England's Dreaming

In automotive terms, a variant is a station wagon derived from a sedan design - like a sedan, only larger and a bigger deal.  In medical terms, a variant of a virus is like the original virus . . . only larger and a bigger deal. 

That's what the United Kingdom is dealing with now - a variant strain of COVID that is no more deadly than the original virus but spreads faster and is easier to catch.  It's shown up in southeastern England - including London - and may have already shown up elsewhere on the planet.  Most countries are barring travel from the U.K. for at least two days.

This is happening as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to finalize Britain's withdrawal from the European Union even as he tries to quell a COVID outbreak he originally downplayed before he caught the COVID bug himself.  Oh yeah, and he's had to ban public Christmas celebrations. 

The irony in all this is the Britain, which once ruled an empire with colonies, territories, dominions and dependencies in every time zone on earth and always took pride in being an island separate from the rest of Europe, is no isolated and separated from the rest of the world.  Which means that the British people are pretty much . . . stranded on their island.

And Gilligan is in charge.

Trump was the first nationalist-populist leader to go down.  If there is a God up in heaven  - or at least a mechanism available to get a no-confidence vote in Parliament - Johnson will be the second.