Should we be careful what we wish for?

We're told that the current political and constitutional crisis simply bored to death a lot of the voters who elected Mr Johnson. They wanted the government to 'get on with it.'  And they elected someone they believed would do that. I'm often sceptical about what pollsters and political commentators say, but on this occasion I'd guess they were right. However: what exactly is 'being bored to death' about? We seem to take it for granted that we know what this means.

We have prided ourselves on being a stable democracy, where we decide things in the calm atmosphere of an ancient, venerable building beside the sweetly flowing Thames, where a firm Speaker keeps everyone with extreme views in order. Didn't we have pictures, from time to time, of half empty chambers, with one old stager rambling on, while the rest slept?

Not any more.

It is the MPs who are agitated to the point of exhaustion, while they bore the voters to death with their arguments, and demands for action that no one seems able to make happen.  I have a mental image of them scurrying from place to place, from phone call to Whats App, and from secret meeting to secret meeting, plotting this and planning that, looking for allies, struggling to make sense of an old constitution where it's often hard to tell what powers you have to do anything. Some people seem quite surprised that MPs talk to each other at all. What did they think the Westminster Parliament was for, I wonder? Is there an idea abroad that you just take your manifesto pledges to the House, and make decisions, decisions, decisions about how to put them into action, and if you don't there is something wrong with you?

Problem is, there would be no point in a Parliament if that were the case. You'd just elect a government, not a Parliament at all. Dictatorships have done this, historically. The worst-case scenarios are where 'government' shrinks to a handful of people who just 'get on with it' big time! And no one else gets a word in edgeways. Be careful what you wish for! Dictators can be more efficient, for a while, since they lack the time-wasting business of having to discuss things in boring meetings. Mussolini, they said, made the trains run on time. And also he agreed a pact with Hitler which prolonged the Second World War and brought Italy to its knees.

What is this boredom stuff? I'd suggest that, from a psychological point of view, boredom expresses our inability to bear unpleasant feelings. Being left to yourself, with nothing to do, is probably one of the biggest tests of psychological maturity. Can you remain happy, or at least content, in those circumstances? Do you have internal resources sufficient to carry you through it? Many people do not. Action is always their solution to pain of any kind. Do something! 

We don't expect children to be able to hold themselves together for long periods without things to do and adult people to help. This is normal. Without such support they may become depressed and listless, even traumatised in some circumstances. But the point of growing up is that gradually we learn to overcome such anxieties. We take on the job our parents began and learn that we live in a wonderfully interesting world where there are excitement and sources of contentment round every corner. We are glad of family and friends to enhance our lives, but we do not die of boredom when they are not available.  We know how to deal with it - go for a walk, look at the stars, read a good book, attend a council debate, make a model ship, cook a meal, paint a picture, decorate the front room, dig the garden, go on a march, and so forth. There are plenty of things to do every day. I came across medical advice on what to do when you are depressed, which ran to a whole close printed A4 page of suggested activities. Very helpful and also missing the point! The point is, some people do not have the sheer level of psychological stability needed to be able to do those things without a companion! They remain stuck, at some level, in childhood. They cannot read the book for themselves that a parent once read to them. They haven't moved on.

How do we 'move on', assuming no one gave us much of a model of psychological maturity? You can, but you need to choose it as a goal. It won't be delivered from the planet Mars by an alien on a space cycle. You need to watch out for periods of boredom, and what you tend to feel, and do, with them. If you tend to feel irritable, upset, uncertain, anxious, depressed, then I recommend you start some psychological self-help. Try not to suppress the feelings, but rather to work alongside them. Be a good companion to your upset and anxious state of mind. Allow it to exist, and take it for a walk, help it decorate the front room, or allow it to watch the stars with you. You can't force it to go away. It will however sink into its natural place, as part of you, but not the whole of you, if you just let it be. Letting it be is not allowing it to dominate either. It gets woven into the fabric of the life you choose, not the one it wants to thrust upon you.

I think the current crisis has tested our psychological maturity as a nation almost to destruction. And you might think I'm about to say that we failed the test. But I'm not. I'm surprised every day through the nightmare of the last few years, that civil war has not broken out. For some of us - a minority, but still a powerful group -  boredom and uncertainty has been beyond their ability to cope. They have started incandescent incidents involving throwing bricks and getting arrested. Some politicians have subtly encouraged this, seeing it as a weapon in their armoury helping to bring about change, by threatening the rest of us with civil disorder if we don't agree to this or that. (Fascist groups have used this tactic. It is not new, but it is new when it comes from Parliamentarians!)

I repeat:  be careful what you wish for! It may seem like a good strategy now, but a year down the line it may seem like horror and devastation. The last Civil War which began in 1642 lasted nine years, bringing about destruction across the country, and it was not until 1688 when William of Orange arrived on these shores that something like normal life was restored. This could never happen again, you are thinking? Sorry, wrong. Actually, the whole of UK history is peppered with desperate conflicts between one side and another over this or that. Parliament grew directly out of the need to compromise. The need not to be held to ransom by a single unelected monarch's particular opinions, but to consult the whole population from time to time. Talking is not an incompetent substitute for action. Over the centuries we have passed thousands of acts of Parliament which have changed this country out of all recognition, and they all came out of choosing a talking shop instead of a war. They came from the need to substitute the demand for action with conversation. Parliament was, frankly, a talking shop and still is. Those who are easily bored, who think MPs don't do a proper job, might remember this. Talking shops have their advantages. Boredom is an inevitable part of life, but it is not the whole. It is not unbearable, though it may test your resources.

And until something better presents itself, why not get out that list of do-it-yourself jobs you made last winter? There is action, and then there is action! 'Do something', if you must, but do a constructive something for yourself and your world. Until something better happens along.