I was about to go into my box at the Lyceum Theatre last night when I received a text that there was a pro-independence demo on at Holyrood. So I abandoned my hosts (I did not feel quite as bad about this as I had stood for pre-theatre supper), fled the theatre and positively jogged down to parliament. I passed most of the demonstrators leaving on their way home, saltires draped over shoulders and Guido masks on top of heads. But there were still a few hundred there when I arrived, listening to unpractised speakers telling their very real stories: the independence cause continues to be a genuinely popular movement. One young demonstrator told me how proud they had been as they marched down the Royal Mile, with pedestrians homeward bound after a day’s work spontaneously stepping off the pavement to join the march, and the bars emptying. I then watched the fireworks bursting over Edinburgh.
I said a while back that if we won independence, I would move back to Scotland. Well, independence is now so inevitable I am indeed moving back, and have been flat-hunting. This is now an Edinburgh blog, and I hope from this weekend will have its Edinburgh home.
Lewes has been much in the news lately. Yesterday they were going to burn an effigy of Alex Salmond, and then didn’t. It is a conundrum why a town which genuinely retains the most radical popular political traditions in England, also is the most fervent place of practice of the reactionary art of catholic effigy burning. They vary this now by burning protestants, too. Cameron and Clegg have been done. I think my fellow Scottish Nationalists who got very upset about the potential Salmond burning were perhaps overreacting. The mistake of the members of the Lewes Waterloo Society was to fail to realise that Salmond is not merely another self-serving member of the political class; the selection was not based on race.
The tradition of burning Guy Fawkes reflects the undeniable fact that there used to be a genuine popular enthusiasm for parliament, which was seen as a bastion against Papal despotism, even long before the large majority of the population had a vote. Nowadays Parliament has become a very different kind of symbol. It symbolises an highly oppressive, authoritarian, narrow political class which shamelessly makes money at our expense, while furthering the interests of vast corporations which enforce the low wage economy and astonishing, ever growing, wealth gap.
The natural instincts of most people today lie with the man who tried to blow up parliament.
It is truly remarkable that, while the BBC and rest of the mainstream media gave hour by hour coverage of the democracy movement protests in Hong Kong, there was virtually no coverage of the violent and brutal treatment, over days, of the Occupy Democracy protest in Parliament Square in London. Nor any mention that there was far less democracy in Hong Kong under British rule than Chinese.
In Lewes, I once spoke to a flourishing political society which claims a direct descent from one founded by Thomas Paine himself- a vivid reminder to us in Scotland that there is a native radical tradition in Southern England, deep underground and waiting to be rediscovered. Lewes also has as its MP Norman Baker, one of the most decent men in politics, who recently resigned as a junior minister over the government’s entirely illogical “war on drugs” – illogical not least because of the drug habits of so many MPs. My current host, Hugh Kerr, when an MEP once made a speech in the European Parliament where he pointed out that many members were voting against drug liberalisation with whom he had personally participated in drug taking. An example of the excessive honesty that led to Hugh being forced out of the Labour Party.
Norman Baker was the subject of many vicious pieces in the mainstream media following his resignation. The crime of daring to think outside the box on drugs, and even worse crime of disagreeing with right wing nutjob and media darling Theresa May, meant that Baker had to be thoroughly monstored. But the most disgraceful and cowardly of all these attacks came from the Guardian of state stooge Alan Rusbridger. This is simply an appalling piece of journalism.
I have met Norman Baker a couple of times, and had a very entertaining conversation with him about Murder in Samarkand on Lewes railway station. The subject of UFO’s never came up. Indeed, if you google “Norman Baker, UFO” you get hundreds of media stories, all of them put out following Baker’s resignation and very evidently put about by Theresa May, for whom the Guardian is but a sounding board. In fact Norman Baker did once suggest in parliament that UFO cases deserved proper official investigation, which seems a perfectly rational view – and as the British government has, over decades, amassed thousands of files on UFO sightings, a view clearly widely held.
Baker’s other great sin is to believe David Kelly was murdered. Well, I think it is very probable indeed that David Kelly was murdered, and so, I suspect, do a very large percentage of the population. If the establishment is truly so confident that David Kelly was not murdered, it is remarkable that they refuse to have an inquest and allow a jury to decide the question in the normal way.
Norman Baker’s true crime was not to be a fully paid up member of the political class. He had never been a special adviser or political assistant. he had some hinterland, other interests, and did not confine his thinking within the tiny sphere of neo-con orthodoxy beyond which the corporate media will declare you a nutter. Politicians must all look the same, and Theresa May and Nigel Farage are now the only acceptable templates.
What I wrote was that the powers at be almost invite accusations of conspiracy by not following normal,standard procedures.Simple things like autopsies.Holding public inquiries.Applying the laws of nature and science.
