Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Will Tory incompetence transfer to Labour?

The incompetence of UK Conservatives (a.k.a. Tories) has been severely penalised after their chaotic reign of 14 years (2010-2024). However, incompetence seems to be a British rather than a Tory attitude. Hence, the question in my blog title.

Also see my related blogs on (legendary) British incompetence:

  • 2018: Why the UK excels at mismanaging expectations (FT);
  • 2019: The Instability of Britain (GPF);
  • 2019: UK banks hit daily by IT failures halting payments, says Which? (Guardian);
  • 2019: a blog, including a list of various Guardian articles (2011-2019) about why “the Brits are terrible at long-term planning and great in one-off events“.

For the moment, I will give Keir Starmer of UK Labour the benefit of my doubt. Perhaps, he will become untouchable given his immense success on 4 July 2024. However, British politicians usually seem quick in forgetting and slow in forgiving.

If and when Keir Starmer would repair the 2016 Brexit in 2024 then the answer to my blog title’s question would be a “No”. For the EU-27, the strategic upside would (probably) outweigh the operational and tactical downsides.

More likely, Keir Starmer will not dare to withdraw 2016 Brexit. In that case, my answer to my blog title’s question would become a “Yes”. In my view, Brexit is like low-hanging fruit. Labour can blame conservative stupidity and profit within 5 years.

The night before writing this blog, I wondered about the meaning of the word incompetence. Then the rather rare combination of arrogance and ignorance came to my mind. Usually, it’s either arrogance or ignorance. At a group level, this combination looks rather exceptional.

At an individual level, Donald Trump also has that rare combination of arrogance and ignorance, next to bad deeds, words & intentions.

Then, suddenly the words Perfidious Albion came to my mind. That pejorative phrase “compares” the bad behaviour of Trump and the UK.

Bad (1987) by Michael Jackson
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-album, Wiki-song

Note: all markings (bolditalicunderlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

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