Blain’s Morning Porridge May 14th, 2026 – Don’t Blame Starmer, Britain was Broken years ago... “And was Jerusalem builded here, among these dark satanic mills…”The imminent departure of Sir Keir Starmer (it is a matter of when, not if) is bread and circuses. His defenestration will distract and amuse the chattering political classes and infuriate voters as yet more evidence of Broken Britain. But we need to be honest – it's not any single “leader’s” fault. 60 years of bad decisions piled on poor policies have landed the UK in the mire of the present. It can be fixed – but it will need a reset.Yesterday was a tough day – a classic Broken Britain Odessey…My early train up to London was only 20 mins late, but then the underground was a mare. Because the tubes were dicey, I tried to grab a bus to the next meeting, but the driver opened the door to tell me the Bus Stop was non-operational therefore he could not let me on (!!) I walked in the hail and rain to the next bus-stop, overtaking the same bus – smiling my most sarcastic grin at the same driver as I got on.Lunch with clients to discuss a rather excellent gold deal (give me a shout if interested) gave us a superb view of the Household Cavalry returning to Barracks after the State Opening of Parliament. Magnificent, and it well impressed our potential investors. But after an excellent feast, the tube was broken (again), necessitating a taxi to Waterloo in grid-locked traffic, missing 2 trains to catch a later one that was stopped dead in Basingrad because of something broken somewhere South. Fortunately, She-Who-is-Mrs-Blain (who was in Winchester) was able to pick me up, so we could crawl through the botched rebuild of a roundabout on the M3 together. And then it was the broken sewers on the lane back to the village, meaning I was hours later than I expected.Pretty much a normal day in Broken Britain.Yesterday was a day of high political drama in the UK. Politicians scoring points off each other – but otherwise doing FA. The electorate bored and frustrated by it all – hating any and all government because it doesn’t seem to be delivering anything. Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are seen as weak ditherers. Kemi Badenough, leader of the notional opposition, wielded the classic: “in office, but not in power” comment well – but would she be any better than Starmer? It seems inevitable he will be packing his tea-chests and exiting Downing Street before too long… another disappointing prime minister in a succession of disappointing prime ministers.The question, however, we should be asking is not why is Starmer so bad, but why is Britain so Broken? Our politics have become a reflection of bust – offering nothing to raise us higher.You can read the Morning Porridge by subscribing on ⁠www.morningporridge.com⁠, and have it delivered fresh to your inbox every morning!

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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