So we are back with a vengeance to notions of the undeserving poor. Electronic cards are to ensure that the poor can only spend their benefits on basic necessities like food and clothing, and not on a lifestyle of alcohol and illegal drugs.
Having lived a rather spectacular life encompassing both ends of the social spectrum, I can state with utter conviction that consumption of illegal pleasure-giving stimulants is far higher among the very wealthy than among the very poor. The notion that only the rich should be allowed to have any enjoyment in life is deeply offensive. It is fine for the Bullingdon Club to get plastered on Krug and cocaine and smash up restaurants. That is all jolly japes and high spirits. For a desperate man to seek solace in four cans of Tennant’s strongest or a bottle of Buckfast is however a dreadful sin and sign of social irresponsibility.
The high streets of our poorest towns are strewn with betting shops, bargain booze outlets, pawnbrokers and payday lenders. For anybody to believe that state compulsion of the patrons is the answer to the problem is the ultimate counsel of despair. Forget giving people a better hope, a greater chance, more socially useful pleasures. Just ban the little solace they have now. We have a government which holds a large section of the population in contempt; which cannot imagine that given a different birth, these people might have been sitting next to them in the Bullingdon Club; in short, which has no notion whatsoever of human dignity.
This latest move against benefits claimants is consistent with the entire development of the modern British economy. High wage economies generate a self-sustaining high domestic demand which keeps the economy growing. Our three main political parties postulate a low wage economy, with a minimum wage below the level which can sustain a family. The low wage economy is defended as a guarantee of strong international competitiveness and thus export performance. In fact Britain’s low wage model is entirely different, and the vast majority of those on low wages have no relation to exports. What Britain has developed is a model where a thin layer at the top are on extremely high remuneration. This of course includes bankers and the financial services industry, but also through the cult of managerialism, CEOs and directors have vastly increased their remuneration. For the multiple between the highest and lowest paid in a company to be 70 – the cleaner on 15,000, the core level majority on 20,000 and the CEO on 3,000,000- is now absolutely routine.
Even the public sector is ruled by this pretence that executive work is harder, more stressful, more uniquely difficult than core work. Well, I have been an Ambassador and a barman, and I can tell you which was hardest work. University vice chancellors are on over 300,000. Local councils regularly have a score of people on over 100,000.
We have no media willing to take on the triumph of greed. The most “left wing” of British newspapers, the Guardian, pays its editor total remuneration of over half a million per year and “star” columnists 300,000, while exploiting interns and junior staff, and squandering 35 million pounds a year of C P Scott’s great endowment in losses – straight into its senior staff’s pockets.
Britain has developed a new kind of low wage economy – one where the bulk of those on low wages work to provide services to those on very, very high remuneration. In a sense it is very old. We have become a helot society. It should be stressed that low wage is a deliberate policy. There is absolutely no reason why those in work could not be paid more. The economy would not crash. In Norway the median wage of the lowest 10 percentile is over 20,000 pounds, while the multiple between the lowest ten percentile and the top ten percentile is less than one third what it is in Britain. The UK’s astonishing and accelerating wealth gap is a result of deliberate ideological policy, founded on a notion that those at the top are possessed of rare and extraordinary abilities – whereas in truth, in the UK more than anywhere, their main achievement was usually to be born into the right family.
The concomitant of that worship of the rich is the belief that money measures worth; that if you have a low income then you are scum. That is the attitude that underlies these benefit smart cards. It is truly disgusting.
Should have read: “Concerning Moazzam Begg it has been much worse than people imagine. Why was he not tagged? Even Abu Qatada, another innocent man targeted by Theresa May and the security services, was tagged.
@anon1: You mean people eat chips with forks?? Gerr…. that’s posh alright.
Nevermind, Cristina Fernadez is right. “Turning to the Security Council, she said that as long as the votes of the five permanent members counted more than those of other countries, nothing would ever be resolved.” This is the single biggest problem US, UK, France, Russia, China. The Security Council of the UN with its vetoes is the biggest single problem with an organisation that has passed its sell-by date.
Speculation against the impoverished is the ugliest (1,600%) face of capitalism. What an evil system that cannot put checks on such speculation.
