Would you like to be shot with a red gun or blue gun, sir? That is the limit of the choice being offered the UK electorate as New Labour announces it will keep the Coalition public spending plans and the Coalition benefit cuts. Given it will also throw away £100 billion on Trident, and New Labour initiated the rampant privatisation of the Health Service, PFI, Tuition Fees etc., my point could not have been more eloquently proven that the UK electorate is no longer offered any meaningful choice by the neo-con parties.
It also of course demolishes completely the Gordon Brown argument that Scots need to stay in the Union to put New Labour in to power. Who carries out Tory policies is not the question; and why a nation should surrender its freedom just to make sure Ed Balls has a ministerial car and salary while he implements Tory policies, is not a question which to me has an obvious answer.
The only meaningful political choice any part of the UK population will have in the foreseeable future is the Scottish Independence Referendum. If Scots do not take their chance, all they have ahead is economic decline and the collapse of public services. The choice could not be more stark.
Mary, surely it is a him and not her consistent with your recent declaration that you were about to start calling him The Old Cock. He responded that he strongly objected to the “Old’ bit, the rest was fine. I laughed that time too because of his witty ability to rise above (excuse the pun — definitely not intended). I’m sure i don’t need to justify my sense of humour to you. A good laugh is a good laugh.
As for ‘your supporter’, the Ali G, though i dare say not fractionally as funny, left a note in defence and ‘support’ of you. If you don’t want supporters, reject it and tell him, not me. I also wouldn’t want lead bricks to ‘support’ me.
Turning to ” If you think I am going to comment on the content of another’s post you are wrong “, in the next breath you ask me “Did you ever comment on some of the inappropriate unpleasantness that I have been subjected to…”. As a matter of fact, I did. Was it wrong (by your code) that i did? So now will you tell me that didn’t you, in your research, find it odd that the rather benign and witty response was deleted, that my request to Jon that the original offensive remark be removed was deleted, but Guano’s unprovoked ‘hairy baboon/red bottom’ remark is mysteriously still standing? I still wonder if it is an oversight on the moderator’s behalf. To know better what’s right or wrong here i am very curious indeed.
Further, very recently, you even commented on non-posts by ‘trolls’ as regards Craig’s health. Now that is what i call stirring things up. Surely some consistency of observation is required.
“Surely some consistency of observation is required.” May i add that it would contribute to the health of this blog.
Guano asks,
Guano, since you’re the one who posted this out of the clear blue sky:
I’d be careful about using the word “childish”.
—————
And Mary says, in relation to Iain Banks:
Fred
9 Jun, 2013 – 12:08 pm
“Earlier in the thread I asked what was the root cause of the problems in Palestine. No one has answered.”
You seem to be the expert on everything Fred so you tell us what the root cause of problems in Palestine are then some posters might reply to agree or disagree with you.
But then a Troll is a Troll.
“Anyway. I wonder how Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain and even the French feel about their hunky dory union now.”
Grateful I would think.
They would have been in one hell of a mess without the bailouts.
And labelling anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with the prevailing orthodoxy here a “troll” is downright silly, IMO.
Personally, I have no interest in simply reading a bunch of people who all agree with one another.
I mentioned earlier that nationalism and unionism pull in different directions. More importantly it’s necessary to understand the dynamics involved.
You begin with a coalescence of tribes becoming nations. They don’t all become nations, but the more successful do. As they grow more powerful they form alliances and/or conquer other territories. Others in niche positions form mercantile city states and so on.
That’s in the beginning. We’re now at the end of that process. In that sense today’s nationalism is a sign of the lessening of power of these old unions. It’s a sign of their breaking apart.
In this way it’s possible to suggest that Scottish independence is much more a product of a decline in the power of more unitary models, than it is of desire itself.
“But then a Troll is a Troll.”
If you really want to descend to name calling I would be happy to oblige.
Do you?
Fred on how the PIGS are feeling about the EU given their current financial state:
“Grateful I would think
They would have been in one hell of a mess without the bailouts.”
They wouldn’t have needed any bailouts had they their own currencies.
“It’s just a shame that RBS decided to acquire ABN or we wouldn’t be suffering nearly so much.
I wonder who put them up to that.”
Great point. I was also impressed by your declaration that you don’t care for Nationalism in any form wherever it is. I have to say that my observation is that you have argued your corner very succinctly.
@ Herbie :
re. 19h48 – it is indeed incorrect. I asked him to back up his claim that undermining Guano was my “mission in life”.
re. “Well. I’d go somewhere where there’s an upwave towards civilization, an emergent civilization if you like.”
Yes, but where, specifically? Names of countries, please. You can’t emigrate to an ideal…
“I mentioned earlier that nationalism and unionism pull in different directions. More importantly it’s necessary to understand the dynamics involved.”
Well yes, evolution and devolution are opposites.
“They wouldn’t have needed any bailouts had they their own currencies.”
Do you have any evidence to back that statement?
This threads bullshit counter has long ceased to function, due to the huge influx of absolute bollocks. This blog is now the extension of the occupied territories, with the usual suspects entitlement to this blog.
