More grown up analysis. Or maybe not
“There is a group of people for whom this innocent, public-spirited campaign is an expression of everything they hate about contemporary Britain”. How terrible! Like, er, whom? A “columnist for the Left-leaning Guardian newspaper … these bien pensant liberals, living in their £2 million homes in Camden Town … [those with] the luxury of a 100 ft garden or a cottage in the Cotswolds … well-to-do Guardian columnists (again) … the metropolitan elite … Lefties … a certain kind of metropolitan liberal … those on the metropolitan Left … in their private members’ clubs in Soho”. Whine, Sir?
Excuse me, but this is crap. Take this Tobes gem: “If we’re going to stop living beyond our means and bring down the deficit, picking up litter is exactly the kind of area where cuts should be made … Clean for the Queen is the Big Society in action, a great example of how a volunteer army can take on responsibility for a vital public service and do a better job than the state”. This is where right-wingers go wrong.
It’s the same idea as believing that putting a few pennies in the poor box, or an extra quid in the Church collection plate, will alleviate poverty, homelessness, disease, and all other social ills. If Tobes thinks that volunteering for a litter pick will pay down even 0.00000001% of the deficit in his lifetime, he is living in cloud cuckoo land.
And I have something else to tell the clown who was bunged tens of millions of pounds in taxpayer funds for his West London Free School: just because someone objects to being patronised by a smug twat like him does not make them litter louts, nor does it make them some kind of aloof idle rich. In any case, Tobes, the man with the £3 grand fridge freezer, has no room to call “well to do” on anyone, thanks.
Moreover, some of us take all our litter home or use the bins, as well as clear it from our gardens and streets. It’s got stuff all to do with the Guardian, whose pundits are less well off than those at the paper for which he wrote that article. It’s got stuff all to do with his imaginary “metropolitan elite”. And it’s got stuff all to do with the Queen. People are resistant to Toby Young because he is an overmonied, overrated, intolerant, ignorant, mean-spirited, patronising, supercilious, moaning and frequently dishonest bullshitter.
He wants to volunteer his free time? Fine. Just don’t ram it down everyone else’s throat.
6 comments:
He's setting a dangerous precedent anyway. The Big Society was a Conservative initiative which featured heavily in election campaigning. Now he's linked the Queen to it - constitutionally that's dodgy, I'm sure the Palace will have a view!
But let's get back to Crewe like it says at the top of the page. The simple minded who like doing things in slightly organised groups have taken to the "Clean for the Queen" mantra. Nice for them, I'm sure they'll meet new friends. But much of what they are doing is what we pay council tax for, except our recently departed (but still not out of the shit) Tory council leader was so keen on not increasing the tax for 5 years that council services are on their knees. Which is bad enough but the cleansing department was already the most useless (and if you've experience highways that's saying something). Now semi privatised it is out of control. Managers who apparently have no idea where their staff are or why they aren't where they should be. Call centre staff, caught between the managers and those who should be out there somewhere, and unable or unwilling to log complaints properly. And bin men who seem to be able to make up their own routes when they feel like it. Is it any wonder there are piles of rubbish that need removing? Maybe we should rename the campaign "Covering up for years of Tory mismanagement for the Queen".
It seems that our Toby has a little fan club all to himself in the DM comments section. I pointed out that Toby only ever does anything if there's something in it for him ( a bit of publicity and a chance to put himself up as 'loyal subject' ). I also questioned why he'd gone all quiet about the major 'success' that is WLFS. I was red-arrowed. It amuses me that (even) DM readers take him seriously. In a way, he reminds me of another DM contributor from yrs ago, who went to ludicrous lengths to brown nose the tories and trash all those nasty lefties - all in the vain hope of securing a knighthood for 'services rendered'. Paul Johnson, mate - you're not missed. And neither will Toby.
I hate litter. Fly-tippers should be given 25 years. I often pick up litter I see in the street and have on occasions remonstrated with strangers ( without so far anything worse than verbal abuse from them) who I see dropping litter, but this initiative almost makes me want to go out and drop stuff in the street. Does it not occur to the likes of Gove and Capt Bellend that a major reason why there are grotty areas strewn with mess is the savage cuts imposed on local councils by this govt, which now expects us to clean it up for free and be patronised at the same time? Though that does not excuse arseholes who drop litter.
He can't bring himself to admit that this has been a badly marketed campaign; what could have been a harmless apolitical public service campaign was turned political through being fronted by gurning Tories and passive-aggressive pieces like this from Toby.
He gives himself away in the closing paragraph - this is about sating his ego, strutting around his local park telling other people what to do like the little Napoleon he is.
He also might reflect on a couple of other things - first, 'liberal lefties' tend to be quite into their recycling. Second, it's no good filling up litter bins if the bins never get emptied. That's where the issue of savage cuts comes in.
It's a bit much to politicise an activity and than accuse others of politicising it as well; and it will be interesting to see whether he carries on volunteering for this sort of thing (which is always going on) when there are no cameras around.
Toby also doesn't seem to realise that he is the apotheosis of the so-called metropolitan elite: smug, wealthy, detached, pontificatory, and judgemental. He demonstrates a startling lack of awareness in making such complaints about those who disagree with him.
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