Labouring to get to the concert

Some young people in a small country town heard of a concert in the rather bigger town next door. They decided to go on the following Friday and borrowed a camper for the purpose.

One of them announced that he would drive. Several were a bit concerned: he was a bit of a know-it-all and his ideas weren’t always good. In particular, he was known to get lost and they were afraid he might not get them there in time.

However, most of them felt he’d be fine and it was agreed he’d drive.

As they set out, he announced that he wasn’t going to take the usual main roads to get to the next town.

“There’s a small road after the next village not many people know about and it’ll take ten minutes off the trip.”

One of the people who’d been concerned about him driving was unenthusiastic about the suggestion.

“I know that road,” he said, “and it’s only made up for the first mile or so. After that it’s a mess, with huge potholes and mud everywhere.”

Several others shared his concerns, but most of them agreed with the driver and so they took the minor road.

As they’d been warned, the tarmac ran out after a few minutes and they were forced to drive round huge potholes and avoid patches of mud and loose gravel. Eventually, the inevitable happened and they ended up in a colossal hole, and there was an ominous cracking sound as the front of the camper went in. And there was no way of getting back out.

They had to wait several hours for a tow truck to arrive and get them to a garage. They missed the concert and also had to fork out for the significant cost not only of the tow but of the extensive repairs the camper needed.

The aftermath of a shortcut that went wrong

A few weeks later, another concert was announced, and the group decided to try again. This time, the previous driver agreed to let someone else drive. In fact, he even chose someone, a young girl, to take over the steering wheel from him.

Some of the others were sceptical.

“You won’t go down that minor road again, will you?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, smiling brightly, “it’s much the best way to go.”

“But look what happened last time!”

“That wasn’t because of the road we chose. It was because you guys dug an especially big pothole in the way. And because you wouldn’t give your full support to the route we’d suggested. But I know how to avoid the potholes, because I’m particularly gifted that way. And if you get behind me instead of trying to sabotaging me like you did the last driver, we’ll be fine.”

So what would they do?

Were they dumb enough to try again what had failed the last time?

Or would they learn from experience and demand that the driver chosen should be someone who could be trusted to take the main road?

After all, as one of them pointed out, it was better to take longer driving there but actually get to concert, than to take a shortcut and not get there at all.

Well, the camper, as you’ve guessed, is the Labour Party.

The first driver, with the shortcut, is Brother Jeremy. And his chosen successor is Rebecca Long-Bailey, who wants to have another go at doing just what he did last time. Which ended up in the pothole of the 12 December election, for which her supporters advance any excuse to avoid blaming the man at the wheel.

The sensible one suggesting that the longer but safer route is Keir Starmer.

So the question for us is the same as for the young people.

Are we dumb enough to learn nothing from experience and try again, with exactly the same attitudes that worked so badly last time?

We’ll find out on 4 April whether we’re that dumb or not.