Clean Hands

Although the National Johnson's administration is routinely accused of chaos and disorganisation, the passage of a mere two years has brought encouraging signs of joined-up thinking. The squeals of outrage over the maltreatment of a slave-trader's graven image demonstrate a moderate, sensible and enduring British principle which is also manifested in the Government's choice of NHS suppliers. It will be remembered that the initial policy was to save the economy rather than issuing personal protective equipment to expendables. However, as the pandemic declined to halt in the face of such exemplary Britishness, the Government began ordering equipment. One of its suppliers was a Malaysian company credibly accused of using forced labour, and once the USA and Canada had banned the company's merchandise Her Majesty's Government took the lead in its usual fashion. The official inquiry was so British that within a few weeks the slave-drivers were approved as a supplier of disposable gloves, apparently on the grounds that they were considering appropriate procedures for deciding to take action on measures to speed up the process of putting things in place. Nevertheless, even though the slaves are only migrant swarms, certain enemies of the people still remain dissatisfied.