Re Mo Begg, I won’t say much as he is alleged to be a highly litigious character, with all the financial benefits that can bring, but this from Wikipedia is interesting:
In 2009 Begg was a technical advisor, and slated to appear as himself, for Scottish software company T-Enterprise in the development of a video game entitled Rendition: Guantanamo, for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The game would have put the player in the place of the detainees. The character had to shoot his way out of the detention camp to bring down his captors, before he was subjected to torture and scientific experiments. Begg was to do three days of sound with the company, and then be 3D-rendered into the game.
Begg had a financial stake in the game. He said: “This game will not demean the reality of Guantanamo, but will help to bring those issues to people who would not usually think about it.” T-Enterprise hoped to earn £3 million on its £250,000 investment, targeting the Middle East market.
Guy with Ebola in Dallas has had contact with five children who attend four different schools. CNN: Source: U.S. Ebola patient didn’t give travel history, hospital didn’t ask.
I have a question to ask you Sage’s, and to be honest, my explanation is a little beyond the realms of physics and maths, and science and technology…
Why is it that your friends..who might be completely brilliant…but are just a little bit (or a lot) control freaks…and you haven’t seen them for ages…turn up at the worst possible times??..you know..when you are about to leave..and have to do a lot of preperation..and the last thing you need is for them to turn up and have to be polite…
Compared to your friends who Are completely Brilliant…and you haven’t seen them for ages..at much better times…you know…well you ain’t planning to go on holiday…sure the house is a mess…its a work in progress…look we do not do perfect…but we do have two spare bedrooms..You are just so welcome to stay the night…
He says yeh…but I bet you’ve got Enormous Spiders…
So wtf…lets go to The Pub..whilst My Wife Clears up The Mess…
Or Something Like That…
The Rock Star Turned Up..just knocked on our Door without any warning whatsoever…It was just so Great to see him…
He has a lot of friends..if he doesn’t get a better offer…he knows he is welcome to stay the night…
Tony
The United Nations children’s agency Unicef is scrambling to help Ebola orphans. What happens when their parents die? In Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, approaching 4,000 of them have been counted who have lost both father and mother. Other people see them, know what killed the parents, and won’t go near the children their relatives included.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=231_1412183707
This is really bad news Lysias, one can just hope that the immune systems of children is stronger than that of an adult who has/ has not abused their bodies.
But these four schools will have problems now, parents might keep their children at home, not knowing that they are already infected, creating new places of seclusion for the disease to develop, next to the third and fourth infection chain already in existence. This is dire.
flight controls anyone? Is there another test apart from a high temperature? anyone nows?
Republicofscotland,
I have no evidence that the incidence of Ebola plague is any higher than normal..I think it is just more American propaganda…because they have suddenly realised that the Chinese…not only made a far better offer to Africa…we will organise you guys to actually build the infrastructure…that has fallen apart since our British Colonial Ruler’s left.
Lets Face it..The Americans Couldn’t Organise a Decent Whorehouse in a Shithole…and this is their last attempt to invade and take over Africa…and they know deep in their heart..that the entire World hates them and they Really are Not Up To It…
Oh We will Bomb Them Then…???
No You Won’t Actually..
Fuck Off Back To The USA and Stay There Cretins
You are not only not very nice..you are also totally incompetent.
Have a Nice Day,
Tony
O/T but also an issue here as well as in the US. Islamic fighters coming back after a challenging time in Syria, face more challenging moments at home.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-faces-challenges-in-putting-islamic-state-radicals-on-trial-a-991744.html
Our security services are scared that they can’t keep track and that some of these, in most cases, very educated young men and women, will one day start another front here at home.
This also provides enough scope to generate another fear incident by using them.
Wouldn’t it go down nicely with voters to have an aborted action, one of the many we had before. Whatever happened to the large Birmingham plot we were all in danger of?
What of mercenaries in general, does GCHQ keep an eye on all our mercenaries that go out and train/fight abroad?
I have no evidence that the incidence of Ebola plague is any higher than normal..I think it is just more American propaganda…because they have suddenly realised that the Chinese…not only made a far better offer to Africa…we will organise you guys to actually build the infrastructure…that has fallen apart since our British Colonial Ruler’s left.
___________________________
Tony
I’ve got to agree with you, Europe and the US, hasn’t really done much for Africans, centuries of exploitation, of the beautiful continent of Africa, has left it in turmoil.
Now the west use Africa as a Guinea Pig, with regards to testing new drugs and weapons,whilst creating division. The Ebola virus is just the latest in a long line of, Africa bashing.
