Peter Hill

THE local elections proved one thing: Jeremy Corbyn is not the phenomenon that he and his supporters believe. He is just the head of a relatively small cult composed of ragtag socialist and Marxist agitators, single-issue obsessives, muck stirrers, wishful thinkers and compulsive demonstrators.

Let’s be generous and say they amount to half a million or so. Admittedly they make a lot of noise and fill a lot of space on social media but there are more than 40 million voters in England and Wales. Most wouldn’t dream of going on a protest march. They would never be seen arguing at a political committee meeting and the biggest revolution they are likely to engage in is having rice instead of spuds occasionally.

What Corbyn and his shouty mates can’t grasp is that everyone isn’t like them, thank heavens. The great majority lead quiet, busy lives and give hardly a thought to politics and “issues” unless something impacts on them personally.

But ordinary people living anonymous lives vote from time to time and although Mr Corbyn enjoyed a brief wave of popularity it looks as if the public have worked out that he’s only an empty can of musty old ideas who is living a dream that is not their dream.

Sense is beginning to return to British politics. Now all that’s needed is for the Tories to sort out their squabbles, put together a cogent, credible set of policies and get them across to the voters. Oh and make their minds up about Brexit. Big job. q BUT does anything matter? Or to be more precise, is anything matter? Sir Stephen Hawking has given us his final thought and it’s that the universe is a hologram. I don’t pretend to understand the maths but apparently it means that the cosmos is a two dimensional entity in a three dimensional space.

Yes, I’m none the wiser. But it reminds me of my first tutorial at university when the professor asked us: “Does the universe exist?” We thought he was either eccentric or it was a trick question but now I realise that he was completely serious. And I doubt if anyone really knows the answer. Or ever will. q THE waste of life caused by the NHS failure to call in thousands of women for breast scans has brought to the fore a contradiction that doctors have known for some time but have been reluctant to make a noise about: the test does more harm than good. For every woman saved three suffer unnecessary, excruciating treatment for minor problems that would never have turned into cancer.

That is no help to women, for whom breast cancer is a constant worry. Do they take the test and risk going through hell for nothing, or gamble that it will save them? A similar dilemma faces men with the prostate cancer test, which has resulted in many painful operations and ongoing problems where cancer was not present.

We want to believe that medical science has all the answers but research has still miles to go. This latest scandal has proved something, however: that computers can’t be relied on and traditional back-up of data is vital. q I GOT a strawberry kit for my birthday, a pot, bag of compost and a pack of tiny seeds. Full of rare optimism I planted up and left the pot in a sunny window as instructed. Weeks later a tiny shoot appeared and to encourage it I put it out on the windowsill one fine day. But I had forgotten the handsome jay who visits us. No sooner was my back turned than he swooped down and gobbled up my poor little shoot. Now I will have to put up with the tasteless rubbish from the supermarket. Even in the city we live among nature in all its savagery. q SHOULD pensioners who continue working pay more tax in the form of national insurance? Absolutely not. They have already paid a lifetime’s NI and should not be penalised for getting off their backsides to earn a few pounds. British taxpayers are fleeced year after year.

Tax freedom day is June 23 in the UK. That means you must work six months for the state before starting to earn for yourself. By contrast in the United States tax freedom arrived more than two months earlier on April 19. In Britain the state simply gobbles up our cash. Unlike public companies it does not have to justify expenditure or show value for money. Pay even more? They are havin’ a laugh. q MY son has gone off on a gap year scientific expedition to a remote part of the Philippines. Back home the anxious parents are praying that he will return safe and hopefully weaned off computer games. We have little idea of how he’s doing apart from rare and minimal WhatsApp messages. But as my wife points out, we raise children to be able to fly. No use moaning when they actually spread their wings and break free of the nest. q THE Government threatens to ban even hybrid electric cars by 2040, not a problem for me but is there a plan? In my area there are just a handful of charging points but supposing there will eventually be one outside every building, it won’t solve the problem of battery deterioration. Like mobile phones electric cars lose 40 per cent of their range within five years. A battery breakthrough will have to happen before every other form of propulsion can be outlawed. q I HAVE spent hours glued to the snooker world championships on TV. It’s been fascinating and I marvel at the skills but I wish I had never bought a telly. It eats time, the commodity none of us can afford to waste.