Political Sketches

From a bombardment of Russian-backed Brexit ads to ex-party leaders appearing on reality television shows, the current face of British politics is about as appealing as Boris Johnson’s autonomous hairline.

For many years, the British political landscape has been a crucible of different beliefs; allowing the Great British public to elect the party who holds the lion’s share of the public’s opinion. Nowadays however, we live in a post-Brexit, fear-mongering, toxic wasteland where we, the British public, are left to scavenge whatever is left of our government before our children starve.

Former Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn resigned on December 3rd, causing a detrimental walkout of the entire social mobility team. Milburn stated in an interview with Andrew Marr that our current Tory government “lacks the bandwidth to ensure that the rhetoric of healing social division is matched with reality”. He went on to say that with our current government, “there is little if any, hope of progress being made toward the PM has talked about”. In other words, Theresa May is incapable of allowing impoverished and disadvantaged people to have any social mobility; trapping them in a cycle of suffering for generations to come. Somewhat understandably, almost all government time and effort is channelled into ensuring that Brexit is as successful as possible. Yet, it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to be concerned about this country’s most disadvantaged and at-risk children. After all, Brexit is going to take a strenuous amount of time; time that many of these children do not have the luxury of affording.

Following this, on Monday morning the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published research that found that almost 400,000 more children have fallen into poverty in the past four years. This statistic illustrates that our oh-so-strong and stable leaders are incapable of not punishing the already struggling lower classes with waves of social security cuts, a laughable minimum wage and rising living costs that have contributed to the first sustained increase in child poverty that our country has seen for 20 years.

As much as I’d like to spend all my time critiquing the bitterly disappointing leader that is Theresa May, a significant portion of this blame falls on the man that pigs fear more than the slaughter, our joke of an ex-leader David Cameron. Cameron’s age of austerity brought on a sharp increase of child poverty by 30%, coupled with the annual report by the government's social mobility watchdog warning that Britain is in a spiral of ‘ever-growing division” between classes, with the gaps between the rich and poor widening with every cut the government imposed.

It seems like something of a nightmare; fully grown adults making decisions that they know will make children across the country suffer immeasurable consequences, leaving them with a burden that will persist for generations to come.

Theresa May has become the modern-day boogie man that children fear but now, instead of snatching them whilst they sleep, she sneaks around and worsens their living conditions; freezing the housing and children’s benefits whilst destroying school budgets, leaving them with no tools for building their futures and no hope for a better reality for themselves.

In November 2017, The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) predicted that the number of children living in poverty will rise to 5.2 million over the next five years as the government continues to slash benefits over and over again. The welfare system that once protected at-risk children now seeks to trap them in poverty with little remorse from our Tory leaders.

Once again, Theresa May and her cohorts have successfully damned an entire social class to suffer at the frosty grip of austerity, leaving the impoverished children of this country to sink further into the wasteland that is our social welfare system. What were once fields of wheat that Theresa delighted to run through have been hacked and harvested by the vultures of government, leaving barely a grain for our children to survive on.

Post-Brexit Britain is home to many things your average Brit can always count on like fish and chips; a good cup of tea; a failing welfare state in part due to the aforementioned swine seducer; millions of children living below the poverty line and our bread and butter that is systemic racism. But you should try the fish and chips first.

Sadly, for Meghan Markle her first taste of our ‘Great’ Britain was a poisonous serving of bigotry from our nation’s press which complimented her brunch favourite of avocado ‘murder’ toast just sublimely. For context, the ever-unbiased Daily Express ran an article in 2019, condemning Meghan for eating the brunch staple, calling her a ‘millennial shame’ as her breakfast was ‘linked to human rights violations and drought’. Bad Meghan. Yet, when Kate Middleton delighted in eating the same meal, it was dubbed a cute ‘morning sickness cure from her prince’. Perfect Kate. A comparison that has been the common theme for tabloid news since Meghan’s indoctrination into the cult Royal Family.

