons and in general there’s so much to see, thereby ensuring the tours don’t get repetitive for the staff or the returning guests.
Indeed, there was quite a variety for us on this hour-long tour. For a start, we got to feel a couple of the large reflective stainless steel sculptures that form part of Marc Quinn’s Light Into Life series throughout the park. We looked at two of his artworks based on orchids, while a couple of others I had seen earlier in the day were related to palm trees with their spike-shaped leaves.
But the main general theme was smell, so we got to touch and sniff a variety of plants during the tour. Along the way we visited their beautiful Rose Garden (where we learned that you can’t have blue roses), had a discussion about how beech trees are being affected by climate change, looked at their Salvia border, admired some pretty yellow Mullein flowers with lovely soft leaves, and paid a visit to the Princess Of Wales Conservatory to see two examples of the Titan Arum (aka the Corpse Flower, which produces the largest flowers in the world and gives off a foul odour during its 2 short days in bloom – although we missed the time when it eventually bloomed later in the month, probably fortunately!).
So it was a very enjoyable and engaging experience, as we got to see, touch and smell a good variety of different things, and Ben was very happy to answer the various questions we threw at him, you could tell he enjoys doing these sensory tours. They also do regular BSL tours and dementia-friendly health walks as well.
For a couple of hours before and after the tour I also had a wander around by myself. I only scratched the surface of what’s there of course, because Kew is huge and it would take several days to get remotely close to seeing it all, but it was lovely to see what I could find in the time I had available. As well as many different varieties of flowers and trees, I came across other sights including the pond, fountain and statues by Palm House, the Rock Garden, the Great Pagoda and the Japanese Gardens. And to satisfy my hunger I had a plate of fish and chips in their Pavilion Bar and Grill, which is expensive for the size of serving you get, and doesn’t compare to what they dish up at proper fish and chip shops (including one I’m going to mention later in this post), but it was nice enough and did the job.
So I had a lovely day there altogether. I’ll certainly have to go back and look around further, and do another of those tours at some point as well.
Richmond Park
As with Kew, it’s been 7 years since I last set foot in the nearby Richmond Park as well, when I visited with East London Vision, and it’s also far too big to explore in one go. So I enjoyed a long afternoon at the park this month, spending nearly 4 hours leisurely walking the paths around its outer edge, including stops to have a sausage baguette from a kiosk and a big almond slice from their café along the way.
It’s such a beautiful and peaceful place, with lots of shade under the impressive trees, lovely sounds of birds, and pretty scenery in general. I didn’t see any of the deer on this occasion, although with my eyesight I could easily have missed them. It was just really nice to have a walk around, to get a feel for how huge the park is, and I hope to go back and explore further over the summer.
Waterside Walks
Ramsgate
During my first week off work, when we knew it would be quiet, my aunt and I took a day trip to Ramsgate to enjoy a stroll by the seaside. I’d never been there before, hence my aunt wanted to show me around, and it’s a beautiful picture postcard seaside town, with a lovely long beach of golden sand, tall white cliffs, historic buildings and a huge harbour. It was a perfect sunny day too, with a nice light breeze to offset the heat, and the waves were lapping gently against the shore all the time we were there. It’ll be packed with tourists during the height of summer of course, but for us it was very calm and peaceful on the day we visited.
We started off with lunch at Peter’s Fish Factory, having what is genuinely one of the best cod and chips I’ve ever had, served by very friendly staff, so I wasn’t surprised when my aunt told me she keeps going back there whenever she visits the area.
We then went for a walk alongside Ramsgate Beach as far as the East Cliff, passing the Ramsgate Tunnels along the way. It’s a really nice stretch of seafront.
Once we felt we’d gone far enough, we doubled back and headed to the Royal Harbour. We strolled up and down the east and west piers there, spotting the Brasserie and the RNLI lifeboat station, while also admiring the many boats, including one called Starbuck that has historical significance due to its use in World War II.
We also passed places like the Sailors’ Church and a gallery called Something Fishy, although we didn’t have time to go in those for a look around.
We then walked back the way we came to the Royal Victoria Pavilion, which these days is a nice Wetherspoons pub, and had a drink on the terrace overlooking the beach, before having a nice walk back to the station to return home.
