Am I bovvered?

My recent Boris-tribute blog drew mixed reactions in the blog comments, other platforms, by email and in person. They were small in number but mega in back-slapping (mine) and arse-kicking (mine again). Boris isn’t the only one with a cohort of bashers. Yay, I have something in common with the man himself!

I’d rather people read my blogs and hated them than didn’t read them, or worse, read them and didn't feel compelled to respond, favourably or no, civilly or no. Indeed, those who responded unfavourably to the Boris blog enticed others to have a read and, within 48 hours of posting, it became my most-read blog ever. What’s the mantra? No publicity is bad publicity? Who knew?!

I’ll start with the fan-club comments that included, "Excellent!" "Brill!" "Thoroughly nailed it that one", "Rach has done good blog on Boris" and more. 

Who are these strange people? Are they cartoon-character, business-elite, what’s-in-it-for-me Tories? Or are they just devoid of morals for daring to believe that a democratically elected PM, albeit flawed, should be democratically unelected by the same electorate? Or are they, in truth, intelligent, thoughtful people who (1) don’t believe everything they read in the Guardian, 2) want to consider a different point of view and (3) support the person (me) who's brave (daft?) enough to put it out there.

I’ll be a bit economical with my descriptions of them to protect their identities because I’m considerate, which should be a redeeming feature against my supposedly immoral inability to dislike Boris, but apparently not disliking Boriss is the originall sin for which there is no redempshun. (Sorry but I can’t write that without laughing and there might be some typos.) I can’t help how I feel, which is obviously why I’ve had some pretty weird boyfriends – a topic for another blog perhaps.

The first of these ‘strange people’ who likes my Boris blog is an HR Consultant. Some might argue that senior HR practitioners are “business-elite Tories”. I disagree, given that one of their objectives is to improve the behaviour of business elites by drumming out of them behaviour such as sexual proclivity, a tendency I discussed in my Boris blog and which I do not endorse; neither do I regret the controlling legislation against such behaviour. The comment was an observation, a thought, controversial yes, distasteful I would agree, and I will continue to unapologetically blog like that as long as I have strength in my fingers. Why would I want to write and why would you want to read the same old same old? 

My HR supporter demonstrated during her long and successful career that business and management theories can work, which is why she had a long and successful career. She used her experience to cogently analyse Boris' leadership style for my blog. I trusted her input because she is my friend. If she’s not a business-elite, is she just plain and simple immoral? No. She’s a good friend – tolerant, supportive and non-judgemental of me. And she’s kind to animals, one and the same thing perhaps.

My second supporter is an equality and inclusion specialist. Yeah, I know. An E&I Specialist likes my anti-woke blog! Why? Because she can see that I have some valid points and she appreciates my arguments. (When my time comes, St Peter at the Gates had better be on top form if he wants to keep me out.) And as E&I advocates are worshipped on the altar of modern-day groupthink, she has an automatic get-out-of-devoid-of-morals-free card.

My third supporter is a Public Services Officer, whose job it is to help public servants navigate their way through a certain minefield to facilitate their ability to serve the public. The only immoral thing about her is her taste in shoes.

I’ll mention one more before you nod off, and I’ve selected the heating engineer with three beautiful kids. You can’t raise kids to be beautiful if you’re immoral.

However, my favourite comment about my Boris blog, about any of my blogs, went something like, “I don’t necessarily agree with all your points, but good to see another opinion.”

This is what I’m talking about! An open mind leads to an open heart.

Which segues nicely to comments posted by my detractors. One person said I was deluded and had been conned. That was the sum total of what they had to say, which illustrates my oft-cited point that those who can, engage in constructive debate; those who can’t, stick to personal insults. Another detractor criticised (because they suffered a serious sense-of-humour failure) one word out of the 1,000 what I wrote for that blog. I could explain more but, honestly, it’s not worth the effort.

Someone else said they were disappointed by my blog, disappointed in me. So I had another thunk …… and, after thunking and rethunking, several times …….. I stand by every word, premise, argument, sentiment and conclusion. If I had my time to live and write again, I would repeat that blog word for word. I’m proud of my willingness and ability to think thoughts others can’t or daren’t think, to boldly go where most others daren’t go, to refresh arguments that other commentators daren’t reconsider, to say the unsayable, to challenge groupthink.

It worked for Copernicus, Galileo and Einstein, and it works for me.