A simple comparison of headlines between the representation of Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton demonstrates the potent and toxic nature of the racism the Markle has been subjected to. Meghan was hounded by the press on her wedding day because she had a bouquet of Lilies of the Valley. The article in the Express claimed that she was putting the lives of her bridesmaids, ‘including Princess Charlotte’ grave ‘risk’. The plant contains over 30 cardiac glycosides, many of which inhibit the heart’s pumping activity. Children and domestic pets are most commonly affected, but even a large man can be felled by the toxins. The bouquet was up to Royal standard but was hailed as a threatening gesture from Meghan. Yet, when Kate carried the same bouquet, not a word of the poison was uttered.

Meghan has faced waves of racist torment since the announcement of her wedding to Prince Harry. The most miraculous thing about her is her refusal to drown each time a new wave threatens to sink her. A few days ago the royal couple released a statement announcing their partial withdrawal from their role in the Royal Family, stating that they will live in financial independence and split their time between North America and the UK. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a bombshell announcement: that they were to “step back” from senior roles in the royal family and work towards financial self-sufficiency. The news has rocked the monarchy, raising complex questions – from taxpayers’ support for the royals to the future of the institution itself. That's her lifeboat.

Yet, a portion of this country’s public has chosen to see this move as a direct assault on everything they hold dear. ‘She’s dismantling the monarchy!’ As if it didn’t need dismantling. ‘She’s breaking tradition!’ As if they didn’t need to be broken. ‘She’s disgracing our country!’ As if we weren't enough of a disgrace.

A quick peer into the commentary surrounding Meghan in the last year proves that we are a disgrace. She has been hounded since the minute she set foot on British soil for actions that are identical to her comparative counterpart Kate Middleton, yet she is repeatedly slandered and ridiculed for seemingly no reason. Yet, there is a clear reason, and that reason is racism.

A white man and bumbling idiot made a complete mockery of himself on Good Morning Britain when talking to Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu about the intricacies of Meghan’s racist treatment in the UK. Sadly, it was not the shamble of a Prime Minister you associate with that description. Alas, it was the nation’s favourite Philip Schofield who dared to ask for ‘examples’ of the racist treatment that Meghan has suffered, as he hadn’t noticed any racism: “What examples do you have? I haven’t personally read anything that I could say is based on Racism!”

*Pause here to allow for a shocked gasp from the reader as a white man doesn’t understand the plight of women of colour.*

As Dr Shola explains how it is “not the job of black people and ethnic minorities to educate white people on racism perpetuated by white people...they need to educate themselves on their racism,'' Schofield sits quietly in stunned silence. His face twists into an expression of equal confusion and anguish at the insinuation that he’s part of a racist system. It's an ugly truth to face, but to witness this man confronted with his white privilege was as delicious as Meghan’s murder toast. That slight acknowledgement of ignorance when confronted with the facts was simply sublime.

The bravery of Meghan Markle is something to be applauded, embroidered on regal tapestries and the stuff of legend for generations to come. She squared up to the ugly and ignorant face of the United Kingdom and restrained herself from spitting in it. Instead, the Duchess of Sussex turned away from it, elegant and regal as per usual despite our media’s shortcomings to see her true nature.

Despite the overwhelming amount of negative voices screaming bloody murder around this announcement, some are using their platform to congratulate the couple on their wise choice. Speaking on Andy Cohen’s Radio Andy show on Sirius XM, Grant said: “I’m rather on Harry’s side. The tabloid press effectively murdered his mother, now they’re tearing his wife to pieces.”

Grant was reminding listeners of the circumstances surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was in a vehicle being pursued by paparazzi, which then crashed, killing three of the four passengers, in Paris in August 1997. Grant added: “I think as a man, it’s his job to protect his family, so I’m with him.”

Speaking on Tuesday, the musician Stormzy also came to the couple’s defence, saying there was no “credible” reason for people not to like Meghan. In an interview with New York radio station Hot 97, he said: “Meghan is a sweet woman, she does her thing … and they just hate her.”

This is perhaps the most recent example we have of British people being angry that a person of colour is leaving the country. So, yes the people are losing the intimate access they had to the Duke and Duchess’ lives. Good. We as a nation had the opportunity to welcome a woman of colour into a family that Hitler would be proud of for its mighty whiteness. Our press and our public have squandered that chance, and we do not deserve another.

Dear Meghan, just as our dearest Katie Hopkins said in her rant on Twitter, littered with her classic tropes of racism and xenophobia: “I’m glad you’re going to be gone.” Congratulations on choosing the right lifeboat.