Shock! Horror!

+It is I think an incontestable truth that the majority of MPs feel more duty bound to their party leaders (through the whip) then they do to their constituents. Particularly on the Labour side, it is now clear for all to see that you cannot afford to upset the party establishment, since they are the ones who can easily wield the knife at anytime during your career. And Labour MPs seem congenitally incapable of getting rid of their leaders, at least compared to the Tories. This is a problem for constituents, or voters generally. I dare say a good part of the electorate is happy to cast a vote once every four or five years and leave it at that. A much smaller group are more active and feel their voices and not just their votes should be heard. Sometimes these voices contradict each other, and on some issues there will never be a compromise. Abortion springs to mind. If half your constituents (as represented by your mailbag) are for abortion and half against, what do you do after having proclaimed that your constituents ‘always come first?’ Well, you’ll do what you were always going to do, which is to plump for the side you agree with. The losing half may feel aggrieved, but that’s just tough. The best you can do is to try and let them down gently. They will still tell you that you’ve let them down of course. Just hope that the winning half feel suitably grateful.
 
This is by way of a preface to the current debate about what are the legitimate bounds of protest? Should MPs homes and offices be targeted in any way whatsoever? There’s even talk of further curbs on protests outside parliament. MPs I think would be happy if all protests were well contained, polite and preferably placid. I did wonder during the expenses scandal whether MPs would be individually selected for critical treatment, but I don’t recall any incidents, even though that affair did more damage to public respect for their MPs than any other in recent memory. Now, Gaza has inflamed tensions, although shamefully this seems to have given rise more to anti-semitic attacks than attacks on MPs. And Just Stop Oil appear to be changing tack, less focused on inconveniencing the general public and looking more at inconveniencing MPs. This I think is justified on the old and largely valid argument that small ‘misdemeanours’ (if that’s the right word) are justified to prevent a much worse outcome. Climate change is the worst of all outcomes we face at the moment, with the possible exception of nuclear war. I don’t see that any form of peaceful, non violent protest on climate change should be condemned—although some tactics may be counterproductive if the object is to get public support. MPs are attention seekers (it’s part of their job) and so shouldn’t be surprised if they become subjects of critical focus. After all, with the great ‘net zero’ con-trick being worked on us, MPs seem to have found good grounds to go to sleep. They desperately need waking up.
 
+I ruminated recently on the likelihood of the dreadful Lee Anderson MP jumping ship to Reform UK. I read today that he has had the Tory whip suspended for making Islamaphobic  remarks. Has he passed one of the tests for joining Reform UK?
 
+We’ve just been told our energy bills are to come down by 12%. This useful chart (below) shows how our prices currently compare to the rest of Europe. Right wing numpties will say this is all because of green subsidies. It’s actually the result of decades of under investment by governments of all stripes, aided by privatisation. A bit of background I think to Starmer’s miserable u-turn on the £28 billion. (If you can't quite read the chart, we're second on the left next to Ireland, i.e. the second most expensive in Europe for domestic electricity prices.)

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