Ireland will not escape lightly if Johnson comes to power

A CHILL wind is blowing across British politics, leaving in its wake a sense of oppressive foreboding and despair, fuelled by the death of truth and integrity and the ruthless exploitation of a half-baked populism.

In a few days, the British will wake up to the realisation Boris Johnson’s dream is destined to steadily become their nightmare.

While Mr Johnson basks in the glory of his new-found bogus commitment to the health service and the good of all, UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn seems to be trapped in an outdated version of socialism that does not ring many bells in the world of markets and money.

It looks as if the UK is about to be saddled with the most unpopular prime minister on record.

Boris, the clown prince of darkness, seems to have drained away the distinction between truth and falsity.

He is a master of the craft of persuading, driven by an intense sense of entitlement. His party has left no stone unturned in concealing his many debilitating faults.

Ireland can so easily drift into the madness that is Brexit.

We will soon realise we are directly and indirectly caught up in a mish-mash of long-drawn-out trade agreements.

We will be left adrift by Boris and Donald Trump, both of whom suffer from terminal mendacity.

Once politicians cease to be believed, their capacity to serve their country withers. Politics tends to harbour the seductive belief that good ends can only be brought about by resorting to dubious means; the end is assumed to justify the means.

Sadly, the problem here is that the politician is corrupted by the dubious means and not healed again by the achievement of the good end desired. Philip O’Neill

Oxford, UK