So we had a really nice time and it’s definitely a place I’d go back to again. It’s better than Margate nearby, which I visited last year with my friend Emily – that’s nice enough and well worth a look, but it doesn’t have the same feel to it really, and there’s nothing to draw me back there. Emily has written about Ramsgate as well though, as part of a series of articles she’s doing on places in Kent for News Shopper, so feel free to check that out for more information.
Richmond to Teddington
Back in London the day after Ramsgate, my aunt and I spent an afternoon taking a leisurely stroll along a beautiful section of the Thames Path from Richmond Bridge to Teddington Lock and back again, having something to eat and drink in Richmond before and after, as we were on that side of the river.
The scenery is lovely to look at and there are many boats along this stretch of the river. A big section of the path is lined with trees as well, that form a canopy overhead providing welcome shade, plus we could hear lots of birds twittering away quite happily. It feels like you’re walking through a wood sometimes, rather than by a river, and it’s very calm and peaceful, even with the cyclists that whizz by regularly.
Sights across the water include the English Heritage site Marble Hill and Eel Pie Island. Meanwhile on our side we also passed a National Trust property called Ham House & Garden, which might be nice to look around one day. Richmond Park is very close though, which I visited by myself on a different day as mentioned above, and Hampton Court isn’t far away either, which I also need to visit having not been there since I was a kid.
Hammersmith to Battersea
As well as the above stroll with my aunt, I also had another walk by the Thames by myself this month, going along the north bank from Hammersmith Bridge to Battersea Bridge, a section skirting around Fulham that I’d never done before.
Early on during the walk, you can see the historic building of Harrods Furniture Depository on the south side of the river, which is now residential apartments but still contains the old sign on the outside.
Back on the north bank I saw a few nice statues, including one of gardener and landscape architect Capability Brown, and one called Figurehead by Rick Kirby. There’s also a big detour inland at one point, which takes you around the front of Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage Stadium, where they have a statue of footballer Johnny Haynes. I also had to go around the outside of Hurlingham Park before returning to the river, which was surprisingly busy, and I later discovered it was because they were holding the annual Polo In The Park event, which I’ve never heard of before.
Incidentally, I didn’t get lost on that big diversion away from the river, because I was using the Go Jauntly app that Transport for London have partnered with. It has a whole set of guides for different sections of the Thames Path, as well as for many other walks in London, so I’ve been trying it out for all these Thames walks I’ve been doing lately, including the ones I did in East London last month. It makes it pretty clear where to go, with an interactive map, text instructions and photos, so I found it really helpful, particularly in this instance where I wouldn’t have had a clue about the best route to take. It also points out some interesting sights along the way that I would otherwise have missed. And there are PDF guides you can download from the website for each section, containing illustrations of the map and the same text instructions as in the app, so they’re also useful.
I was also walking past the opening section of the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race to begin with, which starts at Putney Bridge and heads west, past Hammersmith Bridge and continuing all the way around to Chiswick Bridge. So naturally there are several boating schools on the south bank in the Putney area, and I saw people rowing along as I heard instructors issuing guidance to them. Meanwhile, on the north bank where I was, there’s also a beautiful mural commemorating the boat race, so that was a highlight worth finding.
There are then more boats beyond that when you get to Imperial Wharf, which has a green space called Imperial Park next to it for people to relax in.
So it was another nice wander altogether. Not as many eye-catching sights as somewhere like Greenwich, sure, but still a pleasantly peaceful section of the river.
Entertainment
Doctor Who
The new series of Doctor Who finished this month, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Ncuti Gatwa hit the ground running as the Doctor, with wonderful energy and positivity as well as powerful performances in the more serious, tense and emotional moments. And Millie Gibson is perfectly cast as companion Ruby Sunday, who has quite an intriguing story arc about her parentage. The two of them have great chemistry as well.
There’s been a nice variety of stories overseen by showrunner Russell T Davies, so I’m delighted he’s back. Granted, the Space Babies opener is easily the weakest episode of the series, as it just feels too daft and all the exposition about the Doctor feels rather shoehorned in. But it picks up a lot after that.
