Bodies of Opinion

Mere experts have cautioned that, contrary to British democratic principles as defended by everyone from the strutting Caudillo of the Farage Falange to the jabbering homunculus Michael Gove, seeing feats of prowess on the telly does not necessarily constitute an appropriate training régime for trying them out in the living room. Have-a-go heroes have suffered bruises, ligament damage and - presumably least dangerously - head injuries in attempting to emulate athletes who have done little more than give their lives to daily training over periods of years, and are therefore arguably little more than mere experts themselves. Team Starmer may be trying, however timorously and deceitfully, to repair relations with Europe, and those who believe they know better than the law what constitutes a murder suspect may be getting a robust response in the only language such people understand; but the nation that voted Brexit and Boris is still alive and well, though in some cases possibly not for very much longer.