Last week, I reviewed the sixth season of Endeavour, using it as an excuse to share my memories of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
As I mentioned two weeks ago in my twelfth post about Brexit, everything was pretty much on hold until a new Prime Minister was selected. As predicted by polls, Boris Johnson won the election of the Conservative Party membership - the Tories.
I learned the results Tuesday morning, my time, on You Tube from my new favorite source of British news and analysis, TLDR News.
By the time I was writing this on Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Johnson had already met with the queen, been invited to form a government, and made his first speech in front of Number 10 Downing Street. BBC News has the full speech on YouTube:
I listened. He was long on promises and determination, but short on details.
I was particularly listening for his solution to the Irish border. I've written a couple of times about the Ireland border ( Brexit Part 8 and A Brexit deal, maybe?). The quickest and most fun way, though, to understand the issue is this video from CGP Grey:
Boris Johnson's speech gave us this reassurance:
I say to our friends in Ireland, and in Brussels and around the EU, I am convinced that we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks and, yet, without that anti-democratic backstop.
He might be convinced, but that doesn't solve the inherent paradox of an open border but controlled movement of goods and people.
As I'm writing this, I'm monitoring the news of Cabinet placements and replacements and gossip about Johnson's girlfriend, who is expected to move into Number 10 Downing Street and act as the Prime Minister's spouse, even though Johnson's divorce is not yet finalized. By the time this posts on Friday, there may be yet more news. What stories are you following?
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books