The Devil’s Chord is still quite weird, but is much more entertaining, especially thanks to Jinkx Monsoon playing Maestro, and the earworm of a song at the end is much better than the Goblin Song from the Christmas special. Next, Boom is a fabulously tense story by Steven Moffat (who has also written this year’s Christmas special), and Ncuti pulls off a great performance while standing on the spot for most of the episode. 73 Yards then messes with your head in a clever way, and Millie impressively shows what she’s capable of without Ncuti being involved, especially considering it’s the very first episode she filmed at the age of just 18.
Dot And Bubble then neatly pulls the rug from under your feet at the end, in such a way that the episode is very different the second time you watch it, given what you then know about central character Lindy Pepper-Bean. Rogue is the show’s tribute to Bridgerton, which I’ve never seen and have no major urge to watch, and sees the Doctor getting romantically attached to a handsome guy he meets, so it’s lovely but not as strong for me as the previous few episodes. Then The Legend Of Ruby Sunday builds to an amazing cliffhanger with the arrival of a seemingly invincible god, while Empire Of Death wraps things up quite nicely, albeit with one or two plot holes and loose threads.
As always, the music by Murray Gold is sublime, and all of the practical and digital visual effects look stunning. I also love the fact that they’ve made an effort to be more inclusive, particularly with disabled and LGBTQI+ actors and characters. And there’s been a lot of great extra material to accompany the series online, including the backstage Unleashed series, further behind the scenes videos on Youtube, in-vision commentaries, and a special episode of Tales Of The Tardis, all of which will be on the DVD and Blu-ray sets when they come out in August.
That’s my general reaction, but you can check out my in-depth review of the series for my detailed thoughts on the episodes and the extra material. And while we wait for the next Christmas special and Season 2, I will continue reviewing some of the previous series from the modern era, following on from Series 1, 2, 3 & 4 plus the 2008-10 Specials that I wrote about last year. I’ll be starting with the Sarah Jane and Torchwood spin-offs from that period before I then move on to Matt Smith’s reign as the Doctor, so do keep an eye out for all of that in the months ahead. It’ll take me a while to get through it all!
There are also rumours about Martha Jones returning in a spin-off series. But it’s only been reported in the tabloids, who often get things wrong, and nothing’s been officially confirmed. So while it would be wonderful to have her back, we can’t get too hopeful just yet.
Rik Mayall
It’s hard to believe that this month marks 10 years since the untimely death of the comedy god that is Rik Mayall, a loss that is still very keenly felt. I’ve talked about him at length before of course, including when I visited his memorial bench, reviewed the Blu-ray sets of The Young Ones and Blackadder, and watched the recent Bottom: Exposed documentary.
So this month I enjoyed a couple of special tribute programmes about Rik, one of which I’d seen before, to mark the anniversary:
- Lord Of Misrule – This hour-long TV tribute from 2014 was repeated on BBC Four this month. It takes us on a comprehensive journey through Rik’s life and career, including rarely seen clips, photos and interview footage as well as lots of memorable classic moments. So to begin with we learn about his family, school and university life, how he got into comedy, and how he ended up working with Adrian Edmondson (who isn’t interviewed in these documentaries, but his heavy involvement in Bottom: Exposed makes up for that). It then looks at Rik’s extensive body of work, including 20th Century Coyote, The Dangerous Brothers, Kevin Turvey, The Young Ones, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Bad News and more from The Comic Strip, Lord Flashheart in Blackadder, The New Statesman, Drop Dead Fred, Bottom, Dan’s father in Man Down, and his guest appearances as DI Gideon Pryke in Jonathan Creek. And towards the end the programme also talks about the impact of his quad bike accident, shares the tips for life he gave to students at the University of Exeter, and shows the tributes paid after his death. Along the way we also hear from lots of famous friends and fans including Ben Elton, Greg Davies, Alexei Sayle, Christopher Ryan, Michael Palin, Lenny Henry, Ruby Wax, Lise Meyer, Simon Pegg and Jools Holland, among others. And it finishes with a rare clip of Rik singing at a charity gig in Nether Wallop with the Jools Holland Big Band.
