TO BE HUMAN, OR NOT TO BE HUMAN, THAT IS THE QUESTION, whether ‘tis nobler in government to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous wokery. The Bard may not have been thinking of human rights when he put those famous words into Hamlet’s mouth, but his hero’s pains are a direct parallel to the dilemma faced by Rishi Sunak’s administration.
Sunak’s problem is not rationalising his own life and death, but that of others. Sunak is the bigger man here, thinking outside his own echo chamber (although there must be a brain in there somewhere). His problem is a small number of refugees, about whom a disproportionate amount of noise emanates from the rightest of his own right whingers.
His is a government of least resistance. The easiest path is always taken, the less planning (and therefore the less money spent) the better. Unfortunately, in the case of refugees the line is Send ‘Em Home. More unfortunately, these individuals are assigned human rights, which means that Sending ‘Em Home is illegal.
This is a shame, say the Headbangers, since removing their rights would facilitate the process. So what can be done?
What are the options? Withdrawing from the EHCR is one easy option. But but but. The UK’s reputation is already thoroughly diminished through Brexit. This must never, ever, be acknowledged, of course, but adding another reason to damage the UK internationally is unthinkable to all except the most highly crazed fantasists.
The other option is to redefine humanity. This is attractive because Sunak’s government may set its own parameters to suit itself. And, thanks to our Great British Brexit, Brussels is no longer permitted to meddle in British affairs.
What will these parameters be? Nobody, alas, wanted to go on the record. Nigel Farage definitely didn’t remark that coloured skin is one condition that precludes humanity. Suella Braverman is not on record as saying that anyone who had ever been in a safe country is not British, and therefore not human. Neither did she say that the UK is not a safe country. Grant Shapps did not accidentally disclose that anyone worth less than a million pounds will not be regarded as being human. Boris Johnson definitely said “Yes, no, yes, erm, wiff waff, I’m, erm, yes, no, erm, making a return to frontline politics, whatever that means, tempus fugit, ooo champers, here’s my fridge!”, but nobody really thought that he meant it.
It’s time to rejoin the Animal Kingdom. Except that animals now have rights too… Is there no end to the Wokery of the world?