I’ve just noticed BBC2 are about to show (21:00 tonight) a documentary revealing the “secret history of Rwanda – containing upsetting scenes”. Very surprising, I wonder how far it will go.
If you want to understand how imperialism works in Africa forget the ebola as a CIA plot conspiraloon shit and look at Paul Kagame. A textbook US backed tyrant who enriches his own whilst fighting proxy wars so international capital can steal African resources. The truth turned on it’s head. A mass murder hailed as a hero.
The BBC2 programme looks good up to a point. It looks, unsurprisingly, as if it is going to avoid any serious discussion of US/EU/IS imperialism (Kagame was US military trained) but the blurb does mention UK aid and Blair as a paid consultant. One for you Baal.
If you’re interested in contemporary pillaging of Africa check out Keith Harmon Snow. KHS is out there. Maybe he is on the money. Here’s one talk by him:
The Politics Of Genocide
I see. Weasel words. Technically, they aren’t lying just withholding all the truth..
“UPDATE: Someone pointed out that in medical terms, if the virus is transferred through tiny droplets in the air this would technically not be called an “airborne virus”. Airborne, in medical terms would mean that the virus has the ability to stay alive without a liquid carrier. On one hand this is a question of semantics, and the point is well taken, but keep in mind that the study did not officially determine how the virus traveled through the air, it merely established that it does travel through the air. Doctor Kobinger’s hypothesis regarding droplets of liquid is just that, a hypothesis. For the average person however what needs to be understood is very simple: if you are in a room with someone infected with Ebola, you are not safe, even if you never touch them or their bodily fluids, and this is not what you are being told by the mainstream media. Essentially I am using the word “airborne” as a layman term.”
http://scgnews.com/ebola-what-youre-not-being-told
Cheers Glenn. Glad to see you popping up more often.
I don’t have any Solutions to Remedy This Madness of The Political Elite..except The Courage of my 18 year old Daughter…
She looked 15..skipped school..Dressed as a Press Photogapher complete with her Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Badge and turned up alone..between The Riot Police dressed in All Their Black Riot Gear..Black Crash Helmets and All The Peaceful Protestors..and Embarrassed Them All
She got home and uploaded her Photographs To The Internet..and Compared Them To The Professional Job…
You see they couldn’t understand The Courage of Such a Little Girl…
So The Next Day..She went back with her Mates From School ..and The Police Let Her and Her Mates Through To Photograph Obama and His Cavalcade…
I thought that was Really Sweet..
She Claimed That She had No Interest in Politics and was Just Doing It For Her Photography “A” Level so she could go to University ..which she did.
I can’t compete with that..Can you???
Tony
Sorry Craig, off topic, but I thought you might like to see. (Just published).
http://www.globalresearch.ca/scotlands-referendum-the-stolen-nation/5405626
The Eurosurveillance paper, by two researchers from the University of Tokyo and Arizona State University, attempts to derive what the reproductive rate has been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. (Note for actual epidemiology geeks: The calculation is for the effective reproductive number, pegged to a point in time, hence actually Rt.) They come up with an R of at least 1, and in some cases 2; that is, at certain points, sick persons have caused disease in two others.
You can see how that could quickly get out of hand, and in fact, that is what the researchers predict. Here is their stop-you-in-your-tracks assessment:
In a worst-case hypothetical scenario, should the outbreak continue with recent trends, the case burden could gain an additional 77,181 to 277,124 cases by the end of 2014.
That is a jaw-dropping number.
If we do see an explosion like that, how many millions of cases will we see by the time 2015 is through?
A different model has produced an even more jaw-dropping number.
An “econometric simulation model” created by Francis Smart at Michigan State University is predicting that a whopping 1.2 million people will die from Ebola in the next six months…
An econometric simulation model based on the assumption the World Health Organization and others will be unable to control the Ebola outbreak in West Africa predicts 1.2 million people will die from the disease in the next six months.
Six months is the minimum time the WHO projects will be necessary to contain the epidemic.
In his analysis, econometrics research assistant Francis Smart at Michigan State University took seriously the conclusions of Canadian researchers who proved the strain of Ebola in the current West African epidemic could go airborne.
The Ebola virus could be transmitted between humans through breathing, Smart says.
