Back to basics

25 runs in 25 days as an antidote to the annual consumption-fest and as a sanity protection in these challenging political times. Bring it on !

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We may have lost in Afghanistan but.....

State of the nation

The British political system is broken. Stable democracy has evolved into empty posturing, as the 3 major parties seek to hold off the far right and to slow down their own relentless decay with the sticking plasters of sound bites and special offers. Whether the system can be patched up & kept going, like a clapped out motor car, or whether it needs to be replaced, will probably become obvious over the next year or two.

For clues, we should pay more attention to what is happening elsewhere in Europe, and to remember that the so-called United Kingdom is not so very different.

Replacement could bring a much needed opportunity for a system which is fair and representative, no longer playing the submissive bitch[1] to free market capitalism, looking with humility to the future rather than with arrogance to the past. Or it could create a vacuum to be filled with chaos and the diseased politics of the far right.

Interesting times. No doubt bringing some entertainment to those wearied by Britain's pantomime stomping about on the world stage, but a source of real anxiety to anyone who cares about its political future.

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[1] That is a canine analogy, not a term of disrespect to half the world's human population, just to be clear

Posturing & smokescreens

Cameron's legacy

Many European countries are experiencing a political shift towards the right wing. Perhaps the most visible sign has been the resurgence of nationalism, and hostility towards rebels, immigrants, and foreign cultures.

Less visible, but no less harmful, has been the steady move towards free market politics, driving a wedge between rich & poor, those who can afford essential services and those who cannot. More and more of the real power is being placed in the hands of corporate businesses. Food, water, health care, armaments, transport industries, all motivated by profit above all other considerations, with less and less accountability to the people on the ground.

The British government seems to be determined to become a world leader in this pimp-fest, using the recent financial crisis as a smokescreen behind which to dismantle much of the social progress of the last 70 years, selling its body parts to the highest bidders. Rule Britannia.

Free press ?

The so-called free press of the West is steadily evolving into the free-market press, in which profit from advertising drives editorial policy towards populist click-bait headlines, even with the allegedly more serious news media. Of course there are still individual journalists with integrity and clear perception, but their work is too often lost amidst a heap of space-filling junk which seems to respond more to the interest of the corporate sponsors than it does to the readership.

During the recent referendum in Scotland only 1 newspaper out of the 34 available in Scotland represented the views of the 45% of the population who voted for independence. Some freedom.

The fact of 34 different newspapers being available also reflects the absurd levels of consumer choice presented as freedom rather than more accurately as the channel through which parasitic multi-national corporations invade our lives and our societies.

Modern myths #1

Letter to the Chancellor

Letter to the PM

Note to Cameron & Obama

.... and sending in warplanes as a cynical way of looking tough in the run-up to an election, and to justify the obscene amount of money spent on armaments, is also an atrocity by the way.

Better together ?

The main problem is not England, it's Westminster....

Canine psychology

Bowie slams Yes campaign. SNP reels.

In a strongly worded statement delivered by a fashion model at an award ceremony for popular musicians, a wealthy tax exile said, from New York,  “Scotland, stay with us ”.

The “us” referred to is believed to be the diaspora of wealthy tax exiled UK patriots, who seem to be collectively inviting Scotland to come & stay in the event of a No vote.

For further coverage of this sensational story see The Guardian, "Independent", BBC News, and pretty much the whole of the London-based media.