We are experiencing a high volume of other stuff to do

Whilst the NSA, GCHQ, and quite possibly the BND in Germany, probably know this already, I have to apologise to everyone else for another break in transmission whilst my editorial staff are otherwise engaged with installing a heating system in our secret bunker somewhere in the Highlands.

We know you are waiting, and your visit to this blog is important to us. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Defensible defence

The SNP have indicated that, post-independence, the Scottish government would spend £2.5bn annually on defence. The UK government are, predictably, deriding that figure as amateurish and incompetent (ref), and as an indicator of how unsuited Scotland is to full independence. 

In global terms, £2.5bn would place Scotland at No 51 in the military spending table of 154 countries (ref), which seems quite adequate (and rather higher than the similarly sized Ireland & New Zealand), but maybe the UK government knows better. After all, they do maintain  4^th place in the same table. 

Admittedly that level of spending is a hangover from the days when there was an empire to defend, which covered 25% of the planet and 20% of its population (ref). Now that empire is reduced to a few remote outposts, with a total estimated population of around 2 million people and some penguins, but the government apparently still have to appease the captains and shareholders of a highly profitable armaments industry, and some bellicose reactionaries in denial about the world having moved on in the last 100 years. In so doing the UK certainly buys a lot of guns and warplanes, so they should know how much money it takes. Or they would do, were it not for the recent levels of spending excess & waste greater than the entire annual defence budgets of Finland or Austria (ref) (ref) (ref).

However if we assume, just for the sake of argument, that defence spending is simply and accurately aimed at defending a country from invasion, terrorism, and insurrection, then just maybe a peaceful foreign policy and a fair internal distribution of wealth would be a better way of protecting that country than buying loads of weapons. In that case, the modest military ambitions outlined by Alex Salmond would be more of a cause for hope than for concern. 

More reasons for Scottish independence

Back in Scotland, the SNP conference has just finished, with a buoyant Alex Salmond further unveiling the details of his vision for independence in the run-up to next September’s referendum (ref).

Simultaneously, Tory leaders-in-waiting George Osborne & Boris Johnson have been pontificating in their inimitable, London-centric, reactionary and socially divisive way, as they return from their fishing trip to China, seemingly intoxicated by what they’d been shown, though possibly both a little confused between cause & effect.

Speaking from the airport, Osborne was grandly pressing "second-rate Britain" to emulate China and return to the glory-days of the Victorian era (ref) despite the lack of an empire to exploit, whilst cuddly jackal Johnson seemingly still hopes to plough eye-watering amounts of the money we don't have into more mega airports for London (ref), perhaps to make it easier for wealthy Chinese investors to come and admire the Queen and the dodgy business practices of her heir (ref).  Who needs friends when the SNP have opponents such as these ?

Rutting and pimping

At this time of the year in the Highlands, adult male deer are engaged in their annual ritual of roaring at each other as loudly and deeply as possible in order to demonstrate their worthiness to lead the electorate of hinds and younger stags. Sometimes the ritual involves an antler to antler fight, but more often they simply roar in the hope that the opposition will back down and allow the federal debt limit to be raised. No, sorry, that should read - allow the stag to stay in charge of his herd.

Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in a rather more sleazy mating ritual, UK Pimp-in-Chief George Osborne has concluded a deal to keep his London banker pals happy by offering London as the patsy for Chinese off-shore financial business, in exchange for a controlling interest in the future of the UK nuclear energy industry (ref).

Whatever one thinks of nuclear power generation, giving away control of such a sensitive and potentially catastrophic process to a secretive and alien super-power 22 times larger than the UK, on the other side of the planet, shows a short-sighted and reckless arrogance more consistent with personality disorder than with democratic governance. Given the track record of Cameron's government we shouldn't be surprised, just increasingly angry.

Follow-up links:
http://stophinkley.org
http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/node/hinkley
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/farce-hinckley-nuclear-reactor-haunt-britain

Arctic pirates

It is tempting to ridicule Vladimir Putin as someone constantly seeking to prove his macho credentials, or indeed as just another national leader with a penchant for taking his shirt off, but what is happening, and might happen, to the 28 Greenpeace activists from 19 countries looks like the latest in a lengthy series of viciously repressive moves to quash opposition to an increasingly authoritarian regime, and is far too serious for such flippancy.

The focus of the Greenpeace action, Gazprom, is a massive, state-controlled energy company which is hungry for new oil & gas reserves to exploit (ref). Naturally the oil & gas-dependent Russian authorities are not happy with Greenpeace’s efforts to stop them, but their response begs the question of which group are the pirates.  The peaceful protestors, or the brutal government intent on filling its coffers from beyond its national boundaries and seemingly regardless of the wider environmental impact ?

Of course, Gazprom are simply first in the queue for a piece of the Arctic pie, but Russia appears to regard the Arctic as its own, having planted their national flag under the North Pole. Their stated aims do include protecting the ecosystem whilst they, ahem, develop 8 floating nuclear power stations and extract a large proportion of the estimated 90 billion barrels of oil & 1670 trillion cubic feet of gas north of the Arctic Circle (ref). Given the potential risks to the fragile Arctic ecosystem, and the longer term environmental implications of such short term profiteering, the scepticism of Greenpeace and others doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Meanwhile, for those of us lacking the courage and commitment of those activists, the least we can do is add our voices to the protest against their imprisonment. 

Back again

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

We’ve reached another autumn, bringing its fading light and fading warmth, chilly morning runs, and melancholic musings. 

In the 20 months since my previous post, much water has gone under the bridge, and yet so many things remain unchanged. Will Self recently cited Raoul Vaneigem (ref) writing almost 50 years ago: “The organisation of work and the organisation of leisure are the blades of the castrating shears whose job is to improve the race of fawning dogs.” [1] The continuing truth of that analysis is quickly evidenced by a brief trawl through a list of the most popular television programmes (ref), and a more dispiriting list of infantilising, head-in-the-sand anaesthetic would be hard to imagine, although of course if castration is unavoidable then better with anaesthetic than without.

Meanwhile, the illuminating but complex debate over national security, covert surveillance, and unwarranted erosion of privacy continues (ref), with a particular focus on the US & UK, whose state machineries are maybe not unique in their illegal activities but quite outstanding in their hubris & hypocrisy. 

At the same time, being alert to where the real economic power lies, Cameron & Osborne are also doing their bit to keep the funds coming in for their cronies, by twerking their over-fed arses at Brazil, Russia, India, & especially China (ref).

And they are continuing their enthusiastic privatisation of the state’s assets by flogging off the Royal Mail, to raise more cash for buying some smoke & mirrors in preparation for the next election.

Worryingly, the Queen’s “rainy day fund” is down to the last  million pounds, so presumably in case it rains over the winter, or perhaps in compensation for losing her postal service, she has been awarded a 22% pay-rise (ref). 

As a complete non-sequitur, overall income inequality in the UK is currently higher than at any other time in the last 30 years (ref).

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[1] The Revolution of Everyday Life, 1967