TRUMP’s victory and his subsequent far-right appointments which threaten to take the world’s most powerful country back to the Dark Ages are bad enough. The fact that he has majorities in both Senate and House to give him virtually unfettered power is unspeakable. 

And these majorities are based on millions of voters actively choosing to believe conspiracy theories and outright lies, spread by mainstream media sources owned by right-wing billionaires and racist, misogynistic social media “influencers.”

Levellers, Chartists and Suffragettes fought for the vote and eventually won a glorious victory. But an essential prerequisite for universal suffrage to exist in any meaningful sense of the word is a balanced media owned by the people who create and consume it, distributing information free from contortions and lies — and a properly funded education system which equips people to make choices based on that information. 

The planet is very, very ill. When you’re ill, you don’t do a straw poll of the neighbours to decide what you should do about it. You go to a doctor who can identify the problem and provide a solution. 

Americans have just voted for a president whose policies threaten not only to destroy so many hard-won progressive rights but actively accelerate the climate changes which will bring about the destruction of our species — annihilating not just their world but everyone’s, starting of course with that of the global south, victim of our depredations for centuries. 

So what do we do about it? 

What we don’t do is dissolve into a morass of despair. 

Don’t give up. Don’t get cynical. Celebrate life — the sheer pleasure we get from good company, from the love of our partners, from making wonderful new friends and meeting old familiar ones.

Make every day as interesting and fulfilling as possible: take a few risks, step out of your comfort zone, and above all do everything you can to support the people round you. Especially the ones who need it the most: the ones who will look at these words and think: “I know you’re well-meaning, John, but I can’t cope.”

I will not let the grey, dull, stunted forces of bigotry and hatred dim my love of life, and I'll be out there more than ever, telling it like it is. If you’re at one of my gigs and you need a hug, they’re going for free.  

We carry on!

I am certainly doing so, so is my incredibly hard-working and inspirational councillor wife Robina, and so are my lovely leftie friends Rachel and Mark in their surreally named home which is becoming a regular stopover on my northern travels. It inspired this mild swipe at those who have occasionally taken a pop at Robina and I for still being in the Labour Party. 

MODERATION VILLA 
 
My Adur Council wife and I 
Have found a brand new home
It is the perfect place for us
There’s no more need to roam
We sip fake socialist champagne
Which nice Keir Starmer sent her
While nibbling on lark’s tongues
And unicorn placenta.
 
Through wide Overton windows
We gaze straight down the middle
And every wall is painted beige.
Oh what a pile of piddle!
We’re working for a better world  
This woman and her man —
On different paths to the same goal 
Both doing all we can.

In other news, Chelsea have just beaten Noah 8-0 in the Europa League. 

Poor sod. He survives the flood due to his blameless piety, is chosen to perpetuate the human race, and then has to take on one of the world’s biggest hedge funds on his own. Sadly he’s not going to win the Ark de Triomphe. (Mixed sporting metaphor, I know.)

Cheers! 

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