Mr Brightside: It’s Official, The Right are Nasty

 

“No fun to hang around, feelin’ that same old way

No fun to hang around, freaked out for another day”

 

This week the column jumps to the rescue of one of the country’s cultural icons, “Paddington (Bear) Brown”.

 
This week we saw one of those charming moments which can typify the whimsical British nature, when it was revealed that Paddington has an official passport.

For those unfamiliar with the story the new Paddington film is set in Peru where he visits to meet Great Aunt Lucy, therefore he needed a passport. The producer, Rob Silva said; ‘We wrote to the Home Office ‘asking if we could get a replica, and they actually issued Paddington with an official passport – there’s only one of these … you wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear.’

All quite innocent you might think. Just someone showing a sense of humour, much as the Queen did when she took tea with Paddington. But not if you’re a right-wing loony writing for The Spectator
 

‘you wouldn’t think the Home Office would have a sense of humour, but under official observations, they’ve just listed him as Bear’

 
For the record there is a long association between the magazine and the Tories. Former editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Ian Gilmour (1954–1959), Iain Macleod (1963–1965), and Nigel Lawson (1966–1970). The former Conservative MP Michael Gove took over from Fraser Nelson as editor in October.

The issue is, you see, immigration, but then isn’t it always…

The magazine promptly took issue with what they regard as a monumental being reduced to the level of a CGI bear. Of course this is just the behaviour they would expect from trendy leftie middle-class types such as myself.

The magazine clearly doesn’t believe is people having opinions different to theirs, or the Tories – effectively, one and the same thing.

They were quick to remind readers that in 2022, when the controversial Rwanda scheme was first mooted, a group of Home Office civil servants styling themselves ‘Our Home Office’ stuck ‘Refugees Welcome’ stickers and parody Immigration Enforcement notices featuring Paddington on staff noticeboards in protest at the ‘barbaric’ policy.

They went to say: Paddington has become a symbol of arch tweeness in adults who really should know better. Twee is like sex – lovely behind closed doors, appalling in public, and you should be sent to prison if you force it on people who don’t consent.
 

‘Twee is like sex – lovely behind closed doors, appalling in public’

 
There’s some great stuff here…”adults who really should know better”; get a life, get a sense of humour. These are very dull people!

“Twee is like sex – lovely behind closed doors”….so, that’s where I have been going wrong!

The real issue is that Paddington present a way of life the magazine clearly dislikes, E.G., “Far easier to divide the world like a child into nice progressive people like the Brown family and nasty right-wingers like curmudgeonly old Mr Curry.”

This is just another example of the Tories not understanding why people didn’t vote for them. They are just nasty, and offensive, that’s why the blue wall turned yellow (LibDems).

The author of the article is, or has been as I understand it, a scriptwriter for Coronation St. which would explain why he thinks, “We are supposed to grow out of children’s stories. Discovering that the world and the human race are far stranger and far more complicated than the basic package you get served up as a tot is one of the most fun things about growing up. And yes, that can lead to adolescent cynicism and nihilism, and yes, that is every bit as annoying in adults. The trick is to move on successfully through both vital stages.”

Whilst I haven’t seen Coronation St in years, my recollection was of a dull place, centred around a drab pub, full of people with depressing lives.
 

‘this is exactly why you need Paddington, and other escapist films. It called lighted-hearted relief from the mundane everyday life’

 
As such, this is exactly why you need Paddington, and other escapist films. It called lighted-hearted relief from the mundane everyday life.

In addition, Paddington is a very well mannered and hard-working bear (in Paddington 2 he was a window cleaner), principles that are very much in-tune with Tory thinking.

From Peru, via Notting Hill, we turn to the US, and their election, which could turn-out to be the last stop for their democracy.

In recent weeks I have written about inequality, and how economic policy since 1980 has benefitted a small minority of the population, and how that small minority use their wealth to buy influence and maintain the status quo.
 

‘economic policy since 1980 has benefitted a small minority of the population, and how that small minority use their wealth to buy influence’

 
The best, or worst example of this depending on your opinion, is Elon Musk’s pledge to give away $1m a day to registered voters in battleground states in the US who sign a petition by his America Pac in support of the first and second amendments. The stunt is potentially illegal, experts say.