What sticks in my mind about the Diana case is that I was driving home in the wee hours past Schonbrunn when I heard on the radio that Diana had been in an accident.They went into quite a bit of detail about the accident and her injuries.They said she had a broken arm.
You can imagine my shock on waking up later that day to find out she’d died from her injuries.I am no expert,but I found it really weird that they would embalm her straight away.
As for Kelly, I thought it a little too convenient that he died when the scandal broke about manufacturing evidence to support the invasion of Iraq.There’s so many anomalies that the list would be longer than yours Habba,but lack of blood at the scene is quite a glaring mistake that was made.
Robin Cook ? Again he was persona non grata, specially for the US.He’d recognised the Emperors new clothes for what they were,resigned because that’s what honourable men used to do,but he knew too much.Scotland is a small place and emergencies on the mountains are commonplace and mountain rescue are very routined.I definitely think that Cook was murdered.As for the other 2,well Govt could clear that all up quickly by answering a few questions.But pretty much like yourself Habba,they don’t provide any answers,only more questions.
Functional stupidity contributes to maintaining and strengthening organizational order. It can also motivate people, help them to cultivate their careers, and subordinate them to socially acceptable forms of management and leadership. Such positive outcomes can further reinforce functional stupidity.”
Thanks, Sofia. Here it is again in pictures –
http://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/ck3/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9aaXBweXRoZVBpbmhlYWQvMjAxNC8xMS9aaXBweV90aGVfUGluaGVhZC4yMDE0MTEwNl83NjAuZ2lm
‘The whole thing seems like something the Orange Order would do after one of their parades. Poor taste.’
In addition to having one of ‘the most radical popular political traditions in England’ Lewes is also home to one of the few thriving Orange Lodges in Southern England-
http://www.orangeordersouthernengland.org/frames_page.htm
Personally I thought one of the effigies, of Salmond vainly attempting to stay his kilt in a stiff Scottish breeze, was hilarious. The cybernats of the twatterati who were offended by it, and who are presumably behind the ‘official complaint’ to the East Sussex plods, are pompous prigs in my book. As Mary noted, Putin was also burned in effigy last night, and of course, a little over 18 months ago, the recently deceased Thatcher was burned in effigy in a Yorkshire mining village. Long may the tradition continue.
OldMark:
If you watch the clip I sent, Salmond was certainly not upset by it.
As far as I know there was one complaint which caused the police to cancel the burning.
It is not clear if they were local,Scottish Nationalists,Scottish or all of these and a Cybernat as you call them.
Odd that it was cancelled at the last minute.
Welcome to Scotland Craig. Hope the Flat Hunting is speedy… There certainly is much Vibrancy around.
Here in Inverclyde the SNP has had membership soar since the IndyRef..By almost 1,000 new members.
David Kelly was one of the Innocent Enemies of the Twisted, Knavish State.. I always thought the Family’s subdued acceptance was Very strange.
Alex Ever the States man in reply to the effigy Slur. Pityful Lewes…and insensitive to the 46/47 % – That’s a Lot of Tears and Broken Hearts a little over a month ago.
DoNNy
3 Nov, 2014 – 3:23 pm
Thanks for that Link…Great Article…As Nevermind says, you may have hit the nail on the head there.
And
Tony M
2 Nov, 2014 – 11:44 pm
Brilliant Link on Murphy..Valuable stuff, Cheers,
Norman Baker certainly makes his parliamentary colleagues look grey in comparison.
MP Norman Baker’s band releases album in Lewes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-21929754
Not sure about the hat!
Yes i Agree Mary…Ditch the hat Kido.
WELP…someone has to be first to Go O.T… Sorry But this i know to be One of the things close to Craig’s heart….and many others here.
This is Mind numbing Stuff –
Today, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the body will not be prosecuting Israel for the deadly attack on humanitarian passengers of the Mavi Marmara although she has reason to believe that war crimes were committed by Israel. In a statement Bensouda said the case is not “of ‘sufficient gravity’ to justify further action”:
Following a thorough legal and factual analysis of the information available, I have concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court were committed on one of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara, when Israeli Defense Forces intercepted the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla’’ on 31 May 2010.
However, after carefully assessing all relevant considerations, I have concluded that the potential case(s) likely arising from an investigation into this incident would not be of “sufficient gravity” to justify further action by the ICC. The gravity requirement is an explicit legal criteria set by the Rome Statute.
– See more at
: http://mondoweiss.net/2014/11/committed-sufficient-investigation#sthash.hQSS2n4P.dpuf
Remember the news item from a day or two ago about yet another case of “moderate” Syrian rebels surrendering yet another treasure trove of their US supplied weaponry after being attacked by jihadists of a greatly less moderate persuasion? Whoever could have seen that one coming?
