From The Mind of Merc - Home Truths

 Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the current state of affairs thanks to the corruption, incompetency and lack of compassion of the current UK government. Which I feel is adquately summed up in this collection of memes.

From The Mind of Merc - Accountability

(Got a bit sidetracked and completely lost track of the date. Anyway here is April's From The Mind of Merc.)

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about accountability.

Isn't it an interesting word? And it's got a pretty interesting meaning too. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, it means:

"the fact of being responsible for what you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it, or the degree to which this happens"

Do you think Boris Johnson is aware of this definition? Or even this word?
Granted he went to Oxford rather than Cambridge but I doubt universities would have massively different dictionaries*.

If he doesn't know it, can someone please introduce him to it because I'm getting seriously fed up having a Prime Minister who is (not has - we're way beyond that) such a moral vacuum. And what's more faces absolutely zero consequences for his actions.

*that's a joke btw

From The Mind of Merc - A Change For The Better?

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the effect of the recent US election on UK politics.

Has anyone else noticed the change in Boris Johnson’s approach to (in effect) his job since his best buddy Donald Trump was ousted from the Presidency following November's vote?

Prior to this he seemed to be following the example of the sexist, racist bigot the US were unfortunate enough to have to call their Commander-in-chief; evidently believing that if the POTUS could get away with God knows what and still stay in power then so could he. Then along comes the US election which Trump undeniably (despite what he’d like to think) and humiliatingly loses and suddenly the truth hits home and Johnson is left buddy-less, example-less and the only and worst remaining demonstrable failure on the political stage – especially when it comes to COVID. Surely now is the time he needs to pull his finger out and I think there are clear signs that there has been a definite change in his approach.

For example, let’s start with COVID:

Johnson has gone from ‘Herd Immunity’ and ‘It’s not that bad’ to ‘We must act now’ and ‘We will be following data, not dates’. While this could be said to be the approach he should have had a year ago, I think the main thing to take out of this is that he does appear to be actually trying to do his job – we can only hope and pray this is the start of a long-term policy.

Also, the departure of Dominic Cummings from his team hopefully shows that just as he is no longer committed to playing follow my leader with Trump and his policies, he is now less inclined to blindly and foolishly follow the advice of people he likes, has previously trusted or possibly have leverage over him. True he is still not practising accountability for himself or his cohorts – as demonstrated by the fact that Cummings faced no repercussions for any of his transgressions and likewise Matt Hancock has now evaded censure for his unlawful actions regarding COVID contracts – but it is a definite step in the right direction.

I’m not saying he’s perfect – there's still a long way to go before he even gets close to that and there are still a lot of dismissive policies and borderline comical U-Turns to sort out, get past or prevent from happening ever again.

Overall, I believe judgement should be reserved on this newfound ‘dedication’ until we have sufficient time to judge the success and also longevity of his apparent epiphany but it is hopefully I sign that we are at last truly on the road to recovery. We can only hope that the UK finally gets the leader we so desperately need and that Johnson apparently desperately believes he is.

From The Mind of Merc - Leadership

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about leadership.

According to the Center for Creative Leadership, the 10 characteristics of a Good Leader are: integrity, ability to delegate, communication, self-awareness, gratitude, learning agility, influence, empathy, courage, respect.

So how does our own leader, the inexorable Boris Johnson, stack up:

1) Integrity - Nope. He'll back whatever horse is winning
2) Ability to delegate - (as in facilitate teamwork rather than pass the buck so) Nope!
3) Communication - Nope. Incredible stutterer though.
4) Self-awareness - Ha! Nope.
5) Gratitude - Definitely not (clapforNHS does not count)
6) Learning agility - (ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do) Absolute fail!
7) Influence - (through logical or emotional appeals) Could have done - if he didn't ignore his own rules
8) Empathy - Given block of Grenfell recommendations and NHS pay rise, Nope!
9) Courage - More like cowardly lion. The man hid in a fridge to avoid an interview!
10) Respect - With comments like piccaninnies and watermelon smiles, does he know what this means?

Don't agree with the list? How about Forbes - they define 8 Essential Qualities of Great Leadership as: sincere enthusiasm, integrity, great communication skills, loyalty, decisiveness, managerial competence, empowerment, charisma.

