The virus that broke the vase.

Today’s blog-post (http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87563) by North the Elder well describes the detail of the UK’s present situation vis-à-vis the COIVID-19 pandemic.
However, last Tuesday’s blog-post by North the Younger (http://peterjnorth.blogspot.com/2020/03/corona-britain-forgot-what-government.html) describes very well the parlous state our politically correct governing elite and their allies in the mainstream media have brought this country.
The blame and the responsibility for this quagmire cannot be laid at one political party or one media organisation. Indeed, it must be said that the members of the general public must share some responsibility for this.
You see, the public as a whole have conflicting desires which when taken together are impossible to achieve. This impossibility however does not stop the politicians from offering these as policies! Thus we had the Brexiteers offering what has been described as a Unicorn Brexit.
As a general rule, Germany is cited by many in this country as how things should be done. However those advocating a more Teutonic and less Anglo-Saxon approach fail to acknowledge and point out that doing things the German way means paying for things the German way! That means higher taxes!
Of course, when it comes to taxes every voter will want the other taxpayer to be taxed and not them!
Those who do not possess a car will demand high road fuel duties.
Those who have elderly home owner parents living in Surrey will demand a very high IHT threshold.
All non smokers will demand very very high tobacco duties!
But the essential truth that in their different ways, both Norths describe is the basic FACT that things cannot be done on the cheap!
This brings to memory an incident that pricks my conscience. It was in the summer of 2000 and I had driven out to Fountians Abbey for the afternoon. I was driving back along Fountains Road towards the B6165 and Ripley when an incident I feel partly responsible for occurred. The car I was driving was an S-class Mercedes I had recently purchased (in the days when my business was doing well). Like most 45 year olds, I no longer drove like a 25 year old and the car insurance premiums reflected that. That afternoon however, driving at a reasonable (and legal speed) I was approaching a corner. Ordinarily I would have slowed down and applied the brakes but I decided to put the suspension and the road holding of the car to the test. Accordingly I set the car up to enter the corner at a higher than normal speed in such a way as the car would get round the corner without me applying the brakes. Years and thousands of miles of driving saw me and the Merc’ safely negotiate that corner without brakes and at a higher than normal speed. I was duly impressed with the car’s suspension and handling. I had proved that I did get what I had paid for.
Unfortunately, I saw in my rear view mirror an old Ford Escort. This car had been parked near mine in the car park and had been following me. The car was been driven by a young man who had as a front seat passenger a young lady. Unfortunately the young man was about to discover a lesson that many of us chaps have had to learn by experience: Young ladies are NOT impressed by risky or dangerous driving! They do not think it manly. Merely stupid!
The young man made happily a non fatal error, by trying to do in his old Ford what I had done in my S class. The result was that he lost control but managed to avoid ending up in the roadside hedge!