Some days it’s difficult to take this country seriously anymore. Today’s been one of them. One section of the media has been hyperventilating over a badly photoshopped picture of a member of the royal family and her kids, whilst another has been following the latest political psychodrama as a former Conservative deputy Vice-Chairman (Lee Anderson) defects to the Reform party, giving them their first MP.

Try as I might (and I’m really not trying very hard) I can’t get excited about the photograph. There’s an awful lot of things to be bothered about in the UK right now – and this isn’t one of them. Watching the Conservative party falling apart however, is becoming quite a spectacle.

Lee Anderson (or ’30pflee’ as he’s known to many) was always a disaster waiting to happen for the Tory party. Supremely unfitted to be an MP, he was elected in to represent Mansfield as part of the 2019 ‘red wall’ collapse of Labour seats. He could have remained in political obscurity until he was booted out in this years general election but Rishi Sunak had other ideas and (over)promoted him to the job of Conservative Party Deputy-Chairman. This says little about Anderson but a huge amount about how useless Sunak’s judgement is.

Needless to say, Anderson was a disaster and got himself suspended from the Tories after refusing to apologise for Islamophobic remarks he made about the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Now , having originally defected from Labour to the Tories, Anderson’s jumped ship to Reform, where he’ll no doubt provide plenty of popcorn moments before the voters of Ashfield have chance to eject him at an election. He’s already gone full fascist at the press conference, saying he wants his country ‘back’. I almost feel sorry for Reform. They’re cock-a-hoop at having recruited him (don’t you mean ‘bought him’? Ed) as they now have an actual MP, their problem is they’re got yet another ego the size of a planet competing for attention with Tice, Farage and Habib (who failed to get elected in Wellingborough recently). I predict this will not end well! On the bright side, it’s going to cause just as much consternation in the Tory party as Sunak will come under even more pressure to drag the party further to the right – which is only going to end in tears (and electoral oblivion). Will any other Tory MPs follow Anderson to Reform? Possibly, but it won’t save them. Remember Chuka Umunna and the other breakaway MPs who formed ‘Change UK’? That went well. Or Douglas Carswell, the only UKIP MP? He’s now playing his banjo for a right-wing ‘think-tank’ in Mississippi, USA!

I have a feeling that the next round of political polls could be very interesting! The Tories have already sunk to 18% in one recent poll whilst YouGov has seen then regularly poll around 20% (27 points behind Labour). As for Reform, sections of the media are really trying to big them up but the truth is they’re nowhere near hitting the polling heights UKIP did at their Zenith – and they still didn’t win a single seat at a general election! This polling tracker in the Guardian shows the extent of the Tories woes…

My advice? Go buy some popcorn to enjoy whilst you watch the state of UK politics. Really, it’s no laughing matter, but at the moment there’s not a lot else to do but watch the Tory infighting until Sunak finally plucks up the courage to call an election. I still think it might be May. If so, we’ve only got 16 days left to find out as March 27th is when the announcement has to be made by. If not, then this farce will likely drag on until the autumn at the earliest – God help us!

Away from politics and despite the gloomy weather it’s been a productive day here at Bigland Towers. We’re gearing up for the Community Rail Awards which will take place this time next week. Plus, the pair of us have booked a four night break in North Yorkshire shortly afterwards for some ‘down-time’. In the meantime I’m hoping to say ‘sod the weather’ and get out with the camera tomorrow. For now I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which is a view of one of the places we’ll be revisiting soon. Whitby. Here’s the first glimpse of the town you get as you approach over the moors…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
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