Their Time is Up

2021 Lockdown — Day 11

Illustration by author

We’ve all been there. You are on a mission and determined to see the thing through but there comes a point at which you have to admit defeat. I remember building a dam on the beach and there came a point where the sand built walls were not up to the surge of water against them. What I wanted was for my siblings to come to my aid but despite my tears I was persuaded to give up. I ended up working on another dam with the rest of the family. It was built with rocks, sand, seaweed and love. And the beauty of it was, the dam, in the end, didn’t really matter.

As an adult I’ve had experiences where the pain is real and the outcome is truly important yet there comes a time where you have to admit defeat. On the beaches of Dunkirk the British Army was forced to rely, in part, on ordinary civilians (the very people they were committed to protect) to save their skins. Yet as humiliating as it was to be virtually driven into the sea by the advancing Germans, the event has since been celebrated with national pride.

Decades ago we wouldn’t have got to this. We’d have passed the point where we tolerated a secretary of state lying, squirming and deflecting to the extent that Boris Johnson, Gavin Williamson and Matt Hancock do on a far too regular basis. The stakes are far too high for us to carry on regardless. Dysfunctional governments are…