10th July 2024
There is a sub-genre of fantasy literature which can be called the “portal” story.
Here someone goes through a portal into a world similar to but also profoundly different from our own.
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Since around 2015 we have in the United Kingdom been on our own political portal (mis)adventure.
We have collectively gone through the wardrobe, over the rainbow, down the rabbit hole, and past the second star on the right.
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But now we may be emerging from our disconcerting expedition.
Over at the department of culture, the new secretary of state announces the end of the “culture wars”.
Obviously such a unilateral declaration of maturity and sanity can only have so much purchase. There is a great deal of what may be called the media-political complex which is wedded to various divisive talking points, especially given falling circulations and memberships. But for ministers to be moving on from such relentless infantilism is a start.
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And in the province of law and policy – the staple of this blog – there seems to be a significant change.
Across the Ministry of Justice and the law officers’ department there have been impressive appointments.
We have a heavyweight KC as Attorney-General – the government’s chief legal adviser.
His deputy, the Solicitor-General, is an experienced and highly regarded environmental and planning lawyer, which suggests that it may not only be activists who will be taking a strategic view of what can be done with the law.
And there is the refreshing appointment of James Timpson as Prisons Minister.
On the face of it, these look like serious people capable of doing serious things.
If so, this would be marked contrast to the antics of various law officers and justice ministers over the last few years, from banning books in prisons to tweeting during live police investigations, and from performative dud legislation to leaking government legal advice.
Fortunately for the rest of us, the former governing party, now reduced to a rump barmy army in opposition, are embarking on their own awfully big adventure – and their screaming and hysterics should become fainter and fainter as their asteroid hurtles from the orbit of power for a while.
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One cannot be certain that things back on Earth will change, and so it is important not to get ahead of ourselves: the new ministers may disappoint us just as their predecessors did – even if the disappointments will be of a different kind.
But that said, it is going to be strange to comment on a Ministry of Justice and the law officers when they are taking their tasks seriously.
To adapt the words of the eminent jurist Dorothy Gale:
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Oz anymore.”
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Given that the new Government have repeatedly stated that building is their foremost priority, it can surely only be a very wise decision to hire an expert in planning law as SG.
That was my immediate reaction too. Planning law is complex, and a lot of thought is needed if there is to be real change.
Kansas !
Welcome home.
Well said, and the further on we go the more the last 8 or 9 years will seem like a fever induced nightmare.
Will you return to Twitter(X), or is that cesspit forever closed to you?
I still tweet from time to time – @d_a_t_green
I agree with every word you’ve written, and I am jealous of the erudition and brevity demonstrated.
Bravo.
It strikes me that the pendulum could one day swing too far in the other direction, and the insult that someone is engaging in ‘culture wars’ could be used to shut down valid criticism of policies that affect certain demographics. “You’re indulging in culture wars” could be just as disingenuous as “you’re being woke”.
One word is “disingenuous” – a word that implies dishonesty and which is best avoided without evidence. Especially if you want to be libel-safe.
Another, better word is pointless.
Hear Hear!
The “death of the culture wars” issue reminded me of what a social worker told me on a hospital bus ride. She said her job had been looking after elderly people and she really missed it since her illness. I said “Oh, I thought elderly people were notoriously cantankerous and difficult ?” She replied “If you treat someone with unfailing kindness and respect, it becomes very difficult for them to remain cantankerous.” It’s just a shame our late Government understood so much less than that social worker.
Beautifully said.
I queried Labour’s ‘Change’ motif, but upon seeing some of the appointments, it appears to be promisingly apt.
I’m looking forward to a return to boring, serious politics, without the histrionics of the last 14yrs, and most definitely without the floating of random ideas dressed up as policy in the media, seeing which would sink or swim. When you think of all the time and energy wasted upon the Rwanda policy, and the fever dream notion of reintroducing National Service. That was purely a nation being gaslit, by a ramshackle rabble of misfits who I wouldn’t trust to hold my pint, never mind my purse.
It’s like a tight steel band around your heart – which you didn’t know was even there – being unlocked and your heart can beat properly again.
If Sir Keir and his rather encouraging looking cabinet carry on like this, they will run out of things to do by November.
So far so hopeful. If I were a councillor in one of the leafy shires I might however be seeking advice as to how to drag out any planning reform as far as possible. My job might depend on it.
I expect a few fireworks to start and then settle down to a slow fizzle. Which might be better than 14 years of nothing. But I do fear there is a risk Labour will discover just why the Tories did nothing useful for so long – and it wasn’t just laziness. Tarpits ahoy.
I loved this piece!