The hopelessness of New Labour as a vehicle of change is underlined by their fixation with “judge-led” inquiries into anything that crops up. Remember the Hutton whitewash? Will a senior judge really recommend the fundamental reform of casino banking in the City of London and the careers of the banking squillionaires he undoubtedly knows so well at his club, lodge and golf course?
Which of these best describes most senior judges?
a) A fearless crusader for truth and social justice with unimpeachable morals and the intellectual stringency of a great philosopher
or
b) A very well paid establishment figure with an authoritarian streak who got his position from Jack Straw or his predecessors by very carefully in his career never stepping out of line with the very powerful.
Frankly, it makes no difference at all whether politicians or judges conduct the inquiry into banking practices. It’ll be the same old whitewash. Andrew Tyrie MP happens to be one of the very few decent people in parliament. But if he does chair the inquiry as Cameron proposes, be sure the forces of control will rapidly close over his head.
I didn’t bother to watch the Bob Diamond select committee appearance yesterday. In fact, I have come to terms with the (to me) shocking fact that I now believe our political system to be so corrupt that our horribly and increasingly unequal society will eventually, and rightly, be changed by extra-parliamentary means. Probably not in my lifetime, but one day. I never imagined I would end up believing that.
The political blogosphere will buzz today with parliamentary debate on the banks. It seems obvious to me that parliament is not going to do anything against the financial services paymasters of the politicians.
Parliament is irrelevant.
re M6 brouhaha, my bet is that some scallywag was having a quiet fag despite the “No smoking” signs on the bus. Either some ash started smouldering and he tried to pour water over it, or he tried to pour himself a cup of tea from a flask.
Result: “liquids” being poured into a “bag” producing “fumes” and the whole world goes ape-shit.
Craig
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The powers that be don’t have any options left on the table!!!, if the truth comes out the world economic system will go under (it will sooner or later anyway). What they are now doing is playing for time, and hoping for a miracle.
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“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men,
they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it.”
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Frederic Bastiat, The Law 1850
Speaking for myself, I might prefer a judge-led enquiry with lay assessors from erudite members of the public like Craig Murray 🙂
“I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.”
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Isaac Newton 1642-1727
And I’m sorry to raise this: a bit OT, although it’s all of a piece with what’s happening to our country: they are going to open the Shard this evening with much pomp and noise; lasers, fireworks and everything.
And … “the London Philharmonic Orchestra will play Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.”
That is just taking the piss. That displays the crass, tasteless, selfish, greedy, fuck-you!, spit in your face, mentality that is the 0.1%. It is gorging yourself with luxury, raising two fingers on both hands, farting explosively, grinning like a gargoyle with your distended belly exposed over your striped trousers and shouting “Up yours!!” I hope anyone with any sense of humanity that attends this grotesque ceremony (if there are any) will be plagued by shame.
With respect, I see it somewhat differently. Let’s not waste our energy in “fighting”. Rather, let’s continue to expose the corruption, as this will help recruit more people to the alternatives. And simultaneously, let’s develop and improve the alternatives, to make them more visible and attractive.
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Consider the Linux vs. corporate software battle. The Free(dom) Software activists don’t fight the proprietary software vendors. They just develop superior software, and point out what’s bad about proprietary software. Conversely, the proprietary software industry does fight the Free Software movement, constantly using lobbying, customer lock-in, anti-ethical legal mechanisms (“software patents”) and their financial clout to wage an unequal battle. But Free Software increasingly gains market share from the corporate-politico hegemony.
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A similar thing is happening in the sphere of news media, as we can see from the collapse of the income of newspapers (hence the sudden, rather desperate appearance of “paywalls”) and the increasing visitor numbers within the Blogsphere.
Being a pacifist, I should be happy that our armed forces are shrinking and the British war machine cut back, but it’s all a sham.
Wars are being fought on behalf of corporate greed and the outsourcing of combat to mercenaries has many advantages.War crimes can be planned by our Govt. but carried out by the unaccountable contractors.The invalidity caused by modern warfare then doesn’t cost the Govt. a penny. It’s so bronze age !No doubt they’ll start corporate sponsorship and advertising on our ships,planes and tanks bringing the cost of war even further down. Meanwhile we have our 7 day a week football and F1 on a Sunday with Eastenders showing us what real life is all about.
http://www.waronwant.org/news/press-releases/17544-hammond-raises-fears-over-privatisation-of-war
Kingfelix:
Please don’t call them “masters of the universe”; they are masters of the status quo, nothing more, and they are welcome to their delusions. Yes, they still need the workforce and the “consumers”, or at least, the acquiescence of the majority. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t put so much effort into propaganda. They wouldn’t need to demonise people like Julian Assange, nor exclude alternative viewpoints when they frame the “mainstream” debate.
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But yes, I can see the attraction of getting out.