- Panglobal Phenomenon – This is a new hour-long documentary from Radio 4, as part of their Archive On 4 strand. It’s hosted by author Max Kinnings, who recorded lots of audio of Rik while working with him to write his character-led autobiography, modestly entitled Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ, which I haven’t read but it sounds brilliant (I don’t read books much, but maybe I’ll get around to it one day). So here we get to listen to extracts from those precious recordings, which are fascinating and often very funny as Rik and Max jam together to form ideas. It’s all interspersed with clips from some of Rik’s TV shows and interview appearances, alongside interviews with his three children and input from people he worked with like Ben Elton, Helen Lederer, Peter Richardson and more.
Both programmes celebrate what a hilarious, high-spirited, clever and warm-hearted guy Rik was. He knew the rules of comedy inside out, so he knew how and when to break them to best effect, he was a great collaborator who enjoyed working with lots of different people, he was a very kind man who didn’t want anyone to feel left out, he was deeply loyal to his family and his friends, and he was just great at connecting with people whether in person or through the mediums of TV, film, audio, etc. There was just something uniquely special about him, and these documentaries are very funny, insightful and fitting tributes to his memory.
Ross Noble
Another epic post I’ve completed this month is my review of Ross Noble’s remaining DVDs, following on from the first part I published back in May, which in turn came after his live show I saw in March. I love the way every show is different because of his brilliantly surreal improvisations, and all of his DVDs are packed with a huge amount of material. There’s just one more post I’m working on about his online shows and a few other bits and pieces to complete the trilogy, so look out for that in the weeks ahead.
Taskmaster
Following the end of the most recent series, hosts Greg Davies and Alex Horne gave a wry audio commentary on a special clip compilation called Taskmasterclass, featuring some of the funniest moments from the show under a very loose theme, asking what the point is of doing the tasks. It’s nothing special compared to the main series, but it’s a good excuse to look back at some of the best contestants and challenges, and it’s the first episode in what will be an occasional series.
Alex also did a great job hosting the final episode in the latest series of Have I Got News For You, which also happened to be its 600th edition. It’s a shame they didn’t do an election special, but at least The Last Leg stepped in to save the day there with a fun 2-hour episode.
Other Shows
There are other things I haven’t got around to yet, including the new series of The Outlaws on the BBC featuring Stephen Merchant, and ITV’s new comedy-drama Douglas Is Cancelled by Steven Moffat with his Doctor Who friends Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston among the cast (which has had mixed reviews but I’m curious enough to give it a go). So I’ll check those out sometime soon.
I have started watching the great new series of Secrets Of The London Underground on the Yesterday channel though. Plus there are other things online and on DVD that are on my to-do list, including one or two recommendations from friends that I still intend to look at. So there’s plenty to keep me busy for quite a while as usual.
It’s also great to hear that Dave Gorman’s Modern Life Is Goodish will be returning for four new episodes, and Wallace & Gromit will be back for a new adventure at Christmas, so I’ll be looking forward to those later in the year.
General Election
Ok, I know we’ve only just had the results of the General Election in early July, but the campaign’s been running throughout June and it would be silly to wait another month to talk about the outcome of what is a big historical event that has dominated the news.
It seems a long time since Rishi Sunak called the election in the pouring rain while Things Can Only Get Better played in the background. In last month’s post I wrote about my hatred of the Conservatives, how they’ve torn apart the country over the last 14 years, and their numerous cock-ups in the first week of the campaign, so I won’t go over that again here.
What was astonishing and oddly fascinating, however, was how much worse things got for them, as they didn’t seem to know or care how they were being perceived. It really did feel at times like they wanted to lose, or that their PR team was actively trying to make it happen, but ultimately it just looks like it was sheer incompetence all round.
In particular, Rishi’s early departure from the D-Day commemorations in France was bafflingly stupid and tremendously offensive. And he only left so he could do an interview with ITV a week in advance of its transmission, where he lied to the interviewer to say the event had overrun and then claimed not having Sky TV was his biggest hardship as a child. He also appeared arrogant and tetchy in interviews and debates throughout the campaign, as did many of his colleagues, as they didn’t like journalists pulling their track record and policies to shreds with such ease. It was interesting to observe that their idea of National Service was never spoken of later in the campaign, for instance, given how divisive it was.
Then there were the revelations that people in his team had placed bets on the date of the election before it was called officially, which wasn’t a good look. On the plus side, however, it was also claimed that Labour had been monitoring the betting markets and noticed the changing odds for the election date, and therefore took full advantage of it to print pamphlets, organise spending, and buy prime advertising space before the Tories could grab it, which if true is a genius move. Labour were already poised for the election anyway, given that it had to happen this year, but that gave them an extra advantage.
