How did we go from the open, global joy of London 2012 to the dark misery of throwing nets over migrant boats to disable them in just 8 years?
I think, for all that Nick Clegg was pilloried six ways from Sunday over tuition fees, the wheels started to fall off when the Tories won enough votes to not need the Coalition any more. Suddenly, there was no restraining influence of any kind on their sordid megalomania.
If you doubt that, please remember that these things are always relative.
Don't compare the Coalition years to an impossible idyll. Instead, compare 2010-15 and 2015-20. Difference seems as clear as daylight.
Added: I am under no illusions that things were brilliant in 2012. There were huge numbers of problems. But broadly, the nation did come together for a time around the Olympics, and it undeniably presented a favourable view of Britain to the world. And then...
Minus a billion for empathy. But top marks for honesty, at least. Because it conveys in a superbly succinct way the utter contempt the UK Government has for anyone it sees as supernumerary. Their disinterest could not be clearer.
"You used to be a Turner prize-winning artist? Have no fear. Drains will always need cleaning."
Prue Leith, avowed Brexit supporter, seems to only just have woken up to Brexit's potential to destroy the quality of UK food, and hurt British farmers.
And magically she's all hand-wringing and smelling salts.
For over 6 weeks now, COVID-19 cases across the UK have grown at approx. 7% a day. (It's not an exact fit, but it's close enough to indicate how the pandemic is progressing.)
That means the problem got twice as big every 9 days.
Yet Boris Johson STILL dithers and delays!
He's planning to talk to MPs on Monday.
At the current pace, that means 22% more cases than now.
Imagine taking the same approach to a forest fire, or a patient bleeding out? It's unconscionable!
Even small sustained improvements would make a big difference, if we start NOW.
At 7% growth a day, we would be closing in on 100,000 daily cases by the end of October.
But if we could slow growth to 6% a day through stricter measures, we'd be at HALF that.
Problem is, if you're on a low wage you get Β£500 for 2 weeks to tide you over (less than minimum wage). Everyone else gets nothing at all.
So a lot of people who are warned they may have been in contact with someone infected have a huge incentive to shrug and ignore it.
I think the system needs to be split, and improved:
A) If you test positive, make the checking regime draconian, along with the punishment. You don't self-isolate? There WILL be consequences. But provide decent financial support.
Has anyone else entered a new stage of pandemic fatigue? (NOT the same as lockdown fatigue!)
The summer wasn't great but it was "ok-ish", but now everyone's being whipped back to school, uni etc. while the virus rages like a forest fire, the situation is much less tolerable...
What really grinds my teeth is that there appears to be a sliding scale with "different, but relatively safe life" at one end and "very dangerous normality" at the other, and the UK government is pushing hell for leather for "normality".
We are ALL condemned by their choice.
And the other problem is Trump.
He normalises such beyond-the-pale behaviour that the UK Government can do literally whatever it wants and yet it will NEVER be as bad as what he's doing. So they feel empowered to run wild.