============
Has the Guardian done a Julian Assange on this poor guy too? Will he end up as a rapist, pickpocket, flasher, and shoplifter, running for his life and taking up residence in the next room to Julian in the embassy?
The narrative already is taking shape about his “suffering” that is yet to come.
Obviously this chap is an al kaidy sympathising “Muslim Scum” (BTW no one should jump into conclusions about the fires in the Islamic boarding school , says the man on the telly). Who is also a spy and a criminal, and he picks his nose, and never washes his hands after he has been to toilet.
Reiterating his mendacity to our “values” and “freedoms”, and “way of life”, on goes his rants!
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance
Poor bastard I have utmost respect form him, and wish him good luck.
Well, I am certainly one of those ‘consistently fatigued’ by the incessant need for conflict, harping on dangling modifiers and carping about real or imagined slights. If I am an outlier on this I can go fuck myself.
“And labelling anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with the prevailing orthodoxy here a “troll” is downright silly, IMO.”
Even imbecilic, IMO.
Kindly stop this nonsense DS. And since when did you start representing ‘some posters’. Would you like to declare their names?
Manning and Ellsberg move over….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance
Habby wants to know where to escape as the empire collapses:
“Yes, but where, specifically? Names of countries, please. You can’t emigrate to an ideal…”
Civilization isn’t an ideal. It’s simply a property of human organization which emerges when certain criteria are met.
But anyway. Find your own emergent civilization!
Think of how the West emerged from tribal barbarianism after the fall of the western Roman empire, cutely cocooned by that nice Eastern empire whilst we grew.
Look for something like that.
errata:
(I hate to do this, but the link is not working as well)
“… have utmost respect for him, and wish him good luck”
fires in the Islamic boarding school
When I suggested that had they their own currencies, the PIGS wouldn’t have needed bailouts, Fred asks:
“Do you have any evidence to back that statement?”
Isn’t it a logical rather than an evidentiary matter?
re. this business about the bailouts agreed for certain EU member states and Herbie’s comment that these countries wouldn’t have needed bailouts if they had had their own currencies :
well, two comments here :
1/. perhaps not, but you know that experience shows that devaluations (I assume this is what you were hinting)may – if at all – work in the purely short term and are no substitute for improving competitiveness through structural reform, improved governance and more realistic economic expectations, etc. The Greek experience between the end of the 1970s and Greece’s adoption of the euro are a case in point;
2/. one must avoid giving the impression that the PIGS were dragged kicking and screaming into the euro by the evil strong currency countries. On the contrary, there were doubts in the minds of the latter as to the advisability of including some of them in the so-called ‘first wave’ and there were even stronger doubts about Greece joining sunsequently. The fact is that these countries were mustard keen to join even though the necessary economic convergence existed only on paper but not in fact; for them it was a matter of national pride and the wish to be considered as ‘first division’ countries.
“Isn’t it a logical rather than an evidentiary matter?”
No.
Dreoilin
I really agree with your comments about Iain Banks. This whole metaphor of ‘battling’ a disease, be it cancer or something else, can be so unhelpful. As you say, if the patient succumbs, does that mean they weren’t fighting hard enough? As to your second point, I agree as well. To migraine and arthritis one can add depression, which I have some (deeply unpleasant ) experience of. Discussing it with people who have experienced it is enormously therapeutic. The ‘stiff upper lip’ routine is rubbish.
Edward Snowden
Much braver than any of the so-called “heroes” who went on a killing spree in Iraq or Afghanistan. But who will say “thank you for your service” to him? I wonder was he inspired by Bradley Manning.
Herbie, why don’t you address your posts directly to the fellow commenter. Are you playing to the gallery or something?
” I wonder was he inspired by Bradley Manning.” He seems pretty well-informed of his personal risks. I certainly hope this is the crack in the structure which emboldens more people of conscience. Thank god, there are some.
KingofWelshNoir
Dreoilin
Agreed.
Another simple point is, the moment you are ‘battling’ something — which is a cliche –another conflict is born in the mind. Which, makes things worse, holistically speaking; and then who is doing the battling? and who is being battled? Surely a cancer or whatever ailment is me. Not something outside of me, even if it came through a virus or something. Point is one, and others around one, needs to respond, not react — such response entailing the intelligence of nature and love.
Thanks, KoWN. I’m sorry to hear you have had experience of depression. I spent four years wading through it in the late 80s, and I agree with you – discussing it with people who have experienced it is enormously helpful. I was hospitalised, and I have said to many people since then that I found the other patients far more helpful/sympathetic/understanding than the staff.
I see I wrote, “If the cancer goes into recession” – I meant remission. 🙂
“and then who is doing the battling? and who is being battled? Surely a cancer or whatever ailment is me.”
Agreed, Villager. And battling with oneself is not the answer.
“I certainly hope this is the crack in the structure which emboldens more people of conscience. Thank god, there are some.”
Yes, Ben, it’s wonderfully hopeful. I do feel sorry for him, though. The arms of the USA admin are very long.