Opinion: ‘It’s just a tired administration’

November is the month of Remembrance. I am always moved by the ceremony which occurs annually at the Cenotaph; this year’s event was particularly poignant. The necessities imposed by the coronavirus meant that there were no long lines of veterans marching past, rather, it was spare and quiet.

The last of the veterans from the First World War have long since left us. However, there is a ballad of theirs that echoes down the ages: they sang, to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, “We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here.”

The song expressed their frustration not just at the war and its lack of resolution, but also the politicians whose failings and foibles had landed them in vermin-infested, muddy holes in the Somme.

After a very rough year, I think some of us can be forgiven for wanting to sing the same tune.

Yes, the comforts of home mean this is a gentler age, but the numbers of fatalities due to the coronavirus are rising. We are in a second lockdown; it’s clear that the government’s first attempt to walk a high wire balancing the needs of the economy and the necessity of controlling the pandemic, ended in failure. It was we, the public, who fell off; the fabric of the net designed to catch us is weak and fraying.

It’s not at all clear that this second lockdown period is being used wisely, e.g. to fix Track and Trace.

We’re here because we’re here because we’re here. The Conservatives echo this theme in their own way, they’re there because they’re there because they’re there.

Do they have a particular programme besides the continuation of their own power?

It doesn’t appear so: we see evidence of this in our own city as well as in National Government. Conservative led governments have run the country for over a decade now. The Conservative administration has been in control of Peterborough for nearly twice that long. What are they for? If they cannot summon up the passion and vigour to help the people of this city effectively, why are they there?

They’re there because they’re there because they’re there.

They have no new ideas except that which arises from the passions of national tabloid newspapers; they latched on to Brexit, which by itself will not prove to be a magic elixir to right all the wrongs in this country.

When confronted with the coronavirus, there was muddle, confusion, and in the case of procurement at least, downright incompetence. Yet they want to continue on. The Prime Minister fires Dominic Cummings, a man who exemplified, “we’re here because we’re here” if there ever was one: Cummings main desire was to destroy existing institutions, like an impartial Civil Service.

He only had a vague idea as to what should replace it.

The long lines of veterans in previous years, parading in front of the Cenotaph, were always a reminder of what we owe to those who gave their all to secure our freedom.

Lloyd George promised the veterans of the First World War, a “fit country for heroes”. This did not entirely come to pass.

In the aftermath of this devastating year, there should be an energetic administration at both local and national level that will make our city and country better.

It will not be provided by the Conservatives.