John Ward – The Questions Are Only Easy If You Know The Answers – 13 April 2014

JohnW Poor old Mutti Merkel isn’t getting much change out of Washington at the moment. She asked to see her NSA file, but was turned down. And some time ago, she asked for her gold back; but apart from 3% of the haul (and even that was not from the consignment of German ingots originally deposited) Geli was told to whistle for that too. Quite what the German Chancellor thinks she can learn from the NSA file is difficult to imagine, but if she wants to know the full strength, she could do a lot worse than type her name into The Slog’s search engine: it’s all there in black and white.

This asking and not getting thing is beginning to catch on. I find I do it at least seven times a day: I ask for explanations as to why Twitter has banned me, what’s happening on my FOI request, if I can get help from a page marked Help, and a great many other things. Every day for me is like being an Opposition Leader during PMQs: lots of questions, but rarely (if ever) an answer.

Even when I ask myself questions, the answer seems inadequate. Why, for instance, does Ed Miliband think he’s going to be Britain’s first Jewish Prime Minister – didn’t they do Disraeli at his school? Why did David Cameron defend Andy Coulson, Maria Miller, Jeremy Hunt and a veritable regiment of other borderline sociopathic shits? Why did he employ them in the first place? What is the point of Andy Townshend exactly? Does Wayne Rooney understand any maths below seven figures….for instance, one wife?

I’m fascinated by neuroscience, but that too is an infinite stream of unknowns: why, for instance, do certain colours evoke strong feelings in people? Blues and purples, it seems are more pleasant than yellows, and certain shades of green are the most arousing for many people. But why? Well, a bloke called Bevil Conway is trying to find out; and as it happens, I wear a lot of blue – and green stuff as well. But I Bet Mr Conway couldn’t tell me why, in that context, women are not fighting to get at me on a 24/7 basis.

Everywhere you look and everything you hear in 2014 evokes the question, “Why?” Why is the public not completely up in arms about the astronomical sum being thrown away to construct HS2? Why would anyone in their right minds want to get to Birmingham more quickly? Why do the police keep saying they’re going to make an Elm House arrest…and then, um, not make an Elm House arrest? Why are the harmlessly sexually active being tried for rape when not even the victims think they were raped? Why have two shots in DLT in twelve months, when you’ve had thirty f**king years to take a crack at Leon Brittan?

Dan Hodges (one of the very few self-avowedly Left-leaning hacks prepared to accept the mistakes of the Left) today asks some very serious questions about police cases brought against “sexual predators” who – three times in a row now – have proved to be nothing of the sort. In this case, however, there are several answers; but even here, we’ve no idea which one(s) are paramount. And Mr Hodges (or the men with the spikes) are not willing to venture any clarification.

Much of life today is ruled by decisions for which there seems no sane answer to the question “Why?”. The EU, the ability of bankers to avoid prosecution, the police increasingly doing the bidding of politicians with trendy pc agendas, the atrophy among the electorate, the ClubMed austerity policy…on and on it goes. But in truth, the triumph of the silly, the dominance of the petty, and the success of the grubby are all down to one thing: privilege.

You can’t have gratuitous privilege with a functioning Rule of Law, and genuine equality before that Law. Which is why those who crave the untrammeled power that comes with privilege are setting out (with increasing speed) to remove rules and spit on equality.

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink…say n’more. No questions asked, knowottahmean mate?

That, people, is how we got to here. Except today, it’s not even enough to ask the question: you have to demand an answer, and know that you as a citizen have the wherewithal to make life uncomfortable for those who will not answer…or answer with obfuscating spin.

So next time something is wrong and you say “I don’t want to know”, think on all that. There will be no miracle saving of us from the inevitable fate, and we cannot rely on the person next to us to make a stand. If you do nothing, The Bastards will win. End of.