“We are what we eat” and “our diet defines us”. If I take that metaphor and apply it to our political consumption for the last decade and a half, it feels as though we have been surviving on an unhealthy lifestyle.
First, we had a crash diet in 2010. By 2015 there were some signs that we were recovering some fitness. But instead of knuckling down here, we decided to go for an extreme change of lifestyle (I do, of course, mean Brexit) and soon we descended into the inevitable accompanying national nervous breakdown.
At this point, with our health undermined, we got Covid and suffered even more. Instead of getting a chance to recover we were conned into some fad diets by charlatans who took us to the brink. In May we decided to head for rehab, emerging a few weeks later on 5th July with a new direction under new leaders … but without a new recipe.
The lack of a plan was concerning, but we knew we couldn’t keep living as we had been. We had a feeling it would be hard … but now it seems that as well as a healthier diet, we must also pay more for the gym and, instead of those previous short-lived New Year resolutions, this time we must keep going to the gym most days … indefinitely.
As a nation of highly-processed chicken nugget eaters, we need some positivity if we’re actually going to convert to oily fish, nuts and beans for the foreseeable future.
In the last couple of weeks, it feels that instead of the promise of steadily improving health and wellness, our new Labour life coaches are offering thin gruel, cold showers and regular weigh-ins.
Where is the encouragement?
Where is the hope?
The truth is that the new Labour dieticians want us to be absolutely clear who exactly is to blame for our current terrible health and lousy diet – and they won’t stop ramming this message home until they are convinced we can repeat it in our sleep.
Then, sometime next year – probably around the next comprehensive spending review in the Spring – the plan will be revealed for how we will get to long-term health and renewed national vim and vigour. I am all for that but, in the meantime, please can we understand the recipe better, and what is in the meal plan? We need to feel that the better days aren’t so far ahead that we lose heart and make us think about drifting back to the charlatans and their pot noodles. Could the Labour life coaches also listen to us rather than keep telling us how to live?
I am prepared to start the journey with salt in my porridge, but a realistic promise of there being a little honey in due course will make the experience far more palatable.
Gary Jackson
North Dorset LibDems
