Retired but No Fool Yet

Indulge me, I am having another little rant.

I understand that as we grow older, there is a tendency amongst those younger than ourselves to speak to us more slowly, louder and in a somewhat patronising manner. Fortunately, I have as yet had no direct experience except, on thinking about it, from the lady in the bank. She was indeed condescending when she enquired how I was coping with online banking! Rest assured I took great delight in telling her that I had first studied BASIC at a night class way back in 1981 (probably before she was born, although I did not say that) and had no difficulty in operating a computer. Doubtless, she thought I was referring to some kind of  elementary computing for dummies class, but, having met superciliousness with a dose of disdainful imperiousness, I felt vindicated and proceeded to forget the incident, until now.

Forgive me, however, for I am straying away from the main purpose of today's tirade which I regret is directed once again at politicians. They lie, but we all know that don't we? It obviously comes with their job description.

Take our former Foreign Secretary who thought it was prudent to tweet that he had just voted in the Local Elections on Thursday and urged us all to do likewise. The tweet was hastily deleted, it is alleged because he lives in London where there were no elections. No harm done there, of course, unlike with his insistence, propped up by a painted bus, that the NHS would benefit to the tune of £350 million a week as a result of Brexit.

Then there is the surprising interpretation by both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition that the dramatic swing in the Local Elections from both of their parties primarily to Remain-supporting parties in someway makes clear the nation's desire to "get on with Brexit." 

Now I may be retired but I still have my mental faculties and I know full well why I voted as I did and it had nothing whatsoever to do with any urge to get on with Brexit. Moreover, the wisdom that comes with age has shown me time and time again that we are rarely ever alone in our assessment of situations which causes me to believe that thousands, like myself, voted for the Greens or LibDems precisely because  they want to remain in the EU too.

It is insulting to be treated like a fool but the constant narrative since the 2017 election, as my MP never ceases to remind me whenever he responds to my correspondence on the topic of Brexit, is that 80% of the votes cast in that election went to Brexit supporting parties. No account is ever taken of the fact that millions voted for the Opposition in the misguided hope that it might be the lesser of two evils and deliver us from the extreme kind of Brexit the Government seemed committed to. 

However, having grown wise, when a significant chunk of the electorate now votes as it did on Thursday for parties devoted to the Remain cause, it is told that despite the clear signal it has given, it in fact wants Brexit to be delivered quickly. If anyone ever thought Shrodinger's cat was the ultimate paradox, they need to try understanding the logic that has been applied to interpreting the will of the people across the UK at the moment.

I e-mailed my MP over a month ago following the rejection by the House of Commons of the negotiated Withdrawal Agreement, urging him to exercise his indicative votes in favour of revocation or a confirmatory referendum. He replied by letter dated 23rd April advising that my request undermined democracy, and that the Prime Minister, following defeat of her deal by Parliament in January, had "negotiated substantial changes" to it. We all know, of course, that there were no substantial changes and the Agreement has been defeated twice more in the Commons as a result. Was he, therefore, relying on the subtle differences between the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration by referring to it as "the deal"? Was he deliberately obfuscating the issue and dismissing me as a simpleton?

Age has not yet reduced me to imbecility and I am insulted when I am patronised, sold unicorns, lied to or played as a fool. As retirement advances presumably my suffering is doomed to  increase.