Political Takeaways
We all love a cheeky takeaway and there are now companies like Deliveroo and that entirely caters for the needs of those of us who are either to lazy to walk to the local chippy or, more likely, those of us who like a bit of variety. I’m a prime example of this; the debates in our house about what Deliveroo should bring can be endless and at times quite heated. There is no way I am asking Deliveroo to bring me greasy deep-fried fish & soggy chips. No, no, not while Deliveroo can bring me pretty things that look like delicious exotic flowers from a place called Toa Tao Ju and place called Maguro basically offered me Nemo and all his friends in the aquarium. Yum!
Now I know what you are thinking, you all think I have had an Irish coffee with breakfast and I have lost the plot. Not so, let me explain.
We all love fish and chips… but lately the local chippy (Johnson’s Fresh Fish est. 2019… but has had a few changes of management) has not been great. They don’t change the oil regularly enough and the fish has got quite greasy. We think they changed the batter too, it’s not quite as crispy as it used to be. And the chips… oh dear… It is part of a national chain of chip shops known for their quality of fresh north sea British fish, caught by British fishermen, on British fishing boats…
So, we have been looking around… The chippy is not the only place in town that does takeaways. There is also the curry house, the kebab shop, the Chinese… they have all been around for years and we have had a lamb doner... and if you are part of the metropolitan elite, you could indeed ask Maguro to bring you Nemo and friends!
What we have seen in local politics over the past few years is exactly that we have experienced with our local chippy. Johnson’s Fresh Fish used to be great as recently as 2021 but looking at the results of their Google Reviews by 2022 they started going down badly… 485 in 2022 then 1,063 in 2023 and now another 474 this year.
Astonishingly, (and I really do mean this and I am going to get serious now) the Conservatives have always been the Party of Local Government. Even in the darkest days of the Major Government, they had the upper hand in Local Government and in fact, after the 1997 election, many thought that they were finished as a party of National Government and would only be a Party of Local Government.
Now however, there are 1,001 more Labour Councillors than Conservatives and not very far behind that are the spicy LibDems with 3,082 and the healthy Greens on 822 (yes, you read that right 822) and then all the other exotic independents… some 2,316 of them.
It’s a jungle out there! But fear not, I know my way around the takeaways. We specialise in explaining the menus and helping you to understand what you need to order and how you need to eat it. So get in touch!
Until next week,
Henry