Playing Fast & Loose With Principles

I have never been a monarchist but fully accept that the Queen has, throughout her long reign, worked tirelessly on the country's behalf and has upheld the position that she holds in a dignified and honourable way. Enough, however, is enough. I have watched amused, aghast and often angry over the years while the monarch has "ruled" over a completely bizarre and dysfunctional royal family completely removed from the realities of life in a modern society, but the Queen's bowing to Boris Johnson's power grab yesterday is too much: it has in one fell swoop destroyed the delicate checks and balances of our unwritten constitutional monarchy. I fully accept that the Queen has been put in a very difficult position and was damned if she did and damned if she didn't - but there are times, and the Queen will know this, when the hard decision  has to be taken and in this regard the Queen yesterday failed in her duty. She - and her family - should go, and go quickly.

But the Queen is not alone. The last three years have seen the country descend into the depths, becoming a banana monarchy as the populist right wing Tory and Brexit bandwagon has consistently and continually lied to the electorate, subverted democracy, made the UK a laughing stock amongst nations and threatened the very future of the nation with its crackpot plans (or lack of plans) for Brexit and the post-Brexit world.

For three years the Brexit debate has been framed almost entirely in economic terms - whether it will make us better or worse off - and, of course, that plays into the hands of the Brexiteers for they know that, as their hero Winston Churchill famously and contemptuously complained about the electorate "...the British, alone amongst nations, vote with their wallets not with their heads". It was true in Churchill's day and in our contemporary world it is even more true: we have become a nation who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Everything in contemporary Britain has a cost rather than a value and in that kind of society basic values - telling the truth, honest action, matters of principle, respect for others, fairness, justice, decency, acting honourably, seeing the bigger picture rather than the short term gain, or doing what is right are now very small voices in our raucous, dog eat dog, "cost/benefit" Brexit, right wing populist world where envy and greed rule and where the mantra is increasingly "stuff you - I'm all right Jack". We have a Prime Minister who is a proven liar, a man who will pervert any situation to empower himself or to feed his delusional self important ego, and yet no-one, it seems, is much concerned about this. Indeed he is lauded and glasses are raised to him in the pubs and on social media - "Good old Boris, what a wag!" say the unthinking, the uncaring the wilfully ignorant. And yesterday our monarch, worryingly, took advice from him - and gave him the royal approval by suspending Parliament at his behest. I might wonder how the American people can elect someone as morally bankrupt and politically ill fitted for public office as Trump  - but we are no better. Like the Americans, we too have lost the ability to stop and ask ourselves the question "Is what we are doing right, is it fair, is it worthy, is it just, is it acceptable, is it decent, can it be morally or ethically justified?"

When I was at school 60+years ago we sang a hymn the words of which I can still remember with absolute clarity. They spoke to me then and they still speak to me today – about the sort of person one should aim to be and the things that one should aspire to.

Heavenly Father, may thy blessing
Rest upon thy children now,
When in praise thy name they hallow,
When in prayer to thee they bow:
In the wondrous story reading
Of the Lord of truth and grace,
May they see thy love reflected
In the light of his dear face.

May they learn from this great story

All the arts of friendliness;
Truthful speech and honest action,
Courage, patience, steadfastness;
How to master self and temper,
How to make their conduct fair;
When to speak and when be silent,
When to do and when forbear.

May his spirit wise and holy

With his gifts their spirits bless,
Make them loving, joyous, peaceful,
Rich in goodness, gentleness,
Strong in self-control, and faithful,
Kind in thought and deed; for he
Sayeth, 'What ye do for others
Ye are doing unto me.

I have a strong suspicion that the sentiments and the aspirations offered in this hymn would get short shrift in our contemporary society where it increasingly seems to me everything has a price and talk of qualities such as gentleness, self control, faithfulness, fair conduct, honest action and the rest are so often seen as old fashioned, boring or irrelevant to our modern world. Indeed, knowing what we do about our current Prime Minister – a man who is, as I noted above, a proven liar, who has night time visits from the police because of his nocturnal arguments with his mistress, who is happy to use expletives in his public life, and a man who has seen it as worthy to father children with women other than his wife – it is difficult to imagine that he could in any way subscribe to the sentiments in the hymn. And yet, few seem worried about this – “It’s his business” is the usual excuse offered. Or more worryingly, “His private life is irrelevant as long as he does a good job”. Once we subscribe to that philosophy the battle is lost for we are giving carte-blanche to anything and at the same time reaffirming the zeitgeist of our contemporary world that anything can be accepted at a price; the price being that as long as the Prime Minister does what Joe & Joan Public wants then anything will be forgiven.

