Bring on the bigots

The outcome of next year’s referendum on Scottish independence remains very uncertain, not made any clearer by the plethora of partisan opinion polls from both sides.

Independence would undoubtedly create the opportunity for a radically different future, free from sickening delusions of imperial grandeur, a future with greater ecological, social, and fiscal responsibility than seems otherwise likely if we remain tied to London.

On the other hand, many people in Scotland seem fearful of the unknown, or of the prospect of ending up with a magnified version of the less inspiring aspects of Scottish local authorities. Three hundred years of subjugation have successfully eroded the collective self-confidence. And half of the land remains in the private ownership of fewer than 500 people – most of whom are either Anglo-Scottish aristocracy or foreign investors (ref). Neither group is known for their progressive liberalism.

But nine months is a long time in politics. If, as seems likely, UKIP flourish in the European elections next May, then the prospect of the lovely Nigel Farage joining forces with Cameron, Osborne and Hunt could easily tip the balance for Scotland, as David Gow suggested in the Guardian this week. Even the uncertainties of independence would become attractive in comparison, and Farage might yet go down in history with Mel Gibson as a surreal poster-boy for Scottish independence.

Old age pensioners and other paupers

Charles, Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Cornwall, heir apparent to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms, turned 65 today, making him eligible for a free bus pass and a state pension. Fortunately, for him at least, he probably doesn’t need any further state hand-outs. Between the Royal Tax-Avoidance Team of accountants (ref) and the fact that much of the UK is unaccountably still locked into a ludicrously medieval mindset of feudalism, he can already look forward to a reasonably comfortable old age, courtesy of his loyal serfs and vassals.

Meanwhile, continuing another spectacularly outmoded tradition, the Right Honourable David Cameron, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, stood up on his hind legs this week to address the privileged assembly of lords, ladies and other dignitaries at the gilded tables of the Lord Mayor’s banquet, declaring grandly that the Age of Austerity will continue (ref).

Now, we have to be a little discerning here. After all, this materialist, class-obsessed society of ours could certainly benefit from some evenly distributed austerity. So, if he was flagging up the end of gross corporate profiteering, and tax-avoidance by the very rich, the end of government by a coterie of self-serving elitist idiots, the end of monarchy, then raise your glasses.

On the other hand, he was probably just paving the way for the next election, to show that increasing hardship for the least well-off is all part of his grand plan for the greater good of his chums (sorry – I meant to write for the greater good of society), using this particularly lavish occasion with his usual unerring judgement, to show his understanding of what it’s like with a tightened cummerbund.

To vote or not to vote

Writing at length in the Guardian, motley-coated jester Russell Brand has sparked a timely debate about the purpose of voting in a “mature” democracy such as we are alleged to have here in the UK.

In most societies the universal right to vote has been only achieved after a lengthy struggle, and is not to be discarded lightly. On the other hand, in our consumerist capitalist world, the real power no longer lies with our elected governments – it’s in the sticky hands of the multi-national corporations of food, fuel, weapons, banking, news media, et al, so the concept of meaningful democratic governance is wearing a little thin. On that basis, the relevance of which lickspittle government we vote for is also fading, although probably still better done than not.

What seems increasingly important though is how we respond to the insidious corporate pressures that bombard us on a daily basis to win our hearts, minds, and purses. And every choice we make, whether we reject or accept those pressures, is another form of voting – and one which has the capacity to be infinitely more liberating & affirming than the quinquennial fiasco of parliamentary elections. 

Human Rights & Wrongs

November 12^th is the date of elections to the UN Council on Human Rights. Amongst this year’s candidates are such luminaries of liberty as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and China.

That is the Council set up to replace the previous UN Commission on Human Rights, which had lost credibility by extending membership to countries with poor human rights records, so it will be an interesting election.

To be fair, everybody’s new best friend and trading partner, China, has claimed unremitting efforts for promotion of Human Rights, although judging by their continuing repression of Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, they are being a wee bit selective in just which humans they mean. Their policy in Tibet continues to be particularly vicious, and this is an auspicious time to sign (and circulate) a petition to add to the pressure for them to back off. 

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