Rishi mainly stuck to one line of attack as well, repeating ad nauseum that Labour would raise taxes by £2,094 for every working family. But the figures were widely debunked because they were based on various assumptions made by the Tories, deliberately designed as worst-case scenarios to make Labour look as bad as possible. They didn’t even make clear that this fictional figure was over a 4-year period, so only £500 per year. But thankfully the public didn’t take any notice. Besides, a lot of people, myself included, would be quite happy to pay a little bit of extra tax, if there was a guarantee from a government we could trust that it would actually be used to fix public services and improve people’s lives in ways we could see and benefit from. The trouble is that the Tories raised our tax burden to its highest level in 70 years, and yet the country’s on its knees, so it’s no wonder people are unable or unwilling to pay any more right now!
In the end the Conservatives were forced to admit defeat, and instead of trying to say anything positive about their own record (because there isn’t anything), they were begging people to keep them in as opposition with a plea to stop Labour getting a so-called ‘supermajority’. The fearmongering became intense and frankly bizarre (yes, both videos were genuinely made by the Conservative Party, and the fact they haven’t deleted that second one in particular out of shame is quite something).
The only time Rishi showed any apparent dignity and respect was in his resignation speech (with his wife holding an umbrella behind him just in case!), but given how horrible he had been up until then, it was difficult to tell how genuine he was. Likewise when he was polite during his first speech as leader of the Opposition recently as well.
I guess there are two possibilities – either he was manipulated into being as angry and nasty as he became by people within his divided party and he now regrets it, or the niceties are just a front and the mask slipped due to the intensity of the campaign. Both are plausible but I think, like I suspect most people, the latter feels more likely. But who knows? Either way, the simple fact remains that he wasn’t cut out to be Prime Minister, it was a step too far. He had admirable ambition, and it was a great achievement to be the first British Asian PM, but he didn’t know where his limit was until he crossed it and paid the price for doing so.
They weren’t of course helped by Nigel Farage jumping in to lead Reform. He’s an arrogant and unpleasant attention-seeker, and several candidates were exposed for offensive comments, while others have been accused of being non-existent. Yet, like Boris Johnson in his heyday (and it was desperate of the Tories to wheel him out at the last minute), Nigel has the personality to win at least some people over. So they did get 5 MPs and second place in 98 seats with a 14.3% vote share – but then in 2015 his UKIP party (which Reform is basically a successor to) got 2 MPs and second place in 120 seats with a 12.6% vote share. So it’s not really a huge rise in support after 9 years. They still need monitoring carefully, but if the government can do a good job, they should be able to stop more people defecting to Reform. We’ve seen the dangers of far-right parties gaining in popularity in other countries, and we don’t want to drift that way here.
As for some of the more respectful smaller parties, I’m pleased the Green Party got 4 MPs. After all, Caroline Lucas made a big impact when she was their only MP, so now they’ve got the quartet they were aiming for this time around, that’s great news. And I’m delighted that the Liberal Democrats now have 72 MPs, having a revival after gaining 64 seats. Ed Davey’s stunts during the campaign gave everyone a bit of light relief while also allowing him to get some serious points across, plus he spoke openly about caring for his disabled son, and it all paid off. Some of the polls were even suggesting that they could become the official opposition, and I would love it if that happened. It’s not beyond possibility for next time.
But of course it was Labour who swept to victory with a huge majority, and deservedly so. I don’t know if they’ll be any good yet – nobody does. But the early signs have felt promising and at least allow for some much-needed hope and optimism. Keir Starmer may seem boring to some, but that’s not a bad thing necessarily. I’d rather have a dull PM who just gets on with the job rather than someone who tries to show off and doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Keir’s a clever guy, not least thanks to his previous experience working as the Director of Public Prosecutions, so he’s been planning what he would do for some time, he’s changed the Labour party in a way that’s hopefully for the better since becoming their leader, and he’s clearly confident going into his new role.