An unfathomable decision Brian ! If it isn’t a war crime then what is it ? A misdemeanor ? An uncalled for agitation? It’s piracy,theft,bodily harm,murder. Or are the ICC too controlled to call a spade a spade,
Not ugly enough? Not enough dead?Didn’t last long enough?
The fact that they committed piracy on the high seas, breaking international laws, killing 9 and injuring countless others. Then they kidnapped the passengers and crew and took them back to Israel where they were incarcerated and their property stolen.
What about “cast lead” ? 1500 dead, 79% of them civilians. Was that not a war crime? White phosphorous shells fired indiscriminately into blocks of flats where kids were burned and maimed. Not gruesome or bestial enough for the ICC ?
We’ve just had “protective edge” ! 1.5 million people fenced in and blockaded for 8 years, that have hardly had time to rebuild from the last Israeli Christmas present.
This time Israel managed to devastate more square kilometres of Gaza and kill even more innocent Palestinians. Surely this would make the ICC shed a tear ? Even Amnesty , who I stopped giving to because of their lack of empathy for Gaza, has finally accused Israel of war crimes.
The ICC like the UN is redundant. They represent special interests and they have no interest in humanity.
“The ICC like the UN is redundant. They represent special interests and they have no interest in humanity.”
I disagree. USRAEL is terrified of the ICC. Why do you think Kerry held that carrot under Abbas’ nose. Abbas has to sign on regardless of the consequences on aid to Gaza. It’s the only thing that will turn them on their heads.
Membership is required for an ICC investigation. This is the fly in the ointment.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.613385
Nevermind!
Have you been following Neil MacGregor’s BBC Radio 4 series called “Germany: Memories of a Nation”?
If so, what do you think – what is your impression?
Netanyahu may have stepped in his own shite once too many times. The US has been the sole bulwark against action unfavorable to Israel.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-veto-at-security-council-veto-may-no-longer-be-a-given/
Mrs Gimble .. Yes, Nature.com now I remember…. the scientific mouthpiece of the corporatocracy. In 1997 NATURE published an article and since then the bandwagons gone into overdrive.
Here;s a metaphor for it…
‘biosphere as a trillion dollar welfare system’
In 1997 Robert Costanza (hes an economist) estimated the value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital for the entire biosphere at between US$16–54 trillion per year. The numbers themselves might not mean a whole lot but the fact of the estimation itself signifies a great deal. It signifies a movement within the ecological economist community to frame ecosystem services in terms of economic value and this particular conceptualization might be described by the following metaphor ‘biosphere as a trillion dollar welfare system’. The ecosystem concept, because of its complexity, necessarily rests on metaphors, which connect to our values, our emotions and our purposes. Choice of metaphor is telling. The premise of Costanza’s research group is that if monetary values are attributed to the goods and services that are fundamental to human welfare and provided by the ecosystem then these values offer incentive, so that ecosystem functions and biodiversity are more likely to be conserved.
Its all BS of course
here we go again – the UK’s third most popular political blog* is at it again.
Not even 12 hours in, and still on page 1, and we’re off on Israel/Palestine again.
Is there no discipline – and no cire for the incontinence of certain posters?
Thanks a bundle, Fujisan.
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* Soon to be renamed the UK’s third most anti-Israel blog
cire = cure
“Thanks a bundle, Fujisan.”
I second that Brian. Too many Scots myopic about local issues makes for a boring thread.
Ben (California Holocaust Denier Sympathiser)
“Netanyahu may have stepped in his own shite once too many times”
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I see you’re using one of your favorite words again – you must be in your usual anal mode today.
Having said that – it’s better than “crap”.
Here is a limerick from that most splendid essayist, novelist, poet and Sovietologist Robert Conquest on the subject. Please read and absorb!
“A usage that’s seldom got right
Is when to say shit and when shite,
And many a chap
Will fall back on crap,
Which is vulgar, evasive and trite.”
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11584029.Second_effigy_of_Alex_Salmond__detonated__in_Lewes/
I think the BBC don’t want to admit they were hoodwinked as well.
The Bondagers was most probably the play Craig was intending to see. It sounds very interesting. The seat prices at the Lyceum are a positive bargain cf London and SE England prices.
http://www.lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/bondagers
Good for you Craig, on moving to Edinburgh,the old city is beautiful, and of course, it hosts probably the biggest Hogmanay party in the world. Couple that with the Edinburgh festival, and Edinburgh is indeed a vibrant city.
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AS for drug use at Westminster, well it wasn’t so long ago that 9 toilets at Westminster had traces of cocaine found in them.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2362866/Corridors-powder-Drug-scandal-Houses-Parliament-traces-cocaine-toilets-Palace-Westminster.html
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Doctors campaigning for a full inquest for weapons expert Dr David Kelly claim there has been a Hillsborough-style cover-up in the case as they push for a fresh investigation on the 10th anniversary of his death.