We are, like the USA, supposed to be a Christian country and yet we manifestly no longer subscribe to the advice given the Bible to the Philippians: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Together with the USA, we have not only stopped seeking these things in our everyday lives and in our public and political discourse but have lost the ability to even ask questions so that we might understand them. In our celebrity obsessed, wealth driven, increasingly coarse and vulgar society where ignorance is perceived as some kind of virtue and the addictive watching of banal soap operas and  mindless programmes like "Big Brother", Love Island" or " Strictly" are thought to be cultural high spots we no longer want to know or understand what is good and worthy and which things are fundamental to our individual and national humanity. In short we have become a nation that doesn't care about right and wrong and when that happens a society is on the way down. We, in the UK and the USA are the modern day versions of the awful M.& Mme.Thenardier in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables a couple who roamed the Parisian sewers scavenging, making a fast buck through any devious means possible and selling to and involving ourselves with anyone that will share our tainted values or buy our tainted goods - and all with no consideration of whether we are acting decently or doing the right thing. Brexit, and the Brexit cheerleaders, have highlighted the true character of contemporary Britain, both collectively and individually, and shown how far we have sunk and how our values have been demeaned. It will only get worse in the next few weeks and months. And Elizabeth Windsor yesterday, bought into that pernicious and desperate value system and gave it credibility.

We are now heading for a re-run of 1933 Germany when Hitler took steps very much like those that Johnson did yesterday. Those who are not worried by this are to be pitied. The prorogation of Parliament is in itself inconsequential; it is the principle that matters. As Lord Bingham - the ex-Lord Chief Justice - said of these important principles and values that we have increasingly sidelined and lost in our country:  “Which of these principles (rights, privileges, laws etc) would you discard? Would you prefer to live in a country where they did not exist? There are, indeed, countries in the world where these principles are not easily available to their populations, but they are probably not places where any of us would wish to live”. Our democracy, our government and ultimately our way of life fall apart when a government or an electorate no longer cares about principles - integrity, justice, doing the right thing and the rest. Look at the demise of any great society from the past (Ancient Egypt, Athens, Rome, the France of Louise XIV, Tsarist Russia et al) to see the truth of that. Our own society in Britain and the most powerful society the world has even known - the USA - are falling in power and influence, and like ancient Rome it is because we are rotting from within, unable any more to make sound judgements, stick by our principles, recognise and understand the important values and obligations of life and society.  And when these principles are not cherished or are usurped so easily by those who would take power then we should all be very afraid. It is only when these things are lost that we will know that the family silver has been stolen - and by then it is too late for then we will have a state much like Hitler's Germany.

Yesterday's events have taken things far beyond Brexit. I have long resigned myself to the fact that some kind of Brexit will take place. But increasingly I am of the view that this must be; not because I think it is a good thing or even remotely acceptable but because I am increasingly of the view that we British should no longer be allowed to pour our scorn, force our crass behaviour, peddle our boorishness and display our anti-foreigner poison on our neighbours. We should not be allowed at the top tables of nations - or even any table - until we have learned a few lessons about the important things of life. If we wish to "walk with Kings" as Rudyard Kipling said in his great poem "If" then we maybe need to take on board the great principles and weighty obligations that go with that rather than just be looking for the main chance to put one over on Johnny Foreigner. And if that means that we have to have a few years of massive economic suffering to bring us to our political, social, ethical and spiritual senses, to understand concepts and ideas like decency, humility, and honest thought - to reset the moral compass - then so be it.

We are entering a new and frightening phase; whatever happens with Brexit the sky will probably not fall in but we will have changed forever as a society and a political entity. It is therefore crucial that the Queen, our political leaders, such as they are, our spiritual leaders and those who care about what sort of society we want, stand up and be counted. It is not enough for those leaders who oppose Johnson to wring their hands and Tweet "It's outrageous" - the time is long past for simple words of horror and hurt pride. I have never once in my 70 odd years on the planet waved a flag of protest or demonstrated but I now find myself asking the question "Could I look my 5 grandchildren in the face and defend what we are doing as a society and what we are allowing our politics, our society and our moral compass to become - is this what I want for them? Do I want them to think that honesty, integrity, honourable action, justice, decency and all the rest do not matter? Do I want them to grow up thinking that principles are not important and can be cast aside for short term gain or for economic reward as is being done by Boris Johnson and his compatriots? The answer, of course, is no. My grandchildren may disagree with me - that is their right (and a fundamental principle on which our society and democracy is based and which Johnson and Elizabeth Windsor have played fast and loose with) - but even if they disagree profoundly with my views I would like each of them to remember me as someone who cared enough to stand up and be counted for the things I believed in.

It is time for all of us who are concerned about the fate of a once great and respected nation - John O'Gaunt's "sceptered Isle" - to stand up and be counted. History will judge us unkindly if we do not.