Let's break them down again:

1) Sincere enthusiasm - Again not convinced he knows what this means
2) Integrity - Nope.
3) Great communication skills - See above.
4) Loyalty - In this instance it means to employees etc. so Nope.
5) Decisiveness - Ha! He's U-Turn Central
6) Managerial competence - Ditto
7) Empowerment - Hell no. He wants it all.
8) Charisma - Again not a word I'm convinced he's familiar with

Still not trusting the source? How about the government's own website? An article on there says there are 11 key features of leadership. (Paraphrased) these are: understand how to have positive impact, be prepared to lead, win and retain respect, motivate and inspire others, clear sense of purpose and direction, good communicator, lead the delivery, manage your energy, build the right team around, trust your instinct, accept that we all make mistakes.

So one more time:

1.   Understand how to have positive impact - Nope!

2.   Be prepared to lead - Nope. Hid in a fridge.

3.   Win and retain respect - Nope.

4.   Motivate and inspire others - Definitely nope. Have you seen the number of anti-maskers out there?

5.   Clear sense of purpose and direction - Nope. U-turn Central.

6.   Good communicator - Nope again.

7.   Lead the delivery - More like avoid the blame.

8.   Manage your energy - Ok, this one he can do. He's very good at taking holidays - even illegal ones!

9.   Build the right team around you - If this means right for him, yes. If right for everyone else, nope!

10. Trust your instinct - Again, he can do this one. But given he fails the others, this is not good thing.

11. Accept that we all make mistakes - Nope. It's never his fault (apparently).

Webster's dictionary defines accountability as:

the quality or state of being accountable
especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actionsI wonder if he, or indeed anyone in the Tory government, is aware of that.

From the Mind of Merc - Good and Bad Deeds

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the idea that a good deed cancels out a bad deed. Tbh, I think this is to blame for a lot more bad deeds than good deeds.

If this is true, than people who are regularly ‘bad’ can supposedly excuse or justify themselves by committing ‘good deeds’. The person in question is not changed – they just believe they are not bad because they did one ‘good’ thing. Consequently a bad person can convince themselves they are not so because the one ‘good’ thing they did means the ‘bad’ thing, in effect, didn’t happen. For me, this means the whole concept is undeniably flawed. And in more ways than one.

Firstly, it seemingly allows bad deeds to happen so long as good deeds continue to happen as well. How can this be ok?

It makes me wonder if this is how the Tory government sleeps at night and how they can convince themselves they are still good people despite the considerable damage they have done to the country - the most blatant (non-COVID related) example being that, since the Tories came to power, life expectancy in the UK has gone DOWN. Yes, you read that right – DOWN. But all these bad deeds are supposedly ok because of any ‘good deeds’ they’ve done.

This is not how this should work. This is little better than spin – it is not right to allow bad deeds to go unnoticed or to be forgotten or hidden just because of the occasional act that is not ‘bad’. And it certainly is not acceptable behaviour for a country’s leadership or government.

There is also the matter of whether the ‘good deeds’ could actually be viewed as that or if it just seems that way from their perspective because they can see the benefit but that’s a discussion for another day.

Secondly, a good deed does NOT cancel out a bad deed. If someone commits a good deed, that does not mean the bad deed did not happen – it just means they are not a completely bad person.

If someone seriously wishes to atone for their actions then it is not and cannot be a quick fix solution. Years of misdeeds cannot be wiped out by one good one. But one good one is an important and worthwhile start on the path to atonement as, surely, the whole point of the concept itself was that one good deed is the start of turning over a new leaf rather than equating to the eradication of all previous bad deeds. It was a way of recognising what happened in the past was wrong and should not happen again.

Perhaps now, when the country is returning to a new ‘normal’, is the best time to realise this and to start to change our viewpoint – no more excuses, no more delusion, no more denial. Acceptance, acknowledgement, accountability.

After all, when someone’s been wronged, the main thing they want is an apology from the person who’s wronged them. No-one should be exempt from that – not even governments.

The idea might be to avoid showing a sign of weakness but it’s actually not apologising that’s the sign of weakness as it shows a refusal to accept the situation, to acknowledge the wrongdoing and take accountability for what shouldn’t have happened. That can be much more damaging than any apology could ever be.