The group, led by radiologist Stephen Frost, said it would be “shameful if the truth about the suspicious death” was suppressed in a similar way to details about the footballing tragedy that left 96 Liverpool FC fans dead.
Alastair Hay, a close friend of Dr Kelly’s, however insisted blood tests carried out on the scientist had “kicked into touch” claims he was murdered.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/doctors-claim-coverup-over-death-of-weapons-expert-dr-david-kelly-29426678.html
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It would appear the circumstances surrounding Dr David Kelly’s death, have not been fully investigated, according to some, I tend to agree with them.
Sorry Ben, I just can’t agree.
The ICC goes after brown skin or the bogey men of the West.The US unsigned the treaty re: ICC and Israel doesn’t recognise it.The International community never publicly rebuke Israel for any of her actions.
The ICC were and still are determined to get Ghadafi’s offspring into the Hague for their crimes against humanity.Which ones ? The 50,000 massacred that weren’t?The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure,destruction of Sirte and deaths of 30,000 by bombing ? Ooops that was NATO ! We’ll never get them out of Brussels and into the Hague.
It’s a loaded deck, and we’re no gonna win.
Habba: I’m giving you a gold star ! No not that Israeli beer that I used to drink in large quantities while I smoked my Noblesse cigarettes….. A real Gold Star for behaviour.
You named this blog as anti Israel instead of anti semite or anti Jew. I kip my Kippah and raise my glass in your general direction.
Where there’s hope there might be Habba and La Vita Bella.
I assume a friend of someone on the committee of the Lewes Conservatives was a NO sympathiser who frivolously suggested Salmond for a topical guy to be burned.
Nothing remotely sinister about that. Scots are allowed to live in Sussex and have opinions.
I agree with A node about Anonymous. A cause needs representation.
Heebijeebies is almost in Hasbara victim mode by calling himself a dissenter. If this disrespectful waffle is dissent, let him tell us in plain English what he actually believes in?
Dmity Orlov again,
”The functions of stupidity management are to project an image, to encourage stupidity self-management in defense of that image, and to block communication whenever anyone lapses into reflexivity or substantive reasoning, or demands justification. Communication is blocked through the exercise of managerial power.”
Is he talking about Dad?
Today somebody at work put their muddy boots on the toilet bowl and I was afraid I’d get the blame. Some work-places have a picture of a toilet-seat squatter with diagonal prohibition line.
Civilisation does not exist in England so far as toilets are concerned.
A secret file which is said to contain the names of paedophiles with links to the British establishment and which is rumoured to be locked away in archives at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, could be made public as part of the Government’s child abuse inquiry.
Inquiry panel members Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans, along with Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, assured campaigners at their meeting last week – shortly before Fiona Woolf announced she would be the second person to resign as chair – that they would have top-level security clearance and access to restricted or closed files.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-dickens-dossier-secret-file-on-establishment-paedophiles-may-be-opened-9842133.html
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The files are known as the “Dickens Dossier” after Tory MP Goeffrey Dickens, who complied the dossier.
Everything is all set for Nov. 9,” says a senior Catalan regional government official as the region prepares to defy both the central government and the country’s highest court and proceed with a much-disputed weekend vote on whether to secede from Spain.
And while the Spanish government has not specified what legal consequences Catalan leaders, poll workers or voters might face Sunday, when they go to vote, The LA Times reports that Madrid has reportedly readied thousands of Civil Guard police officers to travel to Catalonia this weekend if needed.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-05/spain-moves-military-assets-catalonia-ahead-weekends-illegal-secession-vote
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It looks like Rajoy is trying to frighten voters in Catalonia, hopefully they, and Artus Mas, will hold their nerve.
Mendocino County, in the pristine northern lands of California, where the magnificent ancient coastal Redwood trees meet the inland California Oaks, has voted itself into the constitution writing (righting) business.
Yesterday, by a significant margin, they became the first county in California, and only the second county in the country to pass into law a very powerful local ordinance that declares local self-governing rights in their communities over state and federal jurisdiction. Over 67% of the votes cast were in favor of the measure.
The ordinance provides for waters free from toxic trespass; preemptively bans all fracking activities countywide with heavy fines and penalties for violation of the ordinance; and establishes a Community Bill of Rights to, for, and by the residents of Mendocino County while checking corporate powers as well.
In addition, the newly created law gives the Rights of Nature to exist and flourish without toxic trespass whereas previously Nature had no standing in the court of law.
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/11/california-county-quietly-votes-for.html
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Good to see some locals take the bull by the horns.
It seems Habba does not like the truth I am not anti Semitic but I am anti bad guys and in gazza the Jews are the bad guys and that is a fact it is there for all to see , it’s as simple as that and there is no hiding from it to deny this is futile