He gave a great first speech as Prime Minister (with a rightful emphasis on country first and party second), he actually answered the media’s questions during his first press conference (something we’re not used to from politicians!), and he’s assembled a strong cabinet (which is the most representative in terms of the UK’s educational background with only one from a private school, and includes former Bank of England economist Rachel Reeves as the first ever female chancellor, who herself gave a good press conference too).
He’s also been keen to hire other well-regarded experts for key roles from beyond his own ministerial pool, in a ‘government of all the talents’, including rehabilitation campaigner James Timpson as Prisons Minister and former Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance as Science Minister (who we got to know in press conferences during the Covid lockdowns). And number 10 even released videos of Keir Starmer speaking to President Joe Biden and other clips from his first day.
It just feels like we have grown-ups in charge now, which I’ve seen a lot of people saying on social media. It feels like there’s a real drive to make a difference from people who are actually experts in their respective fields, rather than the PM just handing jobs to his mates for no good reason.
In terms of disabled people, they haven’t said a lot on that front, and the consultation on PIP launched by the Tories hasn’t yet been completed. So there is still a lot of concern there. We need a dedicated Disabilities Minister for a start, like the Conservatives had (well, sort of, they kept changing quite frequently and never achieved a great deal, and they nearly scrapped the role altogether last year). But that is only a junior ministerial position, as odd as that might sound, so it was never going to be announced early on. Hopefully it’ll come soon.
However, I did listen to the BBC’s Access All interview with Angela Rayner during the campaign, before she became the Deputy Prime Minister, and it was interesting to hear her talking about the fact that her disabled son Charlie (who is blind) is going through the transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments. And she mentioned caring for her bipolar mother as well. So she knows, and freely acknowledged, how incredibly stressful it is to get the support you need. Indeed, it’s been interesting to learn more about her, as she’s had a tough life, including growing up in a council house, becoming a single mother at the age of 16, and so on. Yet her hard work and determination has enabled her to get a top position in the government, and she doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone, plus we know she gets on well with Keir and he respects her views.
In addition, I see that James Taylor, Executive Director at Scope, has welcomed the appointments of Alison McGovern and Stephen Timms to the DWP as good advocates and ambassadors for disabled people, and I am also aware that Stephen has a very good reputation, given that he’s been the local Labour MP for my area of London for 3 decades now.
I’m also very happy to see that Steve Darling, the new Liberal Democrat MP for my old neck of the woods in Torbay, is in Parliament with his guide dog Jennie. Very best wishes to him in his new role, and to all the disabled MPs in Parliament.
So there is reason to be hopeful on the disability front as well. But more clarity on disability-related policies and support would be very welcome and vitally important nonetheless, including a new Minister for Disabled People, just to reassure everyone.
[Update: Friday 12 July – Sir Stephen Timms MP has been named the Minister for Social Security and Disability). He’s been the local MP for my area for 30 years and, while I’ve never met him, I know he has a very good reputation, so best wishes to him in his new role!
But ultimately, we will have to wait and see what happens over the next 5 years. Maybe nothing will get better. Maybe things will get worse. But it’s also perfectly possible that things will slowly improve at last. It will take a long time to fix the mess the Tories have left in their wake, sure, and Keir Starmer himself has been open about that, calling it a ‘decade of national renewal’. It is no surprise that Labour will need at least 2 terms to right the ship again, given the scale of the damage they’ve inherited and the incredibly hard decisions they will need to make. But Keir strikes me as someone who wants to under-promise and over-deliver, as he doesn’t want to make pledges he can’t keep. And they do seem to have hit the ground running during their first few days in power.
So let’s hope they really can make a difference. We’ve put our trust in Labour, so now it’s up to them to repay that trust, to show that they deserve it. Let’s give them that chance. It feels like they’ve earned it, and the country certainly deserves a break from what we’ve had before!
Conclusion
And that’s it, I hope you enjoyed my latest roundup. I’m glad I was able to make the most of my time before Covid grabbed me, and now I’ve got that out of the way, I’ll hopefully be able to get through July without any issues. I’ve already been to one theatre show this month and am about to attend another, plus I’ve just been informed that I’ll be having a telephone assessment for my PIP review shortly. But apart from that I don’t really know what the weeks ahead have in store. There are bound to be a few things I do on a whim though, especially if the weather’s nice. So we’ll see what happens, and I look forward to updating you next month as usual!
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