After endorsing Donald Trump in July, Musk founded America Pac and funded it with $75m. For the past several weeks, he’s been making multiple in-person campaign appearances per day, focusing especially on Pennsylvania, a swing state

Why is he doing this? Basically, he’s buying influence; both Trump and Musk have repeatedly brought up the idea of Musk holding some role in a potential Trump administration. During an appearance on Fox News earlier this week, Trump said that he would create a new position called ‘secretary of cost-cutting’ and appoint Musk.

‘He’s dying to do this,’ Trump said.

Musk wants small government, fewer government agencies but not just in the US. In India, Musk is fighting with the government over the distribution of satellite broadband and emerging victorious over Mukesh Ambani. Asia’s richest man had sought terms more favourable to his own telecommunications empire.

Last week, Europe’s regulators told lawyers at X that the EU could levy fines against the social media company for failing to comply with the Digital Services Act. Crucially, the regulators suggest calculating that tax not just based on X’s revenues, but the total revenue of Musk’s businesses. The penalty, presumably much higher, could financially hobble the social media platform.

He has proclaimed himself a “free-speech absolutist” and complained about the regulators of speech. When the UK was in the throes of violent race riots a month after its general election, Musk tweeted, “Civil war is inevitable,” and posted a cartoon showing a character in an electric chair, claiming that this would be the government’s punishment for free speech in the UK by 2030. He has made similar critiques of the California government and Joe Biden’s administration.
 

‘inequality is the enemy of democracy’

 
The result is that we have the world’s richest man on stage in service of Donald Trump. Or will it turn out to be the other way round? Only time will tell, but given Musk is being touted for some kind of anti-regulation role at the same time as his businesses are involved in multiple anti-regulation lawsuits shows why inequality is the enemy of democracy.

Over in the normal corner the Democrats wheeled out “the boss”, Bruce Springsteen who urged voters to back Kamala Harris in the presidential election, warning that Donald Trump is a would-be “tyrant”.

“I want a president who reveres the constitution, who does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for a woman’s right to choose, and who wants to create a middle-class economy that will serve all our citizens,” Springsteen said at the Thursday evening rally.

I bet Bruce likes Paddington, too!

Vice-president Kamala Harris seems to understand the need to tackle inequality. Appearing with Barack Obama, she told voters in Atlanta’s eastern suburbs, a vibrant, symbolic part of Georgia.
 

‘I bet Bruce likes Paddington, too!’

 
“Ours is a fight for the future,” Harris said at the rally in Clarkston. She touched on familiar themes – reducing the costs of drugs, housing and groceries. “I come from the middle class, and I will never forget where I come from.”

Harris said she believes “healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it”, and said Trump would gut the Affordable Care Act and roll back the $35 cap on insulin.

Obama directed his ire at Trump, excoriating him for his failures in the pandemic, his general incompetence and for – in the words of Trump’s former military staff – wishing his general officers were more like Hitler’s.
 

‘dangerous really is the word for a Trump presidency’

 
Trump’s erratic behaviour has “become so common that people no longer take it seriously. Just because he acts goofy doesn’t mean his presidency wouldn’t be dangerous.”

And, dangerous really is the word for a Trump presidency.

I will leave the last words to the boss……
 

“Born down in a dead man’s town

The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

End up like a dog that’s been beat too much

‘Til you spend half your life just coverin’ up, now”

 

‘This week we look at the right, and why it’s so nasty. Even Teresa May, a former Tory PM and home secretary, could see it; “Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us — the Nasty Party.”

This week the Tory-centric Spectator went too far, and criticised Paddington. Now you might well ask, why am I so angry about their criticisms of a cartoon bear .

The reason is simple; he’s cool, great clothes, polite, and hardworking. As a character he isn’t a bad role model for children.

But it’s more than that, life is mundane, for many it’s worse, characters and films such as Paddington represent escapism, two-hours when you can forget the bills, the weather, your boss, etc.

The Guardian’s review of Paddington 2 sums it up nicely:

“it’s a tremendously sweet-natured, charming, unassuming and above all funny film with a story that just rattles along, powered by a nonstop succession of Grade-A gags.

“The film is pitched with insouciant ease and a lightness of touch at both children and adults without any self-conscious shifts in irony or tone.”

From Paddington we turn to the cool side of American politics, Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. They are in the blue corner, in the red corner the evil twins Trump and Musk.

This is like the movies too. Remember when you were young, and you wanted to know who the goodie and baddie are? Well, the US election is the same…..

Lyrically, we start with the arch-nihilism of the Stooges “No Fun”. Just perfect for The Spectator. We finish with The Boss, and “Born in the USA”.

Enjoy!

Philip  

@coldwarsteve

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

 

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