
british politics chaosoblivious energyjd vance adjacentmain character confusion
Man agrees to speak panel about loving England, knows nobody, asks no questions
A written excerpt from what appears to be a British political article or memoir describing an encounter with a person in a bulky suit with an exaggerated tan, discussing his unknowing participation in a panel with controversial right-wing figures. The passage reveals he accepted an invitation without knowing the other panellists or organizer, simply to speak about loving England.
Extracted text:
He was grinning at me in his bulky suit, his face ablaze with a suntan like a bank holiday weekend. I asked him what he knew about his co-panellists, the High Tory MP Danny Kruger, the Brexiteer historian Robert Tombs and the ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe, latterly famous for calling for mass deportations. Skinner said he didn't know much about them. I asked him who had invited him to speak. "James," he replied, meaning James Orr, the Cambridge theology professor and close friend of JD Vance. But he said that he didn't really know James either. He'd simply accepted an invitation to talk about "how much I love England".