If you close your eyes when viewing the ‘debate’ on an enquiry into the Barclays corruption, you would think you were hearing a shed load of sheep bleating. For the past two hours, it’s mainly been a trading of insults between Ed Balls and Osborne and their followers baying from the back benches. As Craig says, Parliament is irrelevant.
It was noticeable how lightweigt and ‘naked’ Osborne, Alexander, Grieve et al looked on the front bench this afternoon. Not manly men. Pipsqueaks. Especially so Osborne and Grieve whose voices squeak when they are a little roused.
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Smoothface Cameron did not put an appearance. Perhaps he was too busy hyping up the £13bn boon from the Olympics. As if. Not forgetting that piece on the tax evasion by the multi-national sponsors of the Olympics referred to here.
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/city-news/olympic-corporate-partners-can-avoid-943011
Rob,
You have the third eye, and indeed are proved right.
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Some guy and his electronic fag, has meant the fiasco unfolding on the motorway. How much this crap cost the tax payer today? Further, on a day off, everyone of the hard pressed rich complains about the economic loss to the country, it appears when the motorway is closed and whole bunch of workers stopped from working evidently is of no economic cost.
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Well that will teach the bastards taking a coach trip!
A national strike is about the only thing that will make this government sit up and take notice, and there is no chance of that any time soon. Cameron, Clegg and Co are obviously pursuing a scorched earth policy and it is clear that Labour will do nothing to reverse the situation, even if people are misguided enough or desperate enough to re-elect them. It is probably all of little consequence now anyway, the uber-capitalists seem desperate to force a showdown with the Russians and the Chinese before the corrupt banking system finally collapses. If we do not have a thermonuclear war sometime in the next couple of years I will consider it extremely fortunate.
And here’s why the diamond conversation was so pitiful?
how much of this stuff need to go on
http://www.ianfraser.org/move-on-you-crazy-diamond/
Guess the cesspit press are all oput to lunch on this one.
http://www.ianfraser.org/rbs-accused-of-systemic-institutionalised-fraud-but-the-media-turns-away/
The M6 toll was just such an obvious exercise, who do they think they’re fooling ! At least in the planning it was only the Toll road that was closed ( not used much by all accounts due to the high charge) and the old M6 was still usable. But to have every tom dick and harry and uncle ton cobberley and all attending in force for something that could have been clarified by the driver in five minutes just beggars belief. I dare say if there is a major disruption to the olympics it will be due to public transport overload and the good old British weather which is doing some funny things right now.
“Those who make peaceful change impossible, will make violent change inevitable”
Fraud is a lot easier to prosecute in Scotland, and the dogs are sniffing the RBS bottom….
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http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-18693984
A skit on the Barclays egg timer ad.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FK47iLdPm64
A clearheaded explanation of how the fixing of Libor will cause immense hardship over the next few decades — if indeed the current economic system can last that long. Four different links within here
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http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1341570850.html
Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron’s Ken Lay — they were mere amateurs in financial crime. The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play. And these guys will most likely not do the time because their kind rewrites the law before committing the crime.
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http://www.thenation.com/article/168751/libor-crime-century#
Robert Scheer July 6, 2012
Parliament is indeed irrelevant. but don’t bother thinking that change by “by extra-parliamentary means” will be one that benefits the people. Just like the Zionist fomented French and Russian revolutions and the other wars they fomented, the only people that have the clout and wealth to organise and effective revolution are those that are already in power.
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We’re fucked. Read the protocols and you’ll see it’s already happened. They already run the show. Out of hundreds of countries in the world only a handful now haven’t succumbed to the Usurers. The next steps are merely them reorganising themselves into a more overt enslavement power
It’s good news that the Serious Fraud Office has opened a formal criminal investigation into the Libor market manipulation (Guardian online today). However, no matter how well the investigation goes, there will be obstacles put in place to ensure it leads nowhere.
The head of the SFO, David Green QC, is accountable to the attorney general who is; Dominic Grieve Conservative MP who was appointed by David Cameron (that lover of bankers and the City). A parliamentary inquiry could seriously hinder the fraud office; which may be why a majority of MPs voted for it. If the criminal investigation does get completed unhindered the evidence has to be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision on whether to prosecute. The head of the CPS, Keir Starmer QC, who would make the decision in such a serious case as this, is accountable to (guess) Dominic Grieve MP appointed by…
I agree, Doug. if one looks at what happened when some genuine professionals at the SFO tried to pursue the investigation into Al Yamanah (BAE and Saudi Arabia massive arms deal), well, we can see that if anyone there thinks they’ll be allowed to cause systemic upset, like Craig they’ll soon find themselves out on the street (as it were) and replaced by ‘place(wo)men’.
John Goss, Barbara Richards, I suspect the powers that be are indeed playing around strategically with social media networks, e-mail and so on. Of course they are. I know this for certain. They are almost certainly watching this very blog., right now. This all suggests you both are doing soemthing worthwhile. Keep on!