Hmm. So despite my misgivings, and without strictly planning to do it, I have pre-ordered a VR headset.
I had trouble earlier with the need for an expensive PC, and all the wires, and the cost. The Quest 2 seems to get rid of all those problems.
And now, pretty much the second I clicked buy, it has triggered a sudden shock of child-like excitement. Remembering all the chatter I'd have as a kid watching Lawnmower Man and then realising I am actually about to get that bit of kit.
Chances are I'll put it on, puke and have wasted all the money. But fuck it - if we're going into lockdown again, I might as well make it exciting.
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I suppose there's a smell of blood, so journalists are circling for it. But if there's anyone in the world who gives a genuine dried fuck about Taylor Swift's driving arrangements I'd be astonished.
There's a lot going on here. 1) The press has a right-wing bias and broadcasters follow its lead, so media doles out a much harder time to Labour than Tories. We'd probably forgotten the full extent of this.
There'll now be an awful lot of talk about becoming-the-story and lack-of-narrative and press relations. Fine. Whatever. But that wasn't her role. It was to unlock the machine and get things done. The current noise is just the daily nothing-clatter of Westminster life.
The government will require a carefully organised undistractable approach to delivery if it's going to demonstrate improvement. And that won't come from constant briefings and hysteria. It'll come from the missions.
There's no intellectual debate to be had about what's happening. It's not about immigration, or integration, or Islam. It's about a bunch of violent thugs blaming Muslims for a terrible crime, being instantly disproved, and then continuing with their bullshit anyway.
If you start saying we need to change policy, or reconsider an approach to anything at all on the back of this violence, you are basically legitimising it. You are laundering the reputation of Nazi thugs.
There's really no complexity here at all. They're cunts. The reptile part of the human brain. They threaten the safety of Muslims and Asians in general. They need to be universally condemned by politicians and stamped on hard by police. That's it. That's the response.
Lots of things can be true at the same time. 1) In opposition, Labour knew the Tories were playing a stupid, irresponsible little game with their future departmental spending & tax cuts. And yet they played along anyway, because it was inconvenient to do otherwise.
2) The figures, particularly on asylum housing costs, were worse than we realised. Labour said wonk and wonk-adjacent critics would change their tune after the statement. They were right. Conservative irresponsibility was, as Reeves says, worse than we thought.
3) The core point is that the Tories basically sabotaged the state. Freezing asylum applications, even though it would cost millions in hotels. Promising tax cuts even though officials were earning them that the prison system was about to collapse. It's truly unforgivable.
Let's have an honest conversation about the election result: No party should secure 63.2% of MPs on 33.7% of the popular vote. And that's as true for Labour as it was for the Tories. shorturl.at/Yl3FK
Many seemingly contradictory things can be true at the same time. 1) the election result is a triumph for the forces of reason and progress 2) The Labour vote is the consequence of a conscious and extremely efficient campaign 3) this result is democratically intolerable.
We should also be honest about something else, uncomfortable though it is. Reform deserved more seats. They got 0.8% of MPs on 14.3% of the popular vote. The Lib Dems got 11.1% of MPs on 12.2% of the popular vote. That's not right.
First, we've no idea if that Reform number is right. Second, come on people what's the matter with you. After 14 years of the most egregious reactionary horror, we're about to get one of the most progressive parliaments in history.
Everything changes now. Everything. Not just the policies, but much deeper than that.
The values and the personalities of the people in charge will be entirely different. You might not like every position they adopt, but they will hold a bundle of decent, humane, tolerant progressive instincts which are completely opposed to what we've seen for the last decade.