Back to the 80s

So Gordon's gone (with a magnificent speech). I'm in the dark office, marking dissertations, munching Ferrero Rocher and listening to the Boo Radleys' Giant Steps.

"That's it Gordon, sod orf like a good fellow. Cousin Cameron's going to make the place safe for the gentry again".

We're fighting an imperialist war. Posh Tory Scum are in office, aided by ex-Labour splitters. Nottingham Forest are (almost) back to the top division. Fluorescent clothing is in fashion. I'm eating ironic chocolates. Let's face it, we're living in 1983. What's next? Bashing the miners?

Heartbreaking as his speech was (video here), a few things shouldn't go unchallenged. Gordon said this:

I loved this job for its potential, to make this country I love fairer, more tolerant, more green, more democratic, more prosperous and more just – truly a greater Britain…having shaken their hands and looked into their eyes, our troops represent all that is best in our country

He's wrong. This country isn't fairer. The inequality gap has grown inexorably wider. This new parliament contains more privately-educated people than ever before. Poor people die younger and live worse lives. They will never be judges, politicians, senior civil servants, lecturers or company directors. Britain is less obviously intolerant, and yet the media reflect a high degree of hatred and distrust for those who are poor, working-class, regional, black, unChristian and non-heterosexual, often thinly disguised as humour. This country isn't more democratic. Some hereditary Lords have been replaced with party donors, many of whom don't pay tax in return for their vote and their say. Clearly this country will not be 'more prosperous' for long - and what money there is will be concentrated in the hands of a tiny élite, as it is now. As to the British troops: some are driven into the armed services by poverty, but as to the rest, there's no excuse for wanting to kill for money - there are no threats to the British state, only imperialist wars in the service of another country's foreign policy. Bloody Sunday isn't forgotten. Too many Iraqis, Afghans and British citizens have been tortured with British connivance to allow that comment to pass unchallenged.

There is a bright spot:

7.46pm: William Hague and his team were booed by a crowd of protesters as they walked down Whitehall.

My colleague Hélène Mulholland has just seen Chris Huhne, David Laws and Danny Alexander (three members of the Lib Dem negotiating team) walk into the Norman Shaw building, an office building for MPs. She says they did not look particularly happy. Protesters were shouting at them: "Don't do it." 

 My catchphrase seems to have caught on:

7.37pm: William Hague has come out of the Cabinet Office. He said that he had some recommendations that he would take back to his colleagues. Asked if there was a coalition, he said we would find out soon enough. As he was speaking, some "troops out" protesters were shouting: "Tory scum."