UK guys and gals - is anybody else here totally stumped as to what's behind the cult following of a certain draconian Jacob Rees-Mogg?

whispered said:

^My guess is - partly - desperation. During the election, May was exposed as ineffective and weak and out-of touch. So the Tory media has to promote someone as the anti-PC, principled embodiment of common sense in opposition to those commies and PC nutcases. Their erstwhile darlings, Farage and Boris have gone off piste - Farage sliming his way over the channel to boost his European neofascist allies (oh the irony). Now that he has actually got to do something, Boris he is being shown up as the scheming, careerist non-entity he always was. The vile Rees-Mogg is next in line.

That was honestly a much better and elaborative answer than I was expecting  :P Makes a lot of sense though. He's the figure the Tories and upper-middle classes long for. Upholds conservative values, hasn't been involved in any scandals, and look! He uses Instagram too! He has a sense of humour?! That's just too much to handle!

Well, here's a turn up for the books. I am sure I have mentioned elsewhere that I think Morrisey is an obnoxious arsehole, but I actually like his new single 'I spent the day in bed' . I think it may have something to do with the lyrical content. At one point, he sings:
Stop watching the news
Because the news contrives to frighten you
To make you feel small and alone
To make you feel that your mind isn't your own

I think he has a valid point and the content is a metaphor for our current society and many of its ugly problems. The news (and newspapers) no longer reports the news but gives you opinion disguised as news. It puts forward political agendas which huge swathes of our society swallow hook, line and sinker. A typical example is that all foreigners and lazy, deceitful, terrorists who sponge off our societies with handouts and that the answer to this is to come out of Europe and pull up the draw bridge (in another country, build a fuck off wall on the border with your neighbour). it has people like my Mum scared to step outside and to worry endlessly when I say I am going to London or, heaven bid, abroad. It robs people of their freedom.
Always take what you read or hear in the media with a pinch of salt and run it through your own common sense filters before coming to your own conclusions.
Who would have thought it, me and Morrisey on the same page. Shows that nothing is set in concrete.

whispered said:

Yep. Me and my daughter were discussing Morrissey in the same terms the other day. I tried to read his autobiography and failed to finish it as he a) cannot write b) is obnoxious and narcissistic c) has nothing interesting to say.

Yet somehow, in lyric form, he is transformed into a minor genius.

So true Whisp. Glad we are also hanging off the same hook. I have a big beef at the moment about how petty and paper thin the World's ruling elite are. There is not one Statesman amongst them. Should the Tories ditch May? And replace her with who? Boris? Public school Horray Henry and Buffoon. Rees Mogg? Ugh! I am sure in an earlier incarnation, he seeked out and burnt witches. Gove? @KatRobin would become an overnight Ninja and kill him at the first opportunity. It seems and endless shitstorm of people not up to the job.
Realising that the press is manipulating what is seen and read to direct public opinion is the first step in taking back control. The plot of the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies with media mogul Elliot Carver manipulating the media has become so true, just read Murdoch for Carver!

Hmm...an overnight ninja eh? Oddly, one of my soon-to- be new work colleagues met me for the first time on Friday and described me as "Zen". Lol. I exude calmness and gentility in public ( but at home this weekend I'm a tetchy rot-witch, pricklier than a cactus shaped pincushion and bouncier than a flea on a frog on a trampoline). Yup...I start a new job tomorrow! At 7.30 am, running a Nurture group for half a dozen emotionally challenged youngsters. Emotionally fraught? Well get on fine lol. ( gotta remember ...
zen, not SEN).

So are you still doing supply teaching Kat? A nurture group for teenagers? I've heard of nurture groups but only for nursery children.

Believe me i think I'd be the one who needs nurturing after a week with SEN kids. I would be expected Prosecco on standby!!! :-))

Oh I see. So your going back to work in a primary school? Aww that sounds really cute. Well if your place is recruiting anymore staff give me a bell. Although I may have to live in a garage or something to get to work!!

Thats why I'm trying so hard to get back into a primary school too. I just love working with the little ones!