In developing the model, Smart began with WHO’s Aug. 28 statement that the Ebola epidemic in West Africa could afflict more than 20,000 people before it is brought under control.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/computer-models-tell-us-that-this-ebola-pandemic-could-soon-kill-millions
@Oldmark:
some European countries (Germany and Switzerland in particular) have work forces that are highly competent and produce kit that is clearly superior to that produced by the ‘teeming masses’ of the third world. These countries are therefore able to sustain high wage levels. The German mittelstand is also well supported by the banks, whereas the much smaller equivalent here is predated upon by our banking sector.
Agreed — mostly. The Germans have placed a higher value on industrial skills training than Britain (cf. the old joke about the German mother who was sorry for her friend when she said her son was training to be a doctor, her own son having been accepted as an apprentice with Siemens) with the result that their industrial work force is more productive and better paid than Britain’s.
And Germany was fortunate in the dismantling of its great industries after the war, which created room for a host of Mittelstand companies owned and managed by energetic and ambitious founders who could run rings around Britain’s complacent old-guard management.
Thye Germans were also, it seems, relatively free of trouble-making Troskyite unionists who, in britain, were quite prepared to destroy the companies that provided their members with jobs, notably to the autocompanies.
But in addition, the Germans have been extremely energetic in the snap together business. Outsourcing production to cheap-labor Eastern Europe then sticking on a “printed in Germany” label and collecting a fat mark-up on a not-so-very-German-made product.
Moazzam Begg – take it easy for now, with your family and friends, before returning to the fight against injustice, as you no doubt will.
@Glenn_UK
… that money [23% of GDP for welfare] (even if the figure is true) isn’t just poured down some rat-hole.
Well, keeping someone alive on welfare seems like, if not pouring money down a rat-hole, still a very unproductive use of resources. And insofar as there are alternatives, it is surely a vile way to treat people — fifty million Americans on food stamps, for example, hardly conjures up the image of an American citizen proud and free.
The only means for the great majority of ordinary folk to be proud and free is to give them a job that will enable them to make their own way, which is why I think abolishing welfare should be a matter of the highest priority. Yeah, give folks a helping hand discretely through a reverse tax mechanism if their earnings are insufficient to live on, but don’t leave them to rot with nothing to do but drink, watch tel, do dope, use internet porn or take up peddling stolen goods.
Ben,
Fuck Off..or I will give you a Lecture on Aids
Not Dead Yet. The Maths Simply Do Not Compute…Neither Does The CIA World Factbook…they actually occasionally do something useful…Judging By What The Terrorists were Telling Us over 30 Years ago…We (including Me should all be dead by now – no I didn’t do gay..but I did in my youth Fuck a Lot..and I did not use a condom (brought up as a Roman Catholic You See – it didn’t feel the same – I just assumed they were on the pill)
Why not Read The Real Pioneer of All The Research On The Subject..who has almost but not completely been wiped from the Internet by Billions of US Dollars..of The AIDS/HIV Industry..almost as Big as The Pentagon’s Military Industrial Complex
Read Peter Duesberg’s Research..He was the Real Pioneer..of Everything About This Subject..I don’t expect you to take on or even read his original research…but I think he is still alive at the age of 77…It is possible his original research has been compromised…but I think this link is probably legit
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/index/pduesberg.htm
Tony
Totally this is absolutely a disgrace and immoral, to even take a small amount of solace away from the underprivileged and vulnerable is the lowest of the low. I hope the perpetratirs rot in hell, and soon.
I’m not naive, Tony. Many other examples of experimental ‘thinning the herd’ and not just gays. Some may have a problem with corroboration on this, but Tuskegee is well documented, and on this self-same list.
http://wariscrime.com/new/the-13-most-evil-us-government-human-experiments/
4. Deadly Chemical Sprays on American Cities
Showing once again that the U.S. always tends to test out worse-case scenarios by getting to them first and with the advent of biochemical warfare in the mid 20th century, the Army, CIA and government conducted a series of warfare simulations upon American cities to see how the effects would play out in the event of an actual chemical attack.
They conducted the following air strikes/naval attacks:
The CIA released a whooping cough virus on Tampa Bay, using boats, and so caused a whooping cough epidemic. 12 people died.
The Navy sprayed San Francisco with bacterial pathogens and in consequence many citizens developed pneumonia.
Upon Savannah, GA, and Avon Park, FL, the army released millions of mosquitoes in the hopes they would spread yellow fever and dengue fever. The swarm left Americans struggling with fevers, typhoid, respiratory problems, and the worst, stillborn children.
