No Overall Control

There are 136 councils in England, Scotland and Wales. If you heed the media it appears the Reform party had a landslide victory on Thursday. I beg to differ.

True, on Wednesday evening Reform did not have a majority on a single council. Also Labour lost control of 36 councils but still have 28. This is the picture following Thursday’s elections in which 58% of the electorate did not cast a vote.

Labour 28 (-36), Lib Dem 15 (+3), Reform 14 (+14), Conservative 8 (-9), Green 5 (+5), NOC 63 (+22).

I declare NOC the winner. NOC stands for No Overall Control, a metaphor for the state of the country and the world. It’s a relief to be distracted by the delights of the Austrian capital. So far it has passed a few tests. From the wheels hitting the runway to sitting in a taxi in less than thirty minutes and a comfortable room (called Comfort Chic) in the Grand Ferdinand on the Ringstrasse with a Nespresso machine, warm outdoor pool on the roof, etc. I like the Freudian couch outside the lift.

London has the North/South Circular; Vienna has the Ringstrasse. The latter, not many people know this, dates back to the reign of Richard I (Lionheart). He was captured on his way back from the rather successful Third Crusade and held at Dürnstein Castle near Vienna. Some of his ransom paid for defensive walls to be built round the city with a broad (500metres) swath of open land around them. By the middle of the 19th century this protective barrier was no longer required. Rich families built palatial houses around the Ring most of which stand today and give the Ringstrasse its distinctive character.

Yesterday was the Turquoise Carpet opening ceremony at the “Eurovision village” outside the Rathaus. Entrants competed with each other for the most outlandish costumes and were interviewed for Austrian TV. There had been an anti-Israel march earlier in the day but the marchers were kept away from the event.