Indifference

I do not normally read Matthew d'Ancona in the Sunday Telegraph but today I made an exception, reading enough of it to get the gist of what he was saying.

Headed, "It's indifference that Cameron now has to combat," d’Ancona is right in one sense, that the electorate did show a massive indifference to the Boy King's supposed charms, a situation admirably summed up in yesterday's leader: "…people have turned against the established parties for a good reason," it opined. "They have reached the correct view that their ballot will not make much of a change, and so use elections as a megaphone to shout at the distant party leaderships."

Reading all that, I feed strangely vindicated, having said as much in my own piece the day before. Generally, people are sick to teeth with party politics – established parties that is.

For a while, at least the nation has had the World Cup to keep it entertained but, I gather, "Inger-land" - that strange country which I know not - lost a game yesterday against somebody or other and is out of the contest. No longer is there a prospect of battling with the Hun, as was the dream of many and, without that motivation, one confidently expects the nation to sink into a torpor which will be sustained throughout the rest of the summer.

I feel this in myself, to a very great degree. Nothing seems quite real – the words on the radio news merge into a low, meaningless drone, the print on the newspapers blurs and the television becomes just a jumble of words and pictures that fail to excite the slightest interest.

Perhaps it is the approach of the "silly season", when we all need a holiday, to come back invigorated, ready to do battle again. But I somehow doubt it. When we get back, the Boy King will still be there, Maude will still be mouthing "faster, wider, deeper", Blair will still be screwing up the country and Brown will still be fulminating in the margins, waiting to take over and make an even bigger mess.

And, oh yes, Finland has taken over the presidency of the EU and there are moves afoot to find a new, dynamic motto for the Union, to give it a fresh, modern look.

Who the hell cares? Indifference rules OK.

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