Even worse was that after the swarm, the Army came in disguised as public health workers.
Their secret intention the entire time they were giving aid to the victims was to study and chart-out the long term effects of all the illnesses they were suffering.
@John: Yes, great news about Moazzam Begg. I wonder if my outrageous speculation that he had been imprisoned for his own good until ISIL was on the defensive holds any water. Someone must have tipped off West Midlands Police, and someone provided the evidence that made the case unsound. Deputy Chief Constable sounded hopping mad in the interview I heard… Highly unethical, Anon1, if he had been making money out of Guantanamo Bay “internment”, and probably even worse, John, that the bank accounts were suspended like that. But, as The Killers satirically put it, “This is the world that we live in…” Looks like it’ll be worse though if Teresa May has her way.
Ben, I am not going to get into a competition with you..I know absolutely nothing about virology..but I am almost certain, that The Bloke in Queen Freddy Mercury ( I was very naive I never realised he was Gay -until after he had died) was killed by AZT..Yet I do not discount the fact that..chemotherapy can actually work on saving the lives of very old rock stars who have cancer…if the dose is right…to just kill the cancer cells – rather than the entire body)
Chemotherapy saved My Bother’s Life…when I thought he didn’t have 24 hours to live…He was riddled with cancer at the age of 29…but he was determined to see his 4 kids grow up into adults..and lived for another 30 years..but he was a total genius..He had such a hard life..Cleverest Bloke I ever met…when I was a kid..he nicked my metal globe of the Earth in 1963..and made it spin stably in Free Air..I looked at him…how did you do that..he showed me..it was just electromagnets..and proximity detectors..and his circuit board which he designed and soldered himself..he wrote the software..in hardware..cos no one had written any software before..he did however use potentiometers..you know these little things that sweep – like on you old amp..to control the volume..he didn’t use any valves.
In Oldham..he Got Recruited By Ferranti..I was crap..but I got recruited by ICL..and we made the computer work..They all claim it was Manchester..but it was Oldham Really..
The Americans simply copied us. They were very nice actually.
Tony
Ben: Don’t forget the notorious syphilis tests (also in Florida, as it happens) among the negro population, from the 1940s but which ran for decades. Also the studies on servicemen exposed to the various types of atomic bomb exploded in NM.
But the mother of all lethal tests, for the US authorities, was surely those conducted in Japan at the end of WWII. There was an excellent Majority Report (majority.fm) programme on this year’s anniversary, detailing the reasons for the selection of those Japanese cities. I’ll pass along the podcast if you’re interested.
Miss Castello
Cheers for the G.R indy Link.
Also from Global research =
The British police refused to arrest Colestrom, but he said that Cameron’s definition of nonviolent extremism will lead to the arrest of many Muslims, who share his views, and described it as another example of racial profiling.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/911-activist-hands-himself-in-british-police-over-cameron-remarks-on-non-violent-extremists/5405643
Making Money Was Never the Point..so long as we were O.K..and even if not it didn’t really matter…we were making it work…we were making it fly..that was good enough for us.
You think I am making this stuff up?? How could I possibly? I simply do not have the imagination..I am merely trying to write as accurately as I can the historical truth that I have personally experienced..I am not some cunt writing a book…sure I might exaggerate a bit…and obviously make mistakes..but I ain’t lying…and My Wife Really is an Angel..and We are Going To See Robert Plant at The Roundhouse…
My Wife and I will be Dancing at The Front
We are just as I have described. I was brought up as a scientist..and used the scientific method..until I listened to the Music..and understood the Words.
We will be there ..even if I have a Serious Attack of Gout…
She has just told me what to do…
We are going To Go Two Gigs at The Roundhouse (one is Moraccan) and Totally Unconnected..The Bass Player’s Wedding..The Same Week…do want me to give you the dates?
Stop Drinking Beer..and Get Fit You Cunt..my wife says the nicest things to me (the sex this morning was awesome) maybe she thought I couldn’t do it any more.
Tony
To add to possible WW3 doom and Volcano doom there is now Ebola Doom over at squonk! If you don’t want to derail Craig’s threads some discussion at
https://squonk.tk/blog/2014/01/20/the-general-discussion-thread/
I hope I don’t have to make it a topic of its own…
Duesberg picked the wrong hypothesis in 1987 and hasn’t the balls to admit he made a mistake.
Result:- People are dying.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/feb/21/death-denial-hiv-aids