So, if you’ve committed bad deeds and you’re sorry for them the message shouldn’t be ‘doing good deeds cancels them out’, it should be that doing good deeds starts to help undo the hurt the bad deeds caused. It doesn’t mean the bad deeds didn’t happen – they did and this must be understood - but it does mean you’re not allowing them to continue.

An MP Can Be A Crook - !!!NEW!!!

Listening to my favourite song from Mary Poppins Returns and the beginnings of these lyrics started forming in my head... so I thought I'd let them develop.

A Cover Is Not The Book An MP Can Be A Crook not from Mary Poppins Returns
We have so much at our fingertips
That we can access quick and how
And yet we still do not make the most of it
If we ever needed info
Then my friends that time is now
As rather than trust the media then we need to research it
Because an-

MP can be a crook
So please always take a second look
'Cause if you peer closer past the poster
You might find you were mistook
Please don’t ignore the warning signs
Take care to read between the lines
And what you find it might just leave you shook
For an MP’s your man
Unless your MP’s a crook

It’s-true-to-day, it’s all true so far!
It’s-true-to-day, it’s all true so far!

Excuse me Miss, could you give us an example?
Certainly!

Boris the Johnson it seemed was good
But what could not be seen was though
His outward show was honest
Well, his past was far from clean
So if someone chose to look what was buried down deep inside
They would find he’s not so nice
Yet he still won by a landslide!

Which proves
An MP can be a crook
So please always take a second look
'Cause if you peer closer past the poster
You might find you were mistook
Please don’t ignore the warning signs
Take care to read between the lines
And what you find it might just leave you shook
For an MP’s your man
Unless your MP’s a crook

Should we do the one about the tricky Tory?

Oh, by all means!

People love that one

Well, go on then!

Mr Dominic Cummings
His wife was not feeling so fit

So he put her in a car

Drove to Durham for a bit

Yet the country’s in lockdown
Which you’d think would cause a hitch

But if you're rich and make the rules

Then are the rules meant for the rich?

Oh, an MP can be a crook
So please always take a second look

'Cause if you peer closer past the poster
You might find you were mistook
It’s-true-to-day, it’s true so far!
It’s-true-to-day, all above par!

And what you find it might just leave you shook
For an MP’s your man
Unless your MP’s a crook

Oh, give us the one about the brainless bossman, why don't ya?

Isn't that one a bit long?

Well, the quicker you're into it, the quicker you're out of it

Once upon a time
(Not) In a nursery rhyme
There was a white house with a man
With an orange tan
Who seemed to think there was no-one that he was less than

He had fans and followers
Who hung on his ev’ry word
But despite his being the chief
Good grief!
It seemed he had a poor choice of what he should best do
A poor choice of words

Like his hands were not immense
His brain was smaller than a bird's
So the vice-man of the nation
Made a censored proclamation
"We do not need him understood
He needs to look good

Just like any premier should
His bright orange skin not withstood”

And they searched for the brightest
And they searched for the best
Who would endorse

All his recourse
Bring worth to what he did attest
But the man was a buffoon
So each professor quit their job
They did not want to be involved
With such a racist slob
It makes you sob
You start to wonder why it is
He’s so beloved by the mob

But then suddenly one day
The people realised a thing
They said, "If he cannot change then
It makes sense that we change him"
And the man’s team’s fears all grew

For they knew that this was true
That it was not hopeless
There was a way out of the mess

Cause to have a happy land
And to enjoy the world you've got
You should never let yourselves
Be ruled over by a bigot
So they sang and they cheered
They had found a way to end
The control of this despot who was
Surely not their friend

So the moral is you mustn't let
The media be the guide
For it's possible they lied
You need to make your own mind up
Don’t be hypnotised, you decide!
‘Cause the truth can't be denied
And we will not be defied
We can vote to change the world and
We won’t let the cheaters hide

That is it!

Oh, an MP can be a crook
So please always take a second look

'Cause if you peer closer past the poster
You might find you were mistook
So please listen to what we've said

And please never let yourself be led

So one more time before we get the hook

Please sing along!

An MP’s your man

Please take our advice!

An MP’s your man

Or you'll pay the price!

An MP’s your man

Unless your MP is a crook

It’s-true-to-day, it’s so true by far!
It’s-true-to-day, it’s so true by far!
It’s-true-to-day, it’s so true by far! Hurrah!

(Author's note: I'm not saying these are the only examples but they are certainly the most notable at the moment)