Puerile Politics

The news media this morning tell me that some of the pathetic runts who have inveigled themselves into Parliament have come up with a spiffing wheeze. They suggest that as Mrs Merkel is in a possibly-terminal struggle for her political existence, the time is right to cut down the amount that the UK should offer to the European Union to settle our obligations as departing members.

Most of the citizens I know - many of whom voted Leave - agree with Mrs May's public assertions that we should pay all that we owe, fair and square. It should have been possible to produce openly-published estimates of the amount many months ago, and most people are bemused that this has not been done. It is a matter of accountancy: the items should be listed, defined, quantified [in sterling] and a total determined. The UK government's tabulation may not tally with that of the Brussels bureaucracy, and an arbitration might be needed; but the whole thing should be open and and conducted in a fair minded manner on both sides.

This is the latest incident of low-mindedness among some politicians, whose behaviour has become a national embarrassment. The word puerile derives from the Latin puer - a boy - and is used to denote human conduct [chiefly by apparently-adult males] that seems to others to be very like the sort of behaviour in which pubescent males engage: often when they group together and goad each other on towards a greater excess of silliness. Every male adolescent is puerile at times: that is human nature. When grown men act in a puerile manner that is always embarrassing: when men in public life behave thus, it is a national disgrace. We have almost become used to fractions of the Conservative Party behaving in such a way: yet it is still painful, and the nation is shamed by it. That Mrs May is so weakened by her election debacle that she is at the mercy of such men is a national tragedy.

It is very hard to see where we go from here. It does appear that the government has ignored the idiots, for the time being, and agreed that we should make an increased offer to get the financial conditions of Brexit settled. It is devoutly to be wished that the government can hold to that decision and move on to substantive discussions.