NEWS 3

2November 2019 THE WEEK

...and how they were covered

Whatnext?

“TurkeysvotingforChristmas,”saidSeanO’GradyinTheIndependent.It’sacliché,butit’s

hardtoimproveon:Corbyn,theLibDemsandtheSNP“havecondemnedustofiveyearsof

Boris’sBritain,andtheyarenotgoingtoenjoyit”.It’sobviousthatLabouronlyvotedfora

snapelectionbecause,thankstotheLibDemsandtheSNP,itwasgoingtohappenanyway,so

theyhadachoicebetween“lookingcowardlyorpretendingtheyare‘upforit’”.Still,itwasa

terriblemistakebytheopposition.Thesinglesalientfactnowisthe 1 0-or12-pointopinion

pollleadthattheTorieshaveoverLabour.“Britishgeneralelectionsarestillbasicallywonand

lostinLabour-Conservativemarginalseats,manyintheMidlands,LancashireandYorkshire.”

Johnsonwillmopup.“ByChristmasDay,BritainwillbewellonthewaytoahardBrexit.”

Notnecessarily,saidStephenBushintheNewStatesman.TheBritishelectorateisincreasingly

volatile.Therearefivepartiesinplay,includingtherevivedLibDems,theSNPinScotlandand

theBrexitPartythreateningtheToriesfromtheright.Itwillbea“long,long”six-week

campaign,andtheweathercouldbe“decisive”:anNHScrisiscouldpushthingsCorbyn’sway.

“Itisessentiallyimpossibletopredicthowtheelectionwillplayout.”Johnsoncanwinadecent

majority,saidMatthewGoodwininTheDailyTelegraph.Buttodoso,heneedstostop

marginalToryseatsthatvotedRemainfallingtoLabour;holdoutagainsttheLibDemsinthe

southwestandpro-EuropeareaslikeCheltenhamandRichmondPark;andnotdotoobadlyin

Scotland.Mostofall,heneedstomakeinroadsintoLabourLeaveseatsintheMidlandsand

theNorth.ThereisapathtoabigmajorityforJohnson,butitis“bothnarrowandcomplex”.

Corbyn’sroutetoamajorityis“evenharder,whichiswhymanyLabourMPsresistedthe

election”,saidRafaelBehrinTheGuardian.Indeed,hopesthattheelectioncouldbringabout

adecisiveresult,letalonesomekindofnational“reconciliation”,lookforlorn.“Johnson’s

BritainandCorbyn’sBritainare vastly differentcountries,on starkly divergent paths.”The fear

is that“Britishpoliticswillbe evenangrierand more dividedafter an election thanitisnow”.

What the commentators said

Aswellascampaigningto

“getBrexitdone”,Johnson

willfocusontheNHS,

educationandcrime,says

TheTimes.Hewillpresent

itasthe“peoplevs.

Parliament”election–inan

efforttopasshiswithdrawal

bill(seepage 11 )byJanuary.

Corbynwillcampaignagainst

whathecallsJohnson’s

“TrumpBrexit”,whichhe

sayswillundermineworkers’

rights.TheLibDemshopeto

frametheelectionasthe“last

chancetostopBrexit”.

TheBrexitParty,according

toitsMEPJohnLongworth,

willnottargetall 600 UK

seats,butwillfocusitsefforts

on 20 mostlypro-Leave

Labourconstituencies.Nigel

Faragehassuggestedthatthe

partycouldmake anelectoral

pact withthe Tories.

Whatnext?

Soonafter their invasion ofIraq in2004, theAmericans arrestedayoung Iraqi but decidedto

lethim go,deeming him just aminor thug. It was“adisastrous mistake”,said The Economist.

By teaming upwith Saddam Husseinloyalists (intelligence officers andspecialists inclandestine

warfare),Abu Bakral-Baghdadiwent onto transformthemilitia once known as IslamicState

of Iraqinto Isis,agroupso brutalitwasdenouncedevenby its parent, al-Qa’eda.It wasn’tjust

his brutality that marked him out, said Hannah Smithin TheTimes.Baghdadi wasthe

exponent ofanewbrand of violent jihadism. UnlikethedourOsamabinLaden, whose public

appearances were confined tograinyvideos filmedinacave, Baghdadi wasrotundand media

savvy.Heworeadesignerwatchand reportedly travelled inaconvoyof luxurycars. Isis videos

wereslicker and glossier than al-Qa’eda’s;and alsoshockinglyviolent. Most important ofall,

bydeclaring acaliphate–whichatitsheight governedan area the sizeofBritain and hadits

ownlaws andcurrency –Baghdadi gavehisfollowers somethingtangibleto fight for, said

IbrahimAl-MarashionAlJazeera.It was amagnet for disaffected Sunni Arabs burningwith

resentmentagainst the regimes in Iraq andSyria,both propped upbyIran-basedShia militias.

Yet forallthat Trumpmay boastabout this killing,Baghdadi’seliminationwillprove farless

significant thanbin Laden’s, said Mike Giglio inThe Atlantic.Bin Laden was agenuine leader:

Baghdadi, after his rise to fame,seldomemergedfrom hiding. He was widely believed tohave

lost operational controlof Isis years ago.IndeedIsis reportedly alreadyhas anewleaderin

place, said David Gardnerin the FT.Far from being aspent force, itretains theloyaltyof some

18,000 fighterswho have gone to ground“in tworotting states”–Syria and Iraq. Andin the

vacuum leftbyUStroops, theKurdishmilitia which once guardedthem is now preoccupied

withdefending itself. “Thestageis set forathird, probably moreterrible, reincarnationofIsis.”

What the commentators said

US intelligence officials

are nowsiftingamass of

sensitive information found

in Baghdadi’s hideout,

which is thought to include

plans forfuture Isis attacks.

Thecompound was

destroyed byaUSair strike

after theraid, to prevent it

becoming an Isisshrin e.

To keep themomentum

against Isis going,US forces

are said tobe targeting the

rest of the Isishierachy.

Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a

possible Isisleadership

candidate,was killed this

weekhiding inamoving

lorry. Meanwhile, the Isis

newsagencyis continuing

to claim credit forattacks

across the Middle East.

“Snowflake Oxford University students ban clapping and replace it

with ‘jazz hands’ to stop ‘anxiety’.” Thus The Sun recorded the latest

chapter in Britain’s culture wars. The truth was, of course, slightly

different. No one banned anything: Oxford’s student union, like Manchester University’s before it,

passedamotion encouraging the use of British Sign Language clapping–waving hands at shoulder

height, also known as “silent jazz hands”–atcouncil meetings, arguing that applause is an “access

issue” for students who have “anxiety disorders, sensory sensitivity and... use hearing aids”.

So it’s asmall story but one that, to me, raisesalot of questions. How many people have ever been

disturbed by clapping? If so, why are students so anxious? And aren’t there better ways of helping

them cope? Also, why jazz hands? Why bring the ghosts of Al Jolson and Bob Fosse into the picture?

Why not just ask people to clap quietly? Then again, from the other perspective: why do these things

make people so angry? Is it reallya“denial of humanity”, as one academic argued this week, to

advocate jazz hands? Isn’t Western civilisation built on the premise that small groups of people can

do strange things together, if they wish? Finally, shouldn’t we support the right of students to have

bad ideas? It is, after all,acrucial part of the university experience. And in the great catalogue of bad

student ideas–fromadvocating Maoism, to forming the Taliban, to joining the

Bullingdon Club–jazz hands are surelyamildand well-meaning example.

THEWEEK

Theo Tait

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