It’s interesting, if somewhat predictable, what passes muster for making it to the status of a wannabe British political scandal in more normal, less actually scandalous, times. The latest example I know of is the “outrage” at Keir Starmer moving a painting to another room in his house.

Feigned outrage? Very likely, although the modern-day Conservatives do seem in absolute thrall to the subject of the painting in question, Margaret Thatcher. The whole thing kind of feels Britishcore to me, although that may be my bias.

In any case, in the end Starmer seemed to have even felt the need to take the time to explain himself - “I like landscapes”.

Compare that Very British Infraction to, for example, the recent example across the pond where the Republican nominee for the governorship of North Carolina was revealed to have made some rather disturbing comments on a porn chatsite whilst, in public, banging on about “protecting women” in all the usual US culture war ways.