Friday 10 May 2019

When hard work is just not good enough

My fellow blogger Nick Drew made an interesting comment on the last post:


"Corbyn is workshy Bastard"


This is self-evidently true unless you count going on marches, making jam and winging-it making conspiracy theory demagoguery as work.


However, I have reflected on to consider where this is in fact a good trait? Because it's Friday so not entirely seriously, I thought about the records of some of the recent leaders in the UK and US, so as to compare what a lazy Corbyn PM may become:


May/Brown - by common acclaim these are the worst Prime Ministers of recent times. Both very hard working, both serious and somewhat pious in nature, both well-meaning but also, delusional. No good has come of their hard work, the more they did the more of a mess they made and boy, was it a mess. May at least inherited a very tricky situation whereas Brown hubristically was the author of his own from the time of his Chancellorship. The country has had a hard time under such leadership and growth has been weak.

Blair/Cameron - Both men easy in front of the cameras, happy to do some virtue signalling and occasionally given the putting in some work - but equally dependent on a cabal of hard working supporters to put in the hard yards. Both retired, Blair to become leader of the global lizard underground and Cameron to a quiet life with him and his money. Both made a decent impression, did some good things and in Blair's case some terrible things when he wrongly sought to try at something. The Country broadly did OK under both of them (Blair ended with the GFC of course, so was something of a chimera created by Brown) and us plebs rolled along OK


Major - Did naff all, had no power, sat around a lot post Black-Wednesday with not much going on. Huge defeat by Blair, contributed much merriment to the nation with the whole back to basics farrago which consumed time but no effort. The country boomed, jobs for all, growing tax take, the mid to late nineties after the 1990 recession was a happy time!


Then we can look to America too  -


Reagan, lazy and latterly sadly, demented. By all accounts properly could not be arsed with much at all apart from daytime TV. Fantastic President, economy soared, smashed the USSR by teatime.

Clinton , busy with Ugandan affairs and defending silly mud-slinging over whitewater and trying to avoid his wife at all times. US did brilliantly, economy grew and everyone now looks to him as being one of the best ever. He literally did nothing.


Obama, hard working, interfering, well-meaning and useless. Tough times in America and the worst foreign policy for decades and decades. Worked very hard and bequeathed the US Donald Trump.




All the hard workers have huffed and puffed to achieve nothing. Constantly screwing with the systems of Government at home and overseas suffers from a very strong and direct law of diminishing returns. Indeed, the least engaged have often done the best. I can see Thatcher as different exception but she was indeed the exception to prove the rule whose like we shall not see again.


We as voters should therefore be wiser in future, hard working politicians should not be voted for, they merely cause more trouble than existed before.


In conclusion then a lazy Corbyn might be good as despite his demented socialist dreams he wont actually get around to any of it. I do worry his fellow-travellers might jump in to exploit this, but we will have to see. Then if the choice is between Bojo and Farage as alternatives then all well and good, as they similarly won't be that bothered with really doing much, whatever sound and fury emanates forth.


Finally then, soon we may get a choice of three politicians who don't want to actually do much,  at last allowing the Country to descend into a period of relative political peace and economic stability.

11 comments:

Bill Quango said...

In conclusion then a lazy Corbyn might be good as despite his demented socialist dreams he wont actually get around to any of it.

That is my Lol of the day!

dearieme said...

"May/Brown - by common acclaim these are the worst Prime Ministers of recent times": miles from the truth. Blair was so bad that he should be arrested, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced and hanged.

May and Brown should merely be hissed whenever they appear in public. Cameron too, I suspect.

Anonymous said...

"Corbyn is workshy Bastard"

High-quality commentary, then.

Raedwald said...

Good points well made.

Clever and lazy PMs - country does very well, voters happy

Clever and Industrious PMs - Not so good, too much management, not much achievement

Stupid and Industrious PMs - May, Brown. Actually have a negative effect. Country does badly, voters unhappy

Stupid and lazy PMs - They never get to be PM, but many find a home in cabinet e.g. Grayling. Actually not quite as bad as Stupid and industrious ministers.

dex said...

How do the Bushes measure up into this?

Obama one is a bit of a cheap shop on the economy front, that was inherited and left in a better place, foreign policy yes a disaster

BlokeInBrum said...

Well look at Belgium who were without a Government at all for over 500 days.
In the aftermath it turned out that it didn't affect economic growth at all.

I think politicians, being egotistical, arrogant knobs, truly think they can steer the ship of state wherever they want.

History has shown that they are deluded. Those who try to pull every lever of power going fail spectacularly (see Brown, May etc.)
Those who do less, but try to lead more (and cajole people into going along with their vision) tend to show more success.

Not entirely sure about some of the categories that you've pigeon-holed people in though.
Some people are like ducks on the water, calm and serene on the surface but paddling furiously below.

Anonymous said...

Bottom line is that governments are reactionary. A bit like generals - alway fighting the last war. Remove them from the equation or they remove themselves from the equation, then life is good. Why can't we have fewer politicians then?

Taking that argument forward, a politician that won't go is the worst option.

Disaster awaits.

andrew said...


EK has not posted because he is so lazy.
That must make him the most insightful poster on this.

Nick Drew said...

I thought EK (now aka Bottom - see yesterday's BTL) was 'anon' above - given how that comment began ...

E-K said...

Andrew - Today's was my cleverest comment yet.

L fairfax said...

For FTB of houses after 2000 Blair was a disaster. Personally I think with out Blair we wouldn't have Brexit. As he liked the EU, that is a pretty big failure. Also he was in charge when we had the first Islamic terrorism, an awful PM.