Excellent German word, schadenfreude – taking pleasure in the misfortune of others. I experienced it when Emirates airlines flew a fan, who had never seen Arsenal play, first-class from Kenya.
Club legend Gilberto Silva met him at the airport and he had an excellent seat at the ground.
Then, magnificently, he watched Arsenal get beat 3-0 by Brighton.
Shouldn’t laugh but, depending when you’re reading this, my beloved Leeds Utd are about to be/have been relegated, so I’m taking any sort of joy where I can.
Anyways. Schadenfreude. Lot of it going around Labour currently – mostly non-football-related – as the Tories continue to implode.
For a long time, Labour’s strategy has been to sit back and watch it happen. I’m not a fan of this but it is increasingly hard to argue with.
After 13 years in power, with a high turnover of ministers, PMs and backbenchers, we are through the bottom of the barrel and out the other side.
We have a Home Secretary dangerously out of her depth spouting increasingly right-wing stuff in a desperate bid to make the party palatable to someone – but I’m not entirely sure who. The same character wants to train more Brits to pick fruit. I ask you. Then there’s a Chancellor unbothered about a recession. Fair enough macro-economically but wait until interest rates fly up and mortgage payments do the same.
On top of it all, there’s an ex-PM embroiled in another Partygate scandal who has fired his Government lawyers and gone with another firm – that we’re still having to pay for. His cheerleaders still insist the whole thing is a massive conspiracy. Really, it’s not. No one is out to get him. He’s already been got. This is just due process.
It gets uglier and uglier. Tory infighting is always vicious but this stuff has a really horrible edge to it and they’re willing to use anything and anyone to get their point over.
The coming days will be increasingly fraught and terrible.
This week is recess, which ordinarily brings a bit of relief.
Instead, lots of Tory MPs back in their constituencies will be told by locals how terrible everything is. They will bring that poison back to Parliament, further fuelling the fires. One US pollster, Frank Luntz, said: “I’m very fearful that you are one election away from blowing up a thousand years of goodness, decency and greatness.”
And he stressed it is “thanks to social media, thanks to this ugliness, more than on the right than on the left”, adding: “And I’m on the right, I think, but they’ve left me.”
In 2024 we may see the Tory party disintegrate, a Labour government and Leeds back in the Premier League. Vorfreude, as they say in Germany: “Awaiting